Manyava Skete of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, (also transliterated as Maniava or Manjava Skete), otherwise known as Ukrainian Athos, is an Orthodox solitary-cell men's monastery (

skete A skete () is a monastic community in Eastern Christianity that allows relative isolation for monks, but also allows for communal services and the safety of shared resources and protection. It is one of four types of early monastic orders, alo ...

) in the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

of western

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It is situated on the outskirts of the village of

Maniava Maniava or Manyava (, ) is a village of about 3,500 people located on the banks of the Maniavka River in Ivano-Frankivsk Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast of Western Ukraine. It is situated in the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains. Maniava belongs to So ...

Ivano-Frankivsk Raion Ivano-Frankivsk Raion () is a raion (district) of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine. It was created in July 2020 as part of the reform of administrative divisions of Ukraine. The center of the raion is the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. Five abolished ra ...

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna () or simply Frankivshchyna, is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (region) in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. It has a pop ...

and belongs to the

Orthodox Church of Ukraine The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (; OCU), also called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, is an Eastern Orthodox Church in Ukraine. It was granted autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople on . Some of the Eastern Orthodox Churche ...

. Hegumen of the monastery is Ioasaf, metropolitan of Ivano-Frankivsk and Halych. Currently there are 8 monks residing at the monastery. Manyava Skete is famous for the apparition of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

who appeared here twice and for its miracle-working icon of Manyava Icon of

Mother of God ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are or (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer ...

. The icon "cried" twice, shedding myrrh (supernatural oil) in 2004 and last in spring of 2012. These events were widely reported by the Ukrainian news and TV media. Thousands of Orthodox pilgrims arrive here during the year.

History

It played an imported role as an Orthodox spiritual center during the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1628 at the Kyiv church synod Manyava Skete was granted the status of "prot", the principal heading monastery over the monasteries in the Ruthenian,

Belz Belz (, ; ; ) is a small city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine, located near the border with Poland between the Solokiya River (a tributary of the Bug River) and the Richytsia stream. Belz hosts the administration of Belz urban hromada, one of ...

and

Podolian Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features ...

Voivodeships. Over 500 monasteries in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania were under its control. The Orthodox monastery of Manyava was founded and developed in the period between 1606 - 1785. The founding father of the monastery is Saint Job of Maniava, who was a monk on

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...

in Greece for some time before. In 1606, together with Ivan Vyshensky and religious writer Zakhariya Kopystensky of

Kyiv Pechersk lavra The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra or Kyievo-Pecherska Lavra (), also known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, is a historic lavra or large monastery of Eastern Christianity that gave its name to the Pecherskyi District where it is located in Kyiv. Sin ...

he organized the first monk community here. In 1618 there were 40 monks residing in the skete. In 1621 the monastery was granted

stauropegic A stauropegion, also spelled stavropegion (from , in turn from σταυρός ''stauros'' "cross" and πήγνυμι ''pegnumi'' "to affirm"), is a monastery or a parish which depends directly on the Primate (bishop), primate or on the Holy Sy ...

status and that meant its direct subordination to the

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

. Right after its renovation in 1781, it was unexpectedly closed down by Austrian authorities on 1 July 1785. The monastery in Maniava was reestablished with the collapse of communism in Ukraine in the early 1990s, nearly 200 years later. The clairvoyant

hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen (, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, or an archpriest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of ...

Ioann / John (in the world: ''Vasyl Hrynyuk''), known for his kind-heartedness, was the first head of Manyava Skete after it was reopened. Many Orthodox faithful from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

sought his help. Having foreseen his death, he died in 2003 and is buried on the site of the monastery and his grave is much venerated by the Orthodox pilgrims.

Marian apparitions

In 1652 there was the plague

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

in the skete and the neighbouring areas. Many monks were dying from it. The remaining monks were pleading to

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

for mercy. On 22 December 1652, the Manyava

hieromonk A hieromonk,; Church Slavonic, Slavonic: ''Иеромонахъ''; ; ; ; ; Albanian language, Albanian: ''Hieromurg'' also called a priestmonk, is a person who is both monk and Priest#Roman Catholic and Orthodox, priest in the Eastern Christianity ...

Filaret had a dream vision of Blessed

Theotokos ''Theotokos'' ( Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are or (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-beare ...

being dressed in a red hegumen's cloak, who came in through the monastery gates and entered the Church of Annunciation of Virgin Mary and having stopped there, said. "The plague will already stop". In remembrance of this event there is an icon "

Hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen (, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, or an archpriest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of ...

ia of the Manyava monastery" kept in the skete.

Churches in the skete

In Manyva Skete there are three churches. The main one of the

Exaltation of the Holy Cross The Feast of the Holy Cross, or Feast of the Cross, commemorates the cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus. In the Christian liturgical calendar, there are several different celebrations which honor and celebrate the cross used in the crucifi ...

, the second church is of the holy martyrs Borys and Hlib and besides these there is also an underground church dedicated to

Archangel Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second ...

Prominent visitors

The second President of Ukraine,

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (, ; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine, serving from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. The only president of Ukraine to serve two terms, his presidency was marked by demo ...

visited the place and supported the restoration of the monastery. Other presidents of Ukraine, such as

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko (, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards Western world, the West, European Union, and N ...

, Georgian President

Mikhail Saakashvili Michael is a common masculine given name derived from the Hebrew phrase ''mī kāʼēl'', 'Who slike-El', in Aramaic: ܡܝܟܐܝܠ (''Mīkhāʼēl'' ). The theophoric name is often read as a rhetorical question – "Who slike he Hebrew Go ...

, and Russian President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

all visited the Manyava Skete. Patriarch Filaret and many of the hierarchs of the

visit Maniava Skete on a regular basis.

Blessed Stone and sacred spring

Manyava Skete is also famous for its "Blessed Stone", regarded as a place of prayer and spiritual purification. The stone reminds a giant cave with the space of 10 x 3 meters, a typical dwelling of the solitary monks, a

. This was a first place, where the founding monks (the first apostles of the subcarpathian highland) settled in the 13th century. The spring of healing water emits from underneath the Blessed Stone. It is said that the water has the same healing properties as the waters of

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for its Château fort, a ...

. The spring ceased when the monastery was closed and miraculously started flowing again with the reopening of Maniava Skete.

References

External links

Manyava Skete - Official homepage

Manyava Skete, official site of Ivano-Frankivsk bishopric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate

Manjava Skete: Ukrainian Monastic Writings of the Seventeenth Century (Cistercian Studies Number 192)
(paperback)
Sacred places of the monastery
(Ukrainian) {{Commons category, Maniava monastery Monasteries of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Sketes in Ukraine Churches of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Marian apparitions Shrines to the Virgin Mary Convents in Ukraine Sacred springs History of Christianity in Ukraine