Holy Ascension Church in Sniatyn

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The Church of the Ascension is a functioning wooden church in the town of Sniatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, and is part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. It is the oldest surviving wooden church in the Sniatyn region. It was built in 1794 and expanded and rebuilt in 1838.

The priest Theophilus Kobrynskyi lived opposite the Church of the Ascension, and on his initiative the Church of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael was built in Sniatyn. He also contributed to the founding of the Sniatyn bourgeois reading room and choir. The name of Ivan Hoyiv, who continued the noble work of T. Kobrynskyi, is associated with the Church of the Ascension. Father Kobrynsky's wife, the famous Ukrainian writer Natalia Kobrynska (see Ozarkevych), who initiated the women's movement in Galicia, used to attend the church.

A memorial plaque in honor of Natalia Ozarkevych and Theophilus Kobrynsky was unveiled on the building that now houses the sanitary-epidemiological station. This street is named in their honor - Kobrynskih Street. 1876-1878 a new iconostasis was installed in the church and the whole church was "painted" (1894). 1903 the shrine was covered with tin. For a long time, the Church of the Ascension was inactive during the Soviet era. In 1961 the church was closed.

On June 5, 1997, on the Feast of the Ascension, people gathered, and the clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate came to consecrate the old church. A new cross was erected. The parishioners consecrated icons, embroidered towels, and carpets. Subsequently, on the initiative and with the direct participation of the dean of Sniatyn of the UOC-KP, Fr Mykhailo Marusiak, and the rector, Fr Mykola Marusiak, restoration work was carried out, and the interior artwork was completely restored.

On September 19, 2011, hundreds of faithful gathered in the courtyard of the Holy Ascension Church for the city's church holiday, the Miracle of St. Michael the Archangel. The renovated church was consecrated by Archbishop Joasaph of Ivano-Frankivsk and Halych of the UOC-KP in concelebration with the priests of the Sniatyn Deanery.

And now the church has again received God's grace, warmth and favor of the Holy Spirit. It rejoices and smiles, because until recently it was abandoned and destroyed during the rampant atheistic and godless lawlessness.

The Church of the Ascension is cruciform in plan. The foundation is made of Prut boulders, partly of brick. The roof is tin (formerly shingles). The church is wooden, with a single dome.

A Czech traveler who visited Ukraine in 1830 wrote: "The architectural style of Ruthenian peasant churches, most often wooden, is original and very picturesque. The wooden churches are the work of simple carpenters who also have a lot to do with the art of carving."

This is the only oldest monument of wooden architecture in the Sniatyn region.

The iconostasis of the church was dismantled during its closure in 1961, and in 1986 it was transferred to the village of Lysets in the Tysmenytsia district.