Staryi Vovchynets ( uk, Старий Вовчинець; ro, Volcineț) is a village in Chernivtsi Raion,

Chernivtsi Oblast Chernivtsi Oblast ( uk, Черніве́цька о́бласть, Chernivetska oblast), also referred to as Chernivechchyna ( uk, Чернівеччина) is an oblast (province) in Western Ukraine, consisting of the northern parts of the reg ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

. It belongs to Kamianka rural hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The Staryi Vovchynets village council is the body of the local authority that administers the villages of Stary Vovchynets and Bila Krynytsia. Bila Krynytsia (Ukrainian: Біла Криниця; Romanian: ) village is located a few hundred metres north of the border with

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. In Ukrainian and Romanian, as well as in Russian (Белая Криница), its name means "white well". A 2007 estimate puts the population at 169, of whom over three-quarters are

Lipovans , flag = Flag of the Lipovans.png , flag_caption = Flag of the Lipovans , image = Evstafiev-lipovane-slava-cherkeza.jpg , caption = Lipovans during a ceremony in front of the Lipovan church in the Romanian village of Slava Cercheză in 200 ...

. Founded in 1784, the village was the seat of the first hierarch within the

Orthodox Old-Rite Church The Lipovan Orthodox Old-Rite Church (or Orthodox Old-ritualist Church, Orthodox Old-Rite Church, ro, Biserica Ortodoxă de Rit Vechi din România) is the Romanian Old Believer jurisdiction of the Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy. The head of the Churc ...

's Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy until 1940. At that point, due to the Soviet occupation of Northern Bukovina, it moved to

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2011 Romanian census there were 180,302 pe ...

from two reasons: fear of persecution by the Soviet authorities and the fact that it was the only Lipovan village in Northern Bukovina. All other vicariates in its territory were located either in Southern Bukovina, which remained in Romania, or in other parts of Romania. In 1941, the village was the site of the Fântâna Albă massacre. Until 18 July 2020, Staryi Vovchynets belonged to Hlyboka Raion. The raion was abolished in July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Chernivtsi Oblast to three. The area of Hlyboka Raion was merged into Chernivtsi Raion.

References

{{coord, 48, 00, 15, N, 25, 56, 16, E, display=title, region:UA_type:city Villages in Chernivtsi Raion