Trakhtemyriv Monastery

Trakhtemyriv Monastery [Трахтемиривський монастир; Trakhtemyrivskyi monastyr]. An Orthodox monastery that was located near the town of Trakhtemyriv and the village of Zarubyntsi on the right bank of the Dnipro River in the northern part (since ca 1970) of Kaniv raion, Cherkasy oblast. It was once part of the older nearby Zarubnytsi Monastery and, as such, was commonly known also by that name. Little is known of its early history. In 1578 the Polish king Stephen Báthory gave the monastery to the Registered Cossacks for use as a hospital; wounded and ill Cossacks were treated by the monks, and often retired to live in the area. It was also used as a staging area for Cossack military campaigns, and the town served almost as a capital for the Zaporozhian Host. Ruined by a Polish army following the rebellion led by Pavlo Pavliuk in 1637, it was rebuilt under Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who granted it land and villages on the condition that it continue to aid Cossacks. It was destroyed by a Turkish attack in 1678, and most of the people in the surrounding villages fled the area. The Trakhtemyriv hospital remained an important symbol of Cossack autonomy, and as late as 1710 (in the Constitution of Bendery) the Cossacks were demanding that it be returned to them.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]