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Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Snovitsy

Фото 1
The parish church was originally located on the site of a male monastery. In a spiritual document from the monk of the Simonov Monastery, Andrian Yarlyk, certified by Metropolitan Jonah in 1461, the Snovitsy Monastery is mentioned as a metropolitan one. In 1504, a grand princely charter from Ivan III granted the monastery immunity from prosecution. Initially, the monastery was managed by igumens, then by archimandrites, and it owned 750 peasants. The monastery was abolished in 1764.

The date when the current stone church was built is unknown. It is two-storied; previously, cells were located on the lower level, and around the church on three sides were covered passages. These passages were later dismantled, and on the northern side in 1758, under Archbishop Antoniy, a side chapel was arranged, as confirmed by an inscription on the church-building cross.

A tall bell tower has been added to the western side of the church: the lower part is quadrangular, the middle is octagonal, and the top is tent-shaped. The bells bear inscriptions: "In 1641, the bell was exchanged in the Volodymyr district for the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the igumen Yefimiya, and the elder Makariy gave three rubles to cast it" and "In 7149, the bell was added to the Snovitsy Monastery by Ivan Fyodorovich Sobolev."

The interior decoration of the temple has lost its ancient appearance due to numerous changes. The church has three altars: the main one on the upper floor in honor of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Above it is a canopy on iron chains depicting the coronation of the Mother of God. On this same floor, in the former gallery, an altar was arranged in honor of St. Simeon the God-receiver and the prophetess Anna in 1758. The third warm altar, in honor of the conception of John the Baptist, is located on the lower floor, in the former brotherly cells.

Among the ancient sacred items in the church, an antimins for the altar of the church in honor of St. Simeon the God-receiver and the prophetess Anna has been preserved. It lacks the bishop's signature and does not indicate the church for which it was consecrated. In the lower altar, there is a linen antimins with the inscription: "this antimins... has the authority to perform sacred rites in the temple of the honorable prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist of the Lord John, which is in the Snovitsy Monastery. Consecrated by Paul, Bishop of Vladimir and Murom in 1764."

Church documents have been preserved in full: copies of metric books since 1803 and confession records since 1828. The church has land: estate land of about 1 desyatina, arable land of 30 desyatinas, and haymaking land of 3 desyatinas. Until 1876, the church of the abolished Snovitsy Monastery had a separate parish and clergy, but in that year, the Ascension Church in the village of Snovitsy with its own parish was attached to it. Thus, a single parish was formed at the Annunciation Church. The clergy staff includes a priest and a psalmist.

Geo point

Церковь Благовещения Пресвятой Богородицы в Сновицах

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