Saint-Assumption monastery

Location: Situated in Zhirovichi

The monastery is situated at the high bank of the river Zchara. It has been known since 1587. In accordance with the legend the foundation of the first Orthodox sacred temple was connected with a miraculous appearance of God’s Mother image at the pear-tree in the forest not far from the estate belonging to Aleksander Soltan in 1470. The Polish king Kazimir Yagelonchik presented the vast lands near Zhirovichi to Soltan as a gratitude for his service for the state.

In the 2nd half of the 15th century in commemoration of that miraculous event the first church was built. Documents mention this church in 1572. In 1613 a proprietor of Zhirovichi Yan Meleshka founded Saint-Assumption monastery here. From 1636 the services followed the Rome and Greek ceremony. In 1655 the monastery was burned by the Cossacks of ataman Zolotorenko. During 1672 - 1825 the monastery was restored of stones. There was a grammar school by the monastery and an icon-painting school. In 1828 Lithuanian theological college was opened instead of the grammar school by the initiative of I. Semashko who was a member of Uniate department at Petersburg Rome-Catholic Theological Academy. In 1839 the monastery was one of the first to change from the Unia to the Orthodoxy.

Saint-Assumption monastery is one of the most respected saint places in Belarus, Ukraine and Poland, both among Orthodox, Catholic and Uniate believers, it is the largest spiritual and theological center of Belarus.

The architectural group of the monastery includes Saint-Assumption cathedral, the churches of Saint-Happening , Saint-Cross-erection church and Saint-George church, a belfry, an old theological college and a new theological college buildings, a residence building, a dining-building, a hospital and a number of economy buildings, and а fruit garden, a vegetable garden and ponds.