Volkovo (Transcarpathian region)

The first written records of the village have been known since 1314. The village, like all Transcarpathia, has been part of the Kingdom of Hungary since the 10th century. In the sources of the XIV-XVII centuries. the village is known as "Valkaja". This name comes from the Slavic word "wolf".

In the 15th century, the village was the property of the noble families Chaslovtsi (Császlóci) and Kallai (Kállai). Near the village there was a vineyard (first mentioned in 1421), and in the Gurka tract, on the right bank of the Viela (Viela) river, in 1380 a monastery of the Catholic monastic order of the Pavlikians was founded (existed until the middle of the 16th century). In 1427, the Chaslovtsi family had 19 peasant plots and the house of Sholtes here (Sholtes are people who were employed by the settlement of the villages).

Later, in the 16th century, the powerful owners of the Serednyansky castle - the Dobo family, who attach the village to their dominance, became its owners. In addition to the Srednyansky dominance, the Serednyanskaya dominion also included such settlements: the Plant (Ruskie Komarovtsy), Lyakhovtsy, Khudlevo, Dubrovka, Bachava, Irlyava, Kiblyary, Linz and Andrashovtsy (Andreevka). In 1599, peasants Valkaja (Volkovo) were imposed taxes from the 13th port (whole plots).

In the 17th century, the village became an inheritance of the Druget family and their descendants. This was an unfavorable period for its development. However, the worst decades were the first decades of the 18th century when, as a result of the war of the Hungarians against the Austrians under the leadership of Ferenc Rakoczi II (1703-1711) and the subsequent punitive terror from the Austrian army against the local Ruthenian population , which participated in this war on the side of the Hungarians , dozens of villages in Uzhanshchina became uninhabited. The same fate befell the village of Valkaja (Volkovo) - in 1715 its inhabitants were taxed only from 8 peasant households, and in 1717 not a single resident was recorded there.

The re-settlement of the village was slow. Back in 1751, only 4 families lived here, of which it is known that they all came from the village of Turitsa (near Perechin). They did not have their own church, but went to neighboring Lyakhovtsy.

In the second half of the 18th century, during the time of Maria Theresa , the number of villagers increased sharply due to new immigrants. The new nobles of the village, in particular the Gilan family, also took part in this. In 1806, a church census showed that less than 300 Greek Catholics lived in the village, while the local parish was at that time a branch of the village of Ruski Komarovtsy. Somewhere in the same period, a stone church began to be built in the village (it was completely built and consecrated in 1847), and the parish itself became a branch of the Middle. Later, the population increased slightly, but slightly exceeded five thousand, and on the eve of the First World War - in 1908 - a census recorded a total of 319 Greek Catholics, which was obviously the result of the numerous labor migration of Ruthenians to the USA, Canada, Argentina and Belgium.

In the newer history of the village, one can distinguish the Soviet period (1945-1991) and the period of independent Ukraine (1991 - present). At the first stage of the Soviet period (late forties and early fifties) forced collectivization took place, the creation of a collective farm. In practice, this was manifested in the “voluntary-compulsory” transfer of land, livestock, equipment (plows, harrows, etc.) from their owners, including middle peasants, ordinary people to the newly created collective farm. The villagers were also "voluntarily-forced" were forced to become members of the collective farm and work there. Those who did not want to work, as they said “for kalgoz,” tried to go to work in the city, although at that time the peasants (collective farmers) of Transcarpathia (the former part of the Czechoslovak Republic - Subcarpathian Rus , which was annexed to the Soviet Union by decision of the highest political leadership of the USSR -USSR), passports were not issued - and, as you know, they were not accepted without a passport for work. There were also cases when people went to work in mines in the Donbass for example, and after a while, after working there and getting a passport, they returned and got a job in Uzhgorod (by rail, in factories, etc.).

In the sixties and seventies of the 20th century, during the USSR period, collective agriculture developed (there was a state farm ). So, a significant event was a change in the direction of the current (changed towards the village of Dubrovka) of the Vilya river (Viola, Vyela ), which flowed near the village. Reclamation was carried out — the drainage of the surrounding fields, along which the river bed had previously passed, and therefore this area was rather marshy. Subsequently, crops began to be planted there. State farm industrial winemaking also developed - new vineyard plantations were planted, which occupied quite considerable areas near the village on the hillsides. Many locals worked in the vineyards. There were tractor and grape brigades, the corresponding outbuildings were built, apple trees were planted, and later a peach orchard. Also near the village was a state farm livestock farm, which contained a large herd of cows and sheep. The greatest peak in the development of collective agriculture (state farm) occurred in the so-called "stagnation times" - the second half of the sixties - 70s of the 20th century. After 1985, with the beginning of " perestroika " and the coming to power of M. Gorbachev , the so-called " anti-alcohol campaign " hit the local winemaking rather painfully. After the collapse of the USSR (1991), the gradual decline of the state farm (collective agriculture) began. Most of the vineyards near the village, planted on the state farm during the Soviet period, gradually began to decline and today (2018) have almost completely disappeared or some of them, which still remain and belong to the state-owned enterprise LEANKA Agroindustrial Firm , are located in a In those places near the village on the hillsides where significant vineyards were once planted and cultivated, including varieties of "chobodin", "zolodin" gradually overgrown with bushes and grass. the farm building of the state farm grape brigade is growing and weedy; the building of the former livestock farm has been completely dismantled.

Traditional for the residents of the village, as well as for many residents of the Transcarpathian villages (except for the highlands), there is home winemaking. In almost every yard, near the house, a vine is grown (there are vineyards - “meadows”) and homemade wine is made from its own grapes. And some even have their own small vineyards.

