Monastery of the Annunciation (Supraśl)
The Monastery of the Annunciation (Polish Monaster Zwiastowania Przenajświętszej Bogurodzicy i św. Jana Teologa ) in Supraśl is a monastery of the Polish Orthodox Church .
It was founded around 1498/1503 and closed in 1915. It has been in use again since 1951 and officially operated since 1989.
history
Before 1497 an Orthodox community was established in Grodek . The first monks probably came from the Balkans ( Athos ) and from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra . They were supported by the voivode Alexander Chodkiewicz and Archbishop Josef Soltan of Smolensk. A few years later (1501/1503?) The site was moved a few kilometers further to the Supraśl River. Around 1501 (1507?) The first wooden church of John the Evangelist was built. In 1505 the foundation of the monastery was confirmed by Patriarch Joachim I of Constantinople , and soon afterwards by King Alexander of Poland. In 1510 the stone church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built.
The monastery grew rapidly. It soon became the second most important Orthodox monastery in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . In 1532 the head of the monastery Sergius Kimbar was given the rank of Archimandrite . In 1557 there were already 200 manuscripts and incunabula in the library of the monastery . The monastery maintained close contacts with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church . In 1582 the patriarch Gabriel visited the monastery. The frescoes inside the church also show Byzantine influences from the Balkans.
As early as 1609 the monastery joined the new Uniate Church and was handed over to the Order of the Basilians in 1635 . Most of the buildings were subsequently rebuilt in the Baroque style. A printing house was established that published more than 350 prints in Latin , Polish and Ruthenian .
In 1796 the monastery complex was confiscated by the new Prussian authorities, but could continue to exist. Since 1807 the area belonged to the Russian Empire . In 1823 the Polish Slavist Michał Bobrowski discovered an extensive Old Slavonic manuscript in the library , the Codex Suprasliensis , which is now part of the world's document heritage . In 1824 the monastery became Orthodox again.
In 1915 the monastery was closed. An agricultural school was set up there in the 1920s and later handed over to Silesian nobles. In 1939 the complex became a Red Army barracks and the church a repair shop. In 1944 the Church of the Annunciation was blown up by the German armed forces.
Since 1951, a small part of the monastery could be used again by Orthodox monks. The greater part was used by the state. In 1984 the reconstruction of the Church of the Annunciation began and the religious house reopened. In 1989 the monastery was officially re-established and the last buildings were returned in 1996.
Web links
- Monastery of the Annunciation (German)
Coordinates: 53 ° 12 ′ 39.2 " N , 23 ° 20 ′ 13.8" E