St. Onuphrius Monastery

St. Onuphrius Monastery is a Orthodox male monastery in Jabłeczna, Poland. The monastery was founded no later than the late 15th century. According to legend, its establishment was determined by the miraculous appearance of the icon of St. Onuphrius above the Bug river. Thanks to successive land grants from the subsequent owners of Jabłeczna, the monastery became a significant center of Orthodox worship in Chełm Land.

After the Union of Brest, the monks of Jabłeczna refused to accept its provisions and, despite pressure, remained Orthodox, remaining an important center of dissenters until the fall of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The situation of the monastery underwent a total change after the three partitions of Poland and the establishment of the Congress Poland in personal union with Russia. From then on, the monastery was financially supported by the Russian authorities and, at their behest, engaged in promoting Orthodoxy and Russification of Chełm Land, especially after the conversion of Chełm Eparchy in 1875. This was one of the reasons why the monks engaged in social and educational activities. However, the low level of education of the monks, their insufficient number, and the fact that the majority of them were not of Russian nationality meant that the monastery did not fulfill its assigned tasks in terms of promoting Russianness and Orthodoxy among the population of Chełm Land.

Despite restrictions imposed by the authorities of independent Poland due to the role of the monastery during the partitions, the monastery functioned throughout the entire interwar period. During World War II, it was burned down in 1942 by a German border guard unit. However, it formally did not cease to function and remained active throughout the entire period of the Polish People's Republic, despite difficult material conditions (on the orders of the Stalinist authorities, it lost all its assets except residential buildings and churches), as the only male monastery of the Polish Orthodox Church.

Since 1999, it has had the status of a stauropegion monastery and is directly subordinate to the Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland, who manages the community through his representative. There is also a parish attached to the monastery, with the monastery's representative serving as its parson.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Jabłeczna, Poland

Details

Founded: 15th century
Category: Religious sites in Poland