Weekend with Tserkvas
My sightseeing notes
On the last weekend of June, I had the pleasure to visit for the first time the charming Roztocze region, touring a few historic churches and cemeteries hidden between the trees.
Roztocze is a range of hills running from northwest to southeast, from Kraśnik to Lviv. The region is generally split into three parts: the Western, Central, and Eastern. Most of the Eastern Roztocze remain on the Ukrainian side. However, I had the pleasure of visiting only the Polish part of the Eastern Roztocze. The name Roztocze, repeating after Zygmunt Kubrak, comes from the word roztocz, meaning “the spilling of waters that turn in various directions.” Although this region has been inhabited for thousands of years (by the peoples of Trzciniec, Lusatian, and Przeworsk cultures, later Goths, and from the Middle Ages the Lendians), the name of Roztocze seems to come only in the second half of the 19th century, when it started appearing in the magazines on geology and geography of Galicia.
Since the Middle Ages, Roztocze has been a place where various cultures and nationalities converged, land on the border between Poland and Rus, and one might even venture to say that in the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was in its center. Initially inhabited by the Slavic tribe of Lendians, it was flooded by waves of Wallachian-Ruthenian settlers in the late Middle Ages, which intensified even more in the second half of the 16th century. The newcomers brought their language, religion, and traditions with them. The ethnically Polish population was primarily found in the towns, while the villages were mainly of a Russian or mixed character. And that’s probably what did charm me, this promise of a romantic borderland (kresy in Polish), the coexistence of different cultures and languages. The Greek Catholic churches I visited speak in my view of the multicultural history of this region (probably strongly idealized by me, but still) more than the last cemeteries of German colonists hidden in the wilderness of the Kampinos Forest, or historical artifacts, such as the name of Polish Kazuń (Kazuń Polski) as a distinction from German one (Kazuń Niemiecki). My point is that while all of Poland used to be a multicultural melting pot, still standing wooden churches and crosses engraved with Cyrillic script are a more tangible testimony of this to me.
The ubiquitous chapels, crosses, and statues of the Virgin Mary or st. Nepomuk, scattered around the area, along country roads, among fields, and on the outskirts of villages, adds to the charm of the landscape of Roztocze. Often with beseeching or thanksgiving intentions written in Cyrillic. Many of them come from the local stonemason’s center in Stare Brusno. And, of course, wooden churches, mainly Greek Catholic (called tserkvas), hidden in the villages, somewhere between typical modern brick houses.
I leave my notes below.
Orthodox church complex in Radruż
I was definitely most impressed by the church complex in Radruż with the historic wooden tserkva of st. Paraskeva being the oldest wooden monument of sacral architecture in Poland (as the guide assured us based on dendrological research, he said). Built at the end of the 16th century, initially as a Greek Catholic church, it was also used by the local Roman Catholic community (an argument on the ability to peacefully coexisting different religions in the borderlands), hence the two typically Roman Catholic side altars inside. The complex also includes a belfry from the 16th century and a stone wall (which replaced the original wooden palisade) with a 19th-century morgue. In addition, you can find two old cemeteries with tombstones made of Brusno stone in front of the main gate and in the nearby forest. The complex is on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2013.
Orthodox church of st. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Radruż
Quite close to the tserkva mentioned above, also on the left bank of the Radrużka stream, there stands a second temple. I am talking about the Greek Catholic church of st. Nicholas the Wonderworker that was built in 1931 as a branch temple of the parish at the st. Paraskeva church. Renovated in the 1970s and in 2015–16. The church is located on a hill overlooking private land, with a pond and pink flamingo (puffed) floating there occasionally.
Tserkva of st. Nicholas in Hrebenne
In Hrebenne, on a hill overlooking the Polish-Ukrainian border crossing (although that direction is obscured by trees, so you’re left with a view of the lorry queue), there is also a wooden church. Built sometime at the end of the 17th century (most probably in 1697), it is one of the oldest three-domed churches in the region. Unlike the tserkva in Radruż, which is now only a museum branch, this one is still used as a church, serving the faithful of Greek and Roman rites. While visiting this church, I had the opportunity to find myself behind the iconostasis for the first time in my life, visit the presbytery and sacristy. But, of course, not through the Beautiful Gates. Next to the church, there stands a wooden belfry from the 17th century.
Orthodox church of st. Paraskeva in Łówcza
Former Greek Catholic church of st. Paraskeva, erected in 1808 in place of the previous one, currently serves as a Roman Catholic chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows. Interestingly, it originally had the appearance of a Latin church. In 1899 it was rebuilt, and only then it acquired the features of the orthodox church architecture (a dome and narthex). You can find several tombstones at the church cemetery and a characteristic monument in memory of Ignacy d’Thullie with the inscription: Wife for her husband. Look! Here is a stone statue. Death’s memento over the cold grave. Cry with sorrow and expiation. Here a husband and a father found their resting place.
Orthodox church of Paraskeva the Martyr in Nowe Brusno
The date of construction of the church in Nowe Brusno remains unknown, but it is estimated that it could have been built in 1676, the earliest, and in 1790 at the latest. Rebuilt in 1903–1906. Surrounded initially by canopies, when a new narthex was added after the reconstruction, the external roofing was removed. In 1994, the most recent conservation works began. There is a charming cemetery nearby in a grove at the edge of the field. When you stand at the front of the church and try to take in its entire mass (or fit in the lens), you will surely lean your back against the wire mesh that encloses an adjacent ordinary modern house, field, and barn. Here is a historical monument hidden in the countryside.
Ruins of a brick church in Kniazie
Orthodox church of st. Paraskeva (who else) in Kniazie was erected between 1798 and 1806, funded by the Lubycz Knyazes (princes), descendants of the Wolochs Jakub and Miczka, who in the fifteenth century received a privilege here — a hereditary princeship (kniazostwo). The tserkva is round and built out of brick on the plan of a Greek cross. Damaged during World War II, it was not renovated afterward and fell into ruin. It is currently in deplorable condition, and it is spray-smeared both inside and out. The tserkva recently appeared in Paweł Pawlikowski’s film “Cold War”, but somehow it did not seem to help prevent it from deterioration. Sadly.