In the 1950s in the village, including thanks to the efforts of local residents who talked about how they participated in the construction, a rather large Club building was erected, in which a cinema hall and a library functioned. The club was a venue for public celebrations in the village, leisure and recreation for youth, a venue for meetings (meetings) of villagers. From the late 1990s to the beginning of 2000 its decline began, there was a gradual destruction of the building in the absence of necessary repairs, with complete inaction of the authorities and authorized organizations to resolve this issue. Currently (2018) the Club building has almost completely collapsed and has become unusable.

Near the village there was a narrow gauge railway Uzhgorod - Antalovtsy , built during the period of Austria-Hungary. A train was running that carried passengers, although it moved slowly. In 1976, the narrow gauge railway, as obsolete and unprofitable, ceased operation and was dismantled.

In 2004-2005 the village was gasified. At low gas prices during this period, gasification made it possible to provide efficient and inexpensive heating of the houses of the villagers. Also, in the period of 2009-2011, due to investment projects, the supports of power lines (Uzhgorod RES, PJSC "Zakarpattyoblenergo") were completely replaced from old-wooden to new concrete, and free-of-charge replacement of consumer meters with more modern ones was carried out.

In 2017-18. (thanks to the efforts of local activists) the district road maintenance organization carried out the current repair of a section (3.5 km) of the regional highway from the international highway to the village of Volkovo.

In 2016, the village was provided with high-speed Internet access using fiber-optic cable using FTTV technology (Fiber To The Building, “optical cable to the house”) by the provider, OOO Yarkom.

In the village, on the basis of the buildings of the rural elementary school and kindergarten, the municipal organization "VOVKOVETSKY EDUCATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL COMPLEX" Preschool educational institution - a comprehensive school of the Ist level of the MUNICIPAL PROPERTY of the Serednyansky village council - "NEC Vovkovetsky" is functioning. (Director - M. Lutnyanskaya).

History of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The wooden church once stood just below the current typical stone church, which was returned to the Greek Catholics in the early 1990s. According to the record of Michael Godinki in the old church gospel, the church was built in 1847 , “set up” in 1876, renovated in 1912, and in 1936, when expenses amounted to 20 thousand crowns. At first, the church was covered with shingles, then with eternite, later with tin. In 2010, the roof of the church was completely replaced with a new one, of higher quality, and the bell dome was made of gilded metal.

In 1958, electricity was supplied to the church. In 1978, with the priest Fr. Vasily Terpay, curators of the church Ivan Bakasy and Ivan Verbich, artist F. Reshetar and his son updated the interior of the church. The beautiful Iconography is cleansed, but not redrawn. This work was performed by the artist Oleg Goral, as well as Vasily Gladun and Igor Mosel.

According to the inscription on one of the bells: it was cast in 1924 in memory of the First World War (1914-1918) , in which the villagers also participated, some of whom died or went missing in its fields battles. It is also indicated on another bell that it was cast at the expense of the natives of the village who went to the USA to earn money.

In 2018, through the efforts of the church community and priest Fr. Mikhail Podgorsky at the entrance to the church on the wall there is a marble table with a list-chronology of priests who served in the church from the time of its construction to the modern period. Also, a walkway paved with paving tiles from the gate from the street to the church was made. The cross was updated and consecrated in a cemetery near the church during a service in honor of Memorial Day in November 2018.

The church and the Greek Catholic religious community of the village belong to the Mukachevo Greek Catholic Diocese of Transcarpathian region, which is a separate “church of its own right” ( “sui juris” ), has autonomous status and is not subordinate to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The religious community established a large 13-meter metal cross with the Crucifixion of Jesus at the highest point near the village hill (186 m.) In honor of the celebration of the Cross of Jesus.

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  near s. Volkovo, spring

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  The village church, (photo 2017)

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  Church s. Volkovo

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  Chapel in honor of St. Mary

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  Bell with an inscription in honor of the World War 1914-1918, Volkova 1924

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  Iconostasis Church

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  Inside the church (2017)

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  In the church

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  Photo of a railway stop (20-30), the place where the narrow-gauge railway train Uzhgorod-Antalovtsy (Antonovka) stopped ran until 1976.

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  The inscription in the room of the curators in the church about her "onovlenie" in 1876

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  Football team s. Volkovo (Kolos) won the Cup tournament in Uzhgorod district (photo 1976). At that time, football was a massive and popular sport.

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  Marble cross at the entrance to the village from the side of the Middle.

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  Swans on an artificial pond near the village

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  The Iron Cross with the Crucifixion (13 m.) Established by the religious community of the village on a hill near the village (186 m.) In honor of the Cross of Jesus

• Volkovo on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Ukrainian)
• Administrative and territorial structure of the Transcarpathian region (Ukrainian)
• “Geographical Dictionary of Hungary” (Description of the settlements of Transcarpathia in the middle of the 19th century), Elek Finesh, translation and streamlining of Joseph Kobal, (Uzhgorod, IVA 2011 LLC)
• Guidebook “European Roots”, Yaroslav Dostal , translation, compilation and additions Yury Mikhailovich Fatula, (Uzhgorod, All-Ukrainian State Publishing House “Karpaty”, 2016)
• “Surnames of Transcarpathian Ukrainians. Historical and etymological dictionary ”, Pavel Chuchka (Lviv, Mir Publishing House, 2005)
• "Articles on Slavic Studies" (Issue 3), edited by ordinary academician V.I. Lamansky, Printing House of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1910