Monastery of St. Job of Pochaev (Ladomirova)

In the early 1920s, in this area, the population of several villages returned from Uniatism to Orthodoxy. The initiators of such a transition here were local peasants who had gone to work in America and who converted to Orthodoxy there. Nevertheless, the Orthodox priest was not there.

Archimandrite Vitaly (Maksimenko) , who was expelled from the Pochaev Lavra by the Polish authorities, found out about this. He arrived in Ladomirova on March 25, 1923, where, together with the monks who joined him, began to create a new monastery hearth. ^[1] . Archimandrite Vitaly set his goal as a missionary activity to spread Orthodoxy in Pryashevskaya Rus and, in addition, to create a printing press on behalf of the Synod of ROCOR that would continue the tradition of Pochaev.

On October 29, 1923, on the proposal of Archimandrite Vitaly, Archbishop Savvaty (Vrabets) approved the formation of a Missionary Camp in Slovakia and appointed Archimandrite Vitaly as the Head of Mission. On November 21, 1923, the stone church of St. Michael the Archangel was laid. The consecration of the foundation was made by Bishop Benjamin (Fedchenkov) in the service of Archimandrite Vitaly. The construction of the church according to the project of engineer Vladimir Leontyev was completed a year later, and it was consecrated by Archbishop Savvaty.

In January 1924, a monastic printing house began work on a tavern in Vyshny Swidnik, in a rented premise on the second floor. In the same year, next to the Mikhailovsky Church, the construction of a wooden house began, in which the mission and printing house were to be located. The monk Ignatius (Chokina) , the first local vigilante who recently entered the fraternity, participated in the construction. Construction was completed in 1926, and the printing house moved to Ladomirova.

Later, a large printing house with a house church, a refectory, an economic building, a stranger and a stone chapel of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God were erected at a military cemetery in Ladomirova, where there were mass graves of Russian soldiers who fell in the World War.

Archbishop Nathanael (Lviv) later wrote that Archimandrite Vitaliy began work on establishing a printing house with Prague Russian students who “came to him on vaccination, on the recommendation of the Bishop of Prague, Sergius . Few held on about. Vitaly. The living conditions were too harsh . ”

Yuri Lazho , who was a deputy of the Czechoslovak parliament in 1920-1924 and who actively defended the rights of Transcarpathian Rusyns, greatly assisted in founding a printing house and Orthodox mission in Ladomirova. He was also the organizer of the Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Vyshny Zvidnik . Yuri Lajot collaborated with the mission until his death on May 29, 1929.

In 1934, Archimandrite Vitaly was consecrated bishop and sent to New York to feed the Russian emigrants in America. Vladyka left Archimandrite Seraphim (Ivanov) as his brother-in-brother.

During the Second World War, church literature printed in Ladomirova was distributed among believers from Soviet Stalingrad to Bavarian Munich.

July 31, 1944, in view of the approach of the Red Army, in accordance with the instructions of Metropolitan Anastasius, “in the case of the Bolsheviks coming, taking with them the main shrines, to leave the whole brethren in all possible ways,” most of the inhabitants left the monastery. On the day of memory of St. Seraphim of Sarov ( August 1, according to the new style), the monks served the divine liturgy and parting prayer and moved to Bratislava, then to Germany and Switzerland .

During the fighting in the fall of 1944, the mission building in Ladomirova was badly damaged by the bombing of Soviet aircraft: the printing house, the economic building, the refectory, the stranger and the sheds were turned into ruins, only the monastery church survived.

By January 1945, three inhabitants voluntarily remained in Ladomirova: elevated to the rank of Archimandrite Savva (Struve), who had Czechoslovak citizenship, monk Vyacheslav (Nesterenko) and novice Vasily Vinokurov. Shortly before the arrival of Soviet troops, the Slovak communists painted a sickle and a hammer, a five-pointed star on the walls of the monastery church and wrote: “Priests are kats!” [Executioners], “Death to the ass!”, Etc. However, the monastery in Ladomirova is nourished by the bishop of Prague, Sergius (Queen) existed for more than a year.

In 1945, Archimandrite Savva (Struve) petitioned the local authorities for compensation for material damage caused to the monastery. He estimated the total amount of damage at 1,860,762 Czechoslovak crowns . However, no compensation was paid and the monastery in Ladomirova was no longer reborn ^[2] .

