Women’s Monastery in Kopashnevo. Part One.

Kopashnevo (ukr: Копа�?ново) is found in the Hust region of Transcapatia and is located 245 meters above the sea level. The records of Kopashnevo date all the way back to 1396. The village is fairly spread out and is surrounded by what I would call little suburbs each of which is really a smaller village in itself. Unusually frequent occurrence of both Greek orthodox and Greek Catholic churches is something that immediately catches one’s eye in Kopashnevo.

On the central street alone, one can encounter a variety of churches including Greek Catholic Church of Rojdestva Svyatoy Bogorodicy (Holy Mother of God), Greek Orthodox Church of Rojdestva Sviatoy Bogorodicy (Holy Mother of God), Greek Orthodox Church of Pokrova Svyatoy Bogorodicy, Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (actually found in the nearby Mala Luka), Greek Orthodox Church of Prophet Saint Ilia (located in Hustec). From the standpoint of a tourist though, one of the most interesting religious institutions of the region by far is the women’s monastery of Saint John the Theologist located about 13 kilometers outside of Kopashnevo in the smaller village of Polyana. I should say that the Capitalized names of the churches were found on the sign on one of the central intersections and in reality are spelled completely differently.

Getting to the monastery turned out to be no easy mission by any means. Due to the recent landslides parts of the 13 km road were completely unusable leaving us with little choice but to hike the last 4 km to the final destination.



The monastery was founded by the Kopashnevo’s local priest, George Keniz, in 1936. Keniz designated 0.5 acres of his own land for the building to be constructed on while the rest of it was transferred over to the future monastery via his final will. The construction took over 4 years and commenced with the initial installation of a tiny oratory and it wasn’t until the 1952 that the building containing eight cells was completed. In fact, the foundation of the church was installed around this very tiny oratory. The belfry with the 1936 Akkord- made bell was erected right next to the monastery. In spite of these efforts, the subsequent fate of the monastery was quite rough. In 1958, its land was found to violate the USSR policies at the time and seven of its nine hectares were taken away. In the sixties things got much worse as the monastery was shut down all together. The building containing the cells was completely demolished; however, the church and belfry were left untouched.

Almost 40 years later, in the 1992, the re-construction efforts had begun and two new buildings with cells along with a small church of All the Saints were built from scratch. Currently, the monastery is managed by the nun Lubov although the first nun was Magdalina (known by the name of Maria Shelemba).

Some pictures of the trip follow. After a hike along the steep hill, you’re facing the stone fence.



This is what the inner yard looks like



This object right here is known to selected few as “volynyanka”. It serves as a solid proof of my theory that visiting the monastery during the harsh weather conditions should not be taken lightly.



The nuns rely heavily on nature for getting by. They produce their own honey, they use the spring water and take care of some domestic animals, etc. By the way, the buildings seen at the back are actually newly constructed cells, which I mentioned above.



They even have a small lake... and yes…it’s full of fish.




Women’s monastery of the Kopashnevo village. Part Two.

05.10.2010. 08:06

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