Patsikov

Patsykiv is a village in the Dolyna district of Ivano-Frankivsk region. The first written mention of Patsykiv can be found in a land dispute between two Patsykiv landowners in 1625. However, it is known that the village was founded in pre-Christian times and became part of Kyivan Rus after Volodymyr the Great united all the ancient Rus lands into a powerful state.

There are several versions of the origin of the village's name. According to local historian Mykhailo Krupchyn from Staryi Mizun, the village was founded by the family of Moravian lord Patsyk, who owned a significant part of the land. The second part of the land was owned by the monastery. The monastery itself, according to the Chronicle of the Holy Days, dates back three hundred years to the emergence of Christianity in the Great Moravian State. So it turns out that the monks were pre-Christian pagan monks. They knew folk medicine: they made medicines from healing mountain herbs, flowers, and honey and treated people from the surrounding villages.

In 1648, the villagers took an active part in the popular uprising, for which they were subjected to a bloody massacre after Khmelnytsky's departure. In 1939, the village was home to 830 inhabitants (780 Ukrainians, 30 Poles, and 20 Latin). During the Soviet era, the village was annexed to Vyhoda and restored in 1990.

This Carpathian village is home to the oldest church in Dolyna district, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in 1691. It is the only building left from the once defensive monastery. The church offers a magnificent view of the Carpathian Gorgany and Beskydy ranges. In ancient historical documents, the church is mentioned as a monastery until 1924, although the monastery itself has long been gone. The vault of the entrance to the dungeon has been preserved near the church. The villagers came across the vault of the underground structure while digging graves in the cemetery above the church. According to old-timers' stories, the monastery cells, which were located on the Pryverkh hill, were connected to the church by passages. Remnants of the entrance to the filled-in cave can be found near the "Monk's Pit" meadow, where the monastery was located. In short, this place is still waiting for researchers who would reveal the secret of the dungeon.

The beginning of its construction dates back to 1686, when the Galician zemstvo judge Andrii Zhurakovskyi transferred land in Patskiv to the Basilian Fathers for the construction of a monastery and built a stone church at his own expense. By the way, above the entrance to the church, the founder himself is depicted praying before the crucifixion and his coat of arms (Sas) with two Latin letters A and Z (AndrzejZurakowski). The church was consecrated in 1691 by Orthodox Bishop Joseph Stojka of Maramorosh, whom Andrzej Zurakowski secretly brought from Zakarpattia. In 1792, the new Austrian authorities liquidated the monastery and transferred the monks to the neighboring Hoshiv Monastery. By the way, locals talk about the existence of an underground passage from their church to Hoshiv.

If you are traveling to the Pacykivka church from Lviv or Ivano-Frankivsk, you will definitely pass through the town of Vyhoda. Some 150 years ago, Vyhoda was just a suburb of Patsykiv. Now it's the other way around. At the end of the nineteenth century, Baron Leopold Popper von Podhary moved his company's headquarters from Hungary to Galicia, built a tartak near Vyhoda, and laid a narrow-gauge railway. Of course, Vyhoda cannot boast of any old historical buildings, but there is the Carpathian Tram and the Baron Popper House, which are popular with tourists. The Baron Popper's House houses the chic Vyhoda Railway Heritage Center Museum. Few regional centers can boast of such a museum.

The royal gates from the local Assumption Church (1692) are on display at the Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv.