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St. Peter and Paul Church

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The Ruthenian Church (also known as St Peter and Paul's Church on the 1888 and 1911 city maps) is a Greek Catholic church located in (vul. Rusʾka, formerly Russische Gasse). The Greek Catholic diocese was founded in Chernivtsi in 1811 and was headed by the priest Oleksiy Studnycʾkyj, who had been transferred to Chernivtsi from Lviv. In 1814, Todor Lavrecʾkyj was appointed the first priest of the Greek Catholic parish, which was not particularly large at first, but grew steadily (from about 500 members in 1811 to over 12,000 in 1912).

Religious buildings and cemeteries

built

1820 - 1821

The Greek Catholic Church was founded in 1820 on the initiative of Tadeusz von Turkull, who provided the funds for the construction of a church. The church was consecrated on 10 June 1821. In the 1930s the church was extended and redesigned according to the plans of the Ukrainian politician and art historian Volodymyr Sergius of Zalozieckyj Sas (1885-1965). In 1942, the funeral mass of the Ukrainian writer Olha Kobyljanska was held in this church. After the Greek Catholic Church was banned in the Soviet Union in 1946, the building in Chernivtsi was handed over to the Orthodox community. The Soviet authorities accused the Greek Catholic priest, Wendelin Jaworka, of espionage and he was deported to Siberia for ten years.

The church was then renamed the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos. In 1961 it was closed as a church building and used as a chemical warehouse, which resulted in most of the church's frescoes and decorations being damaged. On 8 January 1990, a Greek Catholic service was held, and the church was returned to the community.

Text: Kateryna Stetsevych