Polski

Grabarka

Church Of The Joy Of All The Afflicted

Owing to the project, the following works were done in the church:

  • renovation of the stairs
  • renovation of the woodwork
  • renovation of the bell tower
  • renovation of the interior walls, choir and the floor
panorama 3d

video

Before and after

Photos show the monument before and after renovation. The slider allows to see the results of work

The modified shape of Orthodox Church of the Icon of the Joy of All the Afflicted on the Holy Mount of Grabarka
The Interior of Orthodox church of the Icon of the Joy of All the Afflicted during the reconstruction works
Orthodox Church of the Icon of the Joy of All the Afflicted in the process of renovation and the final view of the church

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About Parish

The Holy Mount of Grabarka is a special place on the map of Podlasie and whole Poland and constitutes one of the most significant places of the worship of the Orthodox believers. There is the female monastery of St Martha and Maria which was built on 25th November 1947, as well as three monastic churches of: the Icon of God’s Mother of the Joy of All the Afflicted — Wsiech Skorbiaszczich Radost (the construction in 2nd part of XX centrury; from 2010 to 2016 – complete overhaul), refectory church – of the Dormition of the Blessed Mother of God (1981) as well as the main monastic church — of the Transfiguration of Christ, dedicated to one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox liturgical year – the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ; in the local dialect it is called the feast of Spasa (Christ the Saviour). The monastery, the churches and two Pilgrim Houses constitute the settlement of Grabarka-the Monastery. There is also an Orthodox cemetery in the area of the monastery. The history of the Holy Mount of Grabarka dates back to 1710 when the local people were numerously killed by a cholera epidemic.

It was then that a miracle happened. One old man from the nearby Siemiatycze had a revelation that those who were alive could only be saved by arriving at a hill called Grabarka. Having done as the vision said, the faithful placed a cross on the hill and washed their bodies with the water from the spring at the foot of the hill and as a result they not only started to come to health but nobody died of the horrible plague. Out of gratitude, the survivors built a wooden church on the Holy Mount and having heard the news of a miraculous event people from the whole surroundings started to arrive at that place. According to the chronicles of the Parish of Siemiatycze, during the summer of 1710 as many as approximately 10 thousand people gathered here – not only Orthodox faithful but also believers of other religions. And so it is today: every year the Holy Mount is visited by tens thousands of pilgrims from around the world. Wooden, votive crosses placed around the main church brought by the faithful that go on pilgrimages to this holy place every year are a characteristic feature of the surroundings of the Holy Mount. This is the reason that the Holy Mount is sometimes called “the Mount of Crosses”.

The main church of the monastery – the church of the Transfiguration of Christ was built on the Holy Mount of Grabarka in 1789. After almost 100 years, in the period from 1884 till 1895, a complete overhaul of the former church was the reason that a changed, and in fact a new church appeared here. During the two Wold Wars the church was maintained in a good condition. In the years from 1961 to 1963 the church was given a new, but traditional decor. At that time, the polychrome was being made by Jerzy Nowosielski and Boleslaw Oleszko – the professors from ASP in Krakow who were working under the guidance of professor Adam Stalony-Dobrzanski. At night between 12th and 13th of July 1990 a tragedy happened – the church was set on fire and burnt down completely; only the Evangelion and two icons were saved from the debris. It was instantly rebuilt after the fire. On 17th May 1998 Sawa the Metropolitan of Warsaw and whole Poland consecrated the new church.

The church of the Icon of God’s Mother of the Joy of All the Afflicted is one of three churches of the churchmonastic complex on the Holy Mount of Grabarka. It was built in the years from 1950 to 1956 and consecrated on 6th November 1956 by Metropolitan Makary. In the beginning, it was a wooden church heated with a tiled oven with adjacent cells. It served not only as a church but also as a monastery house to the first nuns. In the years from 2010 to 2016 complete overhaul works were done, significantly changing its former look.

www.grabarka.pl




Beneficjent:

Prawosławna Diecezja Lubelsko-Chełmska

eea grants Konserwacja i rewitalizacja dziedzictwa kulturowego Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego

Wsparcie udzielone przez

Wsparcie udzielone z funduszy EOG, pochodzących
z Islandii, Liechtensteinu i Norwegii oraz środków krajowych

Supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway
through the EEA Grants and co-financed by the Polish funds