Yablochyn Saint Onuphrius's Monastery

Yablochyn Saint Onuphrius's Monastery [Яблочинський монастир св. Онуфрія; Yablochynskyi monastyr sv. Onufriia]. An Orthodox men’s monastery located in Jabłeczna (Yablochyn) near Biała Podlaska, in Podlachia (now in Lublin voivodeship, Poland). It was founded in the late 15th century. In the 17th century a larger church, a bell tower, and monks’ cells were constructed, and in 1838–40 the complex was surrounded by a stone wall. Until 1914 courses for precentors and catechism teachers were held there, as well as a three-year agriculture education program. The monastery was partly destroyed during the First World War, and in the interwar period the Polish government confiscated the school buildings and most of the monastery’s land. More damage occurred during the Second World War. Today it is the only functioning Orthodox monastery in Poland (see Polish Autocephalous Orthodox church). Its library houses a collection of old icons (including one of Saint Onuphrius from the 15th century) and manuscripts, and since 1974 senior students of the Warsaw Orthodox Theological Seminary have completed their theological education there. It also holds precentors’ courses, and retired priests often live on the premises. In Pravoslavna tverdynia Pidliashshia (The Orthodox Citadel of Podlachia, 1984) M. Syvitsky gives the history of the monastery.)

[This article was updated in 2015.]