In Ladomirova there remained a monastery church with a small cemetery, on which seven inhabitants of the monastery are buried ^[3] . The parish house has also been preserved. Despite the fact that the monastery has not existed for several decades, the village of Ladomirova is an important pilgrimage site for Orthodox believers ^[4] .

On September 13, 2008, the official meeting of the Bishops of Cleveland Peter (Lukyanov) , and Khotinsky Meletius (Egorenko) and members of the delegation of the Russian Church Abroad with Archbishop Presovsky John (Golonich) , Bishop Komarinsky Tikhon (Holloshi) and representatives of the Presov Eparchy took place . During the meeting held in the diocesan administration, the parties discussed the possibility of the revival of monastic life in the former Ladomir monastery, which is now the parish of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. After that, the hierarchs and clergy went to Ladomirovo, where they took part in the so-called “leave”, that is, in the pilgrimage of Orthodox believers in Slovakia to Ladomirovo ^[5] .

The Orthodox Church of the Czech lands and Slovakia seeks to revive the monastery, however, as Metropolitan Christopher notes, this cannot be done “because of the dominance of the Uniates ”: “We are deprived of even the opportunity to enter the temple, and where the monastery gates were, the Uniates bred goats. Nevertheless, we do not give up hope to redeem the monastic land and revive the monastery. ” ^[6]

• 1923-1934 - Archimandrite Vitaliy (Maksimenko)
• 1934-1944 - Archimandrite Seraphim (Ivanov)
• 1944-1946 - Archimandrite Savva (Struve)

• 1938-1942 - Vitaly (Ustinov) , Metropolitan, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
• 1941-1944 - Laurel (Shkurla) , Metropolitan, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
• 1932-1944 - Cyprian (Pyzhov) , archimandrite, famous icon painter
• 1939-1944 - Nathanael (Lviv) , archbishop
• 1942-1944 - Sergius (Chetverikov) , hieromonk
• until 1944 - Agapit (Kryzhanovsky) , bishop
• the second half of the 1930s - Methodius (Kanchuga) , Bishop Trebishovsky

• Harbulova L. Ladomirovske reminiscencie: Z dejin ruskej pravoslavnej misie v Ladomirovej: 1923-1944. - Presov: Pravoslavna bohoslovska faculta Presovskej University v Presove, 2000 .-- 127 p.
• A collection of materials on the history of the Holy Trinity Seminary: On the fiftieth anniversary of the Holy Trinity Seminary: 1948-2003. - Jordanville: Holy Trinity Monastery, 2003. - 256 p.
• MV Shkarovsky Monastery of St. Job of Pochaev in Slovakia // Diaspora: New materials. T. IX. SPb; Paris: Athenaeum-Phoenix. - 2007. - S. 296-321.
• Hieromonk Evfimiy (Logvinov) On the Pochayiv tradition in the Russian Diaspora // Materials of the annual theological conference. 2007.Vol. 1. S. 290-296.
• V.E. Kolupaev . The Orthodox Book of the Russian Diaspora of the First Half of the 20th Century: From the History of the Printing Brotherhood of Job Pochaevsky, Volyn - Karpaty, 1903-1944. Monograph. M .: Pashkov House Publishing House, 2010 . 272 p., Ill. ISBN 978-5-7510-0432-3
• V. G. Pidgayko, V. V. Burega. Job of the Pochaev Rev. Monastery // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2011. - T. XXV. - S. 344-349. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89572-046-2 .
• Deacon Andrei Psarev, VV Burega Brotherhood of the Rev. Job Pochaevsky and their role in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia // Trudy of the Kiev Theological Academy No. 16. Kiev. 2012, pp. 278-293
• Mgr. Marián Derco Krátko z histórie a súčasnosti pravoslávneho Monastiera Prepodobného Jóva Počajevského v Ladomirovej // PRAVOSLÁVIE A SÚČASNOSŤ. Zborník príspevkov z VIII. vedeckej konferencie študentov, absolventov a mladých vedeckých pracovníkov Prešov, 5. apríl 2016. ISBN 978-80-555-1671-4 , pp. 78-83
• A. N. Kashevarov Publishing activity of the monastic fraternity of the Monk Job of Pochaev in 1923-1944 in Slovakia. To the 95th anniversary of the foundation // Christian reading . 2018. - No. 5 - pp. 225—236
• Helena Ducárová Pravoslávný monastier Jova Počajovského v Ladomirovej // rusyn.sk