Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist, Kosiv

Kosiv is home to the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist, built in 1912. It was created in the Hutsul architectural style characteristic of those times and is by far the oldest church in the city.

The temple stands on the territory of ancient burials, where unique remains of crypts and tombstones have been preserved to this day. Until the beginning of the 18th century, a monastery and the church of St. Nicholas stood on the site of the church. It is mentioned in the gift certificate of Prince Svydryhailo dated 1424. A monastery usually had a church, and in the Kosiv monastery it was the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Documents show that the St. Nicholas Monastery functioned for several hundred years, as evidenced by the "Audit of the Abbots of 1724". However, in 1744, according to the decision of the Dubno chapter "On the concentration of small monasteries," it was closed and attached to the Kryloskyi Holy Dormition Cathedral Monastery. Since the churches here were built of wood, they had to be reconstructed or new ones built over time. Thus, in 1912, the old St. Nicholas Church was dismantled and a new one was built in its place.

The four-domed church in Kosiv was built in one tier of natural wood in the traditional Hutsul style. The central part of the building is adjacent to several additional rooms that are made in the same style as the temple. On the territory adjacent to the temple, neat sidewalk paths diverge in different directions, and there are benches for rest. The wooden church has a cruciform layout, which indicates that it belongs to the school of Hutsul folk architecture.

It is a cross-shaped structure crowned with three domes and five cupolas, two of which are closed and the central one is open to a blind lantern. The size of the church and the fact that it was originally covered with tin indicate the wealth of the Kosiv community of that time. The church was built by a craftsman from the village of Babyn, Ivan Harasymiuk. The wall paintings are the work of Volodymyr Hudz. The church is decorated with works of famous Kosiv carvers: Ivan Balahurak, Ivan Pavlyk, Mykola Matiychak, Mykola Havrysh, Vasyl Baraniuk, and others (panikadilas, kyotas, crosses).

Famous people who drew their strength from the Carpathian region always came to the resort town of Kosiv for treatment and rest, and often life brought people who were not indifferent to the history of Ukraine to the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist. Among them is the world-famous professor Ivan Ohienko, former Minister of Education and Religion of the Ukrainian People's Republic, later Metropolitan Illarion of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada. The future Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) also visited the church.

On April 28, 1988, Father Vasyl Romaniuk, a well-known public, religious, and political figure, member of the Helsinki Union, long-term prisoner of Stalin's concentration camps, and later Patriarch Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine (1925-1995), head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate,took monasticism here.

The oldest cemetery in Kosovo is located near the Church of St. John the Baptist. Many tombstones and monuments from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been preserved here. The stone tombstones sunk into the ground are obviously of much older origin. A number of memorial crosses and a cross in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Ukraine-Rus' have been installed on the territory of the church.

A separate page in the life of the church in Kosiv is the patronal feast of July 7. Many pilgrims came and still come on foot from neighboring villages and districts. For them, it was a sip of faith and confidence in life. Every year, the pilgrimage gathered thousands of people who, for objective reasons, could not attend their churches for fear of being fired from their jobs.

The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist is an architectural monument of local significance. Currently, the church is functioning as intended and is open to the public.