Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Stradch

In the ancient village of Stradch, in a picturesque area, there is a unique architectural monument - the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Stradets Mountain is one of the most famous vacation destinations in Ukraine. The beginnings of Christianity in this area date back to the eleventh century. Back then, in a small cave hollowed out of a sandy hill with a stone throne, a chalice, a chair for confession, as well as a cell-niche, two rooms, and a staircase, two monks who, according to legend, traveled here from Kyiv, began their monastic life. The Stradets Cave Monastery is unique in that it has been preserved almost unchanged since its settlement.

This monastery did not last long, until 1242. Returning from a military campaign, the Tatars set fire to the monastery and killed the people who were hiding there. According to folk legend, the Blessed Virgin Mary descended from heaven to the cries and cries of the innocent victims and stood before the Tatars with the words: "Do not move! The wall!" - enveloped the tortured souls with her omophorion and led them in glory to the dwelling of the Heavenly Father. During the archaeological excavations conducted in the cave monastery by Ukrainian archaeologist Yaroslav Pasternak, a large number of human bones were discovered. Subsequently, they were solemnly reburied near the entrance to the cave, and the antechamber of the monastery was walled and consecrated in 1937 as the Church of Our Lady of the Indestructible Wall. During the communist regime, when the parish church belonged to the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, Greek Catholics regularly held their underground services in the Church of Our Lady of the Indestructible Wall.

In 1936, thanks to the efforts of Fr. Mykola Voyakovsky, a local parish priest, a Way of the Cross was established on Stradetska Hill, which was granted the status of the Jerusalem Way (with Jerusalem pilgrimages) by Pope Pius XII. At that time, a separate train even ran from Lviv to Stradets on the feast of the Assumption. In Soviet times, the crosses were demolished. The modern Way of the Cross, built in 2003-2008, consists of 15 stations. Another great shrine on Stradetska Hill is the parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in 1795 on the site of a former wooden church from the early fifteenth century. During the First World War, the church was damaged by cannon explosions, and in 1927 it was rebuilt and reconstructed.

The parish church is of great spiritual and artistic value, as it contains a copy of the Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God of the Indestructible Wall (painted after World War II: the original, which dates back to princely times, disappeared during the war or immediately after its end), the altar icon of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Vasyl Dyadynyuk (probably from the 18th century), and two icons of the intentional.) and two icons of the vicarage row of the iconostasis - Jesus Christ with an open heart and the Mother of God of Perpetual Help, painted by Anton Manastyrskyi. In addition, the iconostasis was probably painted by Oleksa Nowakiwski.

During 1939-1941, Stradch's pastor was Fr. Mykola Konrad, a professor of the history of philosophy and sociology at the Lviv Theological Academy. This pastor, along with the deacon Volodymyr Pryima, was tortured by the NKVD on June 26, 1941: on that day, Fr. Mykola was returning from a confession of a seriously ill woman, and the deacon accompanied him. The mutilated bodies of the martyrs were buried in the Stradets cemetery. During his pastoral visit to Ukraine, the Holy Father John Paul II proclaimed them blessed of Christ's Church. Since then, their graves have become a place of mass pilgrimage for devout Christians.

According to the papal institution, the church was granted the right to hold services every day of the year. The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary has not only spiritual but also artistic value. It has been preserved here:

• A copy of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of the Indestructible Wall;
• an iconostasis painted by Oleksa Novakivskyi;
• works by Anton Monastyrskyi.

Until 1993, the church was under the care of the Orthodox community. In 2003, Ivan Koltun was appointed rector of the church. Today, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary welcomes thousands of pilgrims every year. Not far from the church is a cemetery with burials dating back several centuries.

TheChurch of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Stradcha was built on Stradetska Hill. The village is located in the Yavoriv district, 17 km from Lviv. The Vereshchytsia River flows nearby. The village can be reached by shuttle bus or public transport.