Church of St. Nicholas, Kalush
Like many churches in Ukraine, the church of St. Nicholas in the village of Khatyn (today - part of the city of Kalush ) has experienced a lot in its history.
This wooden church in the Ukrainian Baroque style was built in 1888 and it has been the main church of the village. For its creation master brought from a neighboring village, who built many churches in the area. Together with the church bell tower was built, which originally housed two small bells cast.
The iconostasis of the Church can rightly consider it as an ornament and one of the unique features. Icon "The Last Supper" is different from the traditional image of the event: a table at which sits the Christ and his disciples, at an angle, which is not typical for other icons. The church also preserved the relics of St. Nicholas brought Andrey Sheptytsky in 1938, the relics of St. Luke and Jehoshaphat brought to the temple in the 1990s. Outside the gates of the church today you can see a symbolic mound, which is made in the memory of all fighters for freedom and independence of the Ukrainian state. Wall paintings have appeared in the 30s of the last century through the efforts of local painters.
The church has experienced ups and downs, but always remained the center of life of the inhabitants of Khatyn. Until the beginning of World War II, the church also contributed to and oversaw the activities of public organizations. Brotherhood of sobriety, to operate under the auspices of the church, there were almost one-third of the population of Khatyn, as evidenced by the archives for 1885. She enjoyed the attention and the location of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who visited it in 1934 and 1938. The church operated until 1946, when it was transferred under the control of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1961 the church was closed, and in 1961 it was turned into a museum of atheism. Only in 1989 the church returned hulk Khatyn. In December of the same year she moved to the bosom of the EGC. In 1991, Janusz Felchinskim church bell was donated.
In 2013, on the day of the 125th anniversary of the church was built another belfry consecrated Metropolitan Oleg Kaskova. Construction of the Belfry is not left without attention and assistance to the public. Laymen temple, public figures, businessmen and enterprises to actively sponsored the restoration and decoration of the temple.
