Hustynia Trinity Monastery

Hustynia Trinity Monastery. A men's monastery founded by the monk Ioasaf before 1612 on the domains of Prince Mykhailo Vyshnevetsky in the village of Hustynia near Pryluky in the Poltava region. Its construction was completed by Metropolitan Isaia Kopynsky and financed by Princess Raina Vyshnevetska. In 1636 the monastery burned down and was abandoned. It was rebuilt in 1639 by Hegumen I. Torsky on Metropolitan Petro Mohyla's orders. During the rebellion in 1648 it was abandoned by the monks. Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky took it under his protection and patronage. Its land endowment was confirmed by his wife's decree of 1655. After another fire in 1671, Hetman Ivan Samoilovych built a new Trinity Church. Several other stone churches, including SS Peter and Paul Church built by Colonel Dmytro Horlenko in 1693 and the Dormition Church built by Hetman Ivan Mazepa in 1695, were added later. In the 17th century the Hustynia Chronicle was written at the monastery. Towards the end of the 18th century Hustynia Monastery was one of the richest monasteries in Ukraine. In 1786, however, the Russian government secularized its land, and in 1793 closed it down. It was reopened in 1844. Princess Varvara Repnina renovated the Dormition Church and buried her father in it. In 1845 Taras Shevchenko visited the monastery and painted three watercolors of it. The monastery was closed by Soviet authorities and its churches fell into complete disrepair. The churches were restored in independent Ukraine in the 1990s and the monastery was re-established in December 1993.

[This article was updated in 2005.]