Church of St. Nicholas, Kalush

Like many churches in Ukraine, the Church of St. Nicholas in the village of Khatyn (today - the district of the city of Kalush) has experienced many in its history.

This wooden church in the style of the Ukrainian Baroque was erected in 1888 and was < strong>the main church of the village. To create it, craftsmen from the neighboring village who were building many churches in the district were involved. Together with the church was erected a belfry, which originally housed two small cast bells.

The iconostasis of the church can rightly be considered its decoration and one of the unique features. The icon "The Last Supper" differs from the traditional images of this event: the table, behind which Christ and his disciples sit, is located at an angle that is not characteristic of other icons. The church also preserved the relics of St. Nicholas, brought by Andrei Sheptytsky in 1938, the relics of St. Luke and Jehoshaphat, brought to the temple in the 1990s. Behind the church gates today you can see a symbolic mound, which is made in memory of all freedom fightersand independenceof the Ukrainian state. Wall paintings appeared in the 30s of the last century thanks to the efforts of local artists.

The church experienced ups and downs, but it always remained the center of life for the inhabitants of Khatyn. Until the beginning of World War II, the church also facilitated and oversaw the activities of public organizations. The brotherhood of sobriety, acting under the patronage of the church, numbered almost a third of the population of Khatyn, as evidenced by the archives for 1885. She enjoyed the attention and location of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who visited it in 1934 and 1938. The church operated until 1946, when it was transferred to the control of the ROC. In 1961 the church was closed, and in 1961 it was turned into a museum of atheism. Only in 1989 the church again returned the communityKhatyn. In December of the same year, she moved to the bosom of the GKC. In 1991, Janusz Felčiński church was presented with a bell.

In 2013, on the day of the 125th anniversary of the church, another belfry was built, consecrated by Metropolitan Oleg Kaskov. The construction of the belfry did not remain without public attention and assistance. Lay laymen, public figures, businessmen and enterprises actively sponsoredthe decoration and restoration of the temple.