In “Inventory of Documents of the Vilnius Central Archive of Ancient Act Books. Issue X.”, March 1, 1580. One can see a record of the sale of Popina by Wojna Vasiliewicz Linewski and part of the lands of his brother Michal Wasil Linewski. The buyer is Bogdan Jackowicz Czernewski. The document mentions a functioning Orthodox church in Popina.

From the entry in “Acts published by the Vilna Archaeological Commission. T XVIII. Vilna. 1891. с.407” In 1660 the church was robbed.

“Papina” is mentioned in the list of Christian Catholic settlements in 1726.

The Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior was built of wood by the leader of the nobility of the Pinsk district, Michail Orzeszko, in 1810 on the site of an old church. The temple was built on a stone foundation, and a wooden bell tower was built next to it. What happened to the old church is unknown.

There is also confirmation that it belongs to the Uniates:

Kanstantin Stankewicz son of Jakima, * 21.05.1792, in. Pniowno Pinsk pavilion. Studied at school at the Zurowetski monastery of the Basilians; illuminated by the Brescia upiscaps I.-I. Bulgak 1815; the saints of the Tsar in the village of Papin Kobryn pavilion. 1832-25.02.1837. [575, arc. 62; 576, arc. 69 adv.-70; 616; 695].

There are copies of the metric books of the Popin church for 1810 - 1826 on the Marmon site, available at link.

After the abolition of Uniatism the church was handed over to the Orthodox.

This is confirmed by Rittich’s maps for 1864. And the main point of the church was in the Gospodarstvo v. Popino (where now is located Nowa Popina). Popina itself, mentioned above in the records, is located above and belongs to this parish.

Also noted on Schubert’s 1866 - 1887 maps is the church in Popino.

In 1870 a new iconostasis was built in the church at the expense of local parishioners. In the same year the foreman of Osowiec parish Ignatiy Mazonowicz and his brother Matfei donated a bell worth 100 rubles in silver to their parish church. In 1867 the same parishioners donated 500 rubles. On these funds, with the participation and assistance of the priest Anthony Stankevich, the bell tower was arranged, a new fence was erected around the church and a new roof of the church was built. In 1873 a new sacristy was built in the church, for the arrangement of which the local parishioners donated 99 rubles. A peasant Mozanowicz donated to the new sacristy a vestry of light brocade. For the donations and the improvement of their church, the parishioners of Popinskaya church received the archpastoral blessing. In 1886 a new roof was made and a new bell was purchased. Also in 1897 for the needs of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior was sent one hundred rubles by Archpriest Ioan Sergiew (St. Ioan Kronstadtki).

In the book “Descriptions of Churches and Parishes. Grodno Orthodox Church Calendar. Vol. 1”, 1899. there is a description of the church in Popin.

There are records of Orthodox clergy in Popin from the Polotsk Cathedral until 1897. It is worth noting that Konstantin Statkiewicz converted from Uniate to Orthodoxy.

• Konstantin Stankiewicz (1832 - 23.3.1863)
• Anthony Stankiewicz (23.3.1863 - ?)
• Nicanor Jankowski (October 10, 1867 - after 1897)

At the time of II Polish Republic (1918 - 1939) there is a map where Kolonia Popina and the church are marked.

At present the church has the following appearance: the main rectangular log cabin of the church is covered with a hip roof, which ends in the center with an onion-like head. From the east is attached pentagonal apse with a side sacristy, from the west - a rectangular narthex, over which in the second half of the XX century erected a two-story four-sided hipped bell tower, crowned with a poppy. Horizontally clad side facades are divided by ray window openings and bars in the partitions. The middle part of the church is covered with a flat ceiling on beams, the apse is distinguished by a wooden iconostasis. The church is a monument of folk architecture. In the spring of 1962 the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior was closed. Divine services in it were not performed until 1989. On November 25, 1989 the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior was consecrated by the dean of Kobrin district priest Alexander Lesik.

At the moment the church is functioning and is located in the agro-town of Novaya Popina, Drochyn district.

Links and information used in the material:

• http://drogblag.by/d-novaya-popina-spaso-preobrazhenskiy-hram/
• Photo 2019 Sasha Ivanov
• Svyatary in Belarusian society: the history of the Ukrainian clergy 1596-1839 / Dzyanis Liseychykov. - Minsk, 2015. - 719 p., [16] p. il.
• https://drevo-info.ru