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Drohiczyn Poleski

Church in Gorki

Gorki was part of Drohiczynski County, so it is worth mentioning the local church.

The exact date of its foundation is not known, but we will start from the oldest documents, which are available for this church.

Gorki is mentioned in the list of Christian Catholic settlements from 1726.

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RGIA has copies of the Uniate metric books of the Horeckiey church from 1748 to 1801.

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There is also a mention of Gorki in the Uniate metric books of the Ilyinska church in 1774-1822. After the 3rd partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Gorki was part of the Kobrin district.

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In 1815 a new church was built, it is not known for what reason the old one was destroyed or abandoned. At that time Gorki was already part of the Ivanovo deanery, Grodno diocese.

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After the Polotsk Cathedral, the temple was handed over to the Orthodox. The Volyn archive contains Orthodox registers of births from 1843 to 1933.

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On Rittich’s maps of 1864, there is a church marked in Gorki.

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Also worth mentioning are Rittich’s maps for 1866-67.

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The church was also marked on Russian maps of the early 20th century.

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During the Second Polish Empire the church was in operation, which is confirmed by existing metrics and Polish maps.

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In 1944, the village was destroyed by partisans. There is a photograph of parishioners of the village of Gorki. Probably taken after the burning of the temple. Also, in the post-war period, the village was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR.

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It is worth noting that the priest in the photo could be Fyodor Levon. But this information is not accurate.

According to a local resident of Gorki, Evdokia Andreyevna, the last priest before the church was burned was:

And what do I not remember? His father was Fedor Levon, and his mother was Nina. And they also had a son, Vitya, then he left for America. Father Fedir served in the war, his voice was so beautiful.

She also mentions that after the war a priest came to Gorki and tried to raise the temple from the ruins. But unfortunately nothing came of it, because there were very few people in the village, few young people and the communist party was not loyal to religion.

In modern times, already in modern Ukraine, a new church was built. The village of Gurki is now located in the Lyubeshovsky district, Volyn region, Ukraine.

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Links and information used in the material:

2024-09-24
https://drohiczyn-poleski.com/post/gorki_church/ Tymoteusz Kaljuta