The Churches of the village Velyki Komyaty. General Vatutin

The village Velyki Komyaty (ukr: Великі Комяти, alt: V. Komyaty) of Vynogradiv district was founded in 1345 and is situated at an altitude of 131 m above sea level in the river valley Borzhava. Besides a destroyed wooden synagogue and Jewish cemetery not far from old water mill on the river Borzhava there are also three objects representing at least some historical interest in the village.

The first of them is a monument to General Nikolaj Fyodorovich Vatutin (1901-1944), Hero of the Soviet Union, one of the great generals of the World War II. He used to be an ordinary Red Army soldier and participated in the battles against Makhno in 1920. He was the platoon commander since 1923, captain of the company since 1925, the chief of the division since 1931, Kombryg and then Komdyv from 1939, Chief of Staff of Ukrainian Front from the end of 1939, the Chief of Operations of the General Staff of the Red Army and then lieutenant-general since 1940. Then he was the Chief of Staff of the North-West Front. Among his contributions were the counterblows against General Manstein, in which the Germans seriously went on to Leningrad. Then the Bryansk Front, Voronezh Front, the Battle of Stalingrad, the Srednyj Don, Kursk Duga, Belgorod-Kharkov operation, the battle for the Dnepr, Korsun-Sheychenkovsky . In 1944 he fell into an ambush, was wounded into the leg and died a month later from blood poisoning. His mother has already lost the third son during the war. He was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously in 1965. Monument to Vatutin in Komyaty was erected in 1978. There was a farm named in his honor, as well as a street.



And there is an old hill in the center of the village on which there are two churches, Way of the Cross and the old cemetery. The first wooden church in the village is mentioned in historical documents as early as 1751. According to this data in 1775 the church was already very old and it was falling apart. The First Greek-Catholic Church of St. Archangel Michael was built on this hill in the center of the village in 1790. The church has pronounced transverse nave (transept) apsid type and a high three-tiered tower with an upper part in baroque style. There was an ethnographic museum in the Soviet times. In 1991 the church was returned to the community.



Entrance to the church with a cross in front of it



Three graves with a monument are just above the church. The left one is for Janos Rubar, a local priest, who was repressed in the late 1940's. By the way, he continued the construction of the church, which is slightly higher up the slope, due to the lack of money the construction was stopped for 20 years.

The grave in the form of the monument is for Adam Rubar.



And this is the old Way of the Cross with the chapels and I near the young firs. It is passing through an old cemetery. There are old oak trees on which thousands of crows' nests are around the Way of the Cross. When the crows fly the sound of their cawing is heard everywhere.



You go by yourself, among the graves, thinking about God...



And there is very beautiful statue of Jesus in the territory of the church...



And a little further there is a monument to his fellow campaigner...



Slightly higher up the slope, there is a younger church - the Church of the Holy Spirit, built in 1906. The area is more than 500 square meters. The distinguishing feature is a long nave and the sanctuary, with an equally wide transept, which at times increases the useful area of domestic premises. There are two massive towers over the entrance. The temple looks like a "Romanesque" with the massive walls and small windows. By the way, his design was copied from the famous temple in Amsterdam. The temple was built with the money, which was gathered from believers in the village. Each family had to work for the good of the church once a week. The local Jews and emigrants helped them a little. Not without incident. Once two towers were built and one of them collapsed. Then the decision was taken to disassemble and the second tower and then rebuild anew. Inside the temple there are Bokshay`s fresco.



Near the temple there is a beautiful framed wooden belfry with three bells…



Note the arched entrance and symbols on the sides and top...



Besides in all above mentioned, a settlement of Late Neolithic (15-10 thousand years ago) was found in the village.

It should be noted that quite a few famous people are from Velyki Komyaty. For example, the Ukrainian poet U.V. Borshosh-Kumyatskyj, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A.I. Pushkash, famous doctors P.V. Madyar and IM Grabar, and others.

06.09.2010. 09:57

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