Brashevich Orthodox Church

Date: 2024-06-02    |    Tags: Braszewicze

The modern Orthodox church in Braszewicze was built in 1911 from brick. The iconostasis of the church was made in 1867 by engineer Kandruntsev (transferred from the previous church).

Modern Orthodox church in Braszewicze
Modern Orthodox church in Braszewicze

During the Second Polish Republic (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska, II Rzeczpospolita) 1918–1939, on maps it is marked as a church.

Church on interwar Polish map
Polish map, 1918–1939

Schubert's maps of 1866-1887 indicate the church in Braszewicze as Orthodox.

Schubert map 1866-1887
Schubert maps, 1866–1887

In the book “Descriptions of churches and parishes. Grodno Orthodox Church Calendar. Volume 1” there is a mention of the church:

In the village of Braszewicze, Kobrin district, Bezdziez subordination, in the parish church. The church is wooden, with the same bell tower, in a wooden fence, built in 1686 by Bishop Venedikt Zhukhovsky. It was built 42 versts away from the town of Kobrin. – Parishioners at the church: 1315 males and 1239 females, and a total of 2554 – in 8 villages: Braszewicze, Volk, Gumniszcze, Dymsk, Ziolow, Illiszice, Simonowicze, and Szarewicze, of which the most distant from the parish church, Simonowicze, is 8 versts away. – There is a church attached to the Trinity Church in Braszewicze, a church school in Gumnicze with 20 boys, and a public school in Braszewicze. – The parish consists of two persons: a priest and a psalmist, with a salary of 522 rubles 8 kopecks. The church land in use is 11076 tens: homestead land 4.15 tens, plowed land 63.01 tens, plow land 30.52 tens, pasture land 7.93 tens, flax land 0.35 tens, and some other land 4.80 tens. Lit. Eparch. 1876 г. №24: 1055.

There is also a 2nd record of the church:

In the village of Braszewicze, Kobrin district, Bezdziez sub-district, attached to the parish church of Transfiguration. The church is wooden, with the same belfry, in a wooden fence, – it was built in 1867 from an empty old church building, unknown when it was built.

On the 1864 maps of Grodno province from Rittich's atlas, the church in Brashevichi was marked, and the settlement was designated as Catholic.

Rittich map 1864
Rittich's maps, 1864

At the time of the Union, the church in Brashevichi was a Uniate church from 1596 to 1839. This is confirmed by the records of vicars and priests of the church:

There is also a sketch by Napoleon Orda of what the Uniate church in Brashevichi looked like.

Napoleon Orda sketch of Uniate church
Around the 18th century (Napoleon Orda)

There are also gravestones from the time of the Unia near the church.

Gravestones from Uniate period
Gravestones from the Uniate era

It's also worth adding that on the Marmon website records of the metric orthodox books are preserved: Greek Catholic Church. Brashevichi (Kobrin) – 1823.

There are also metric books in RGIA about the Uniate church in Braszewicze from 1767 to 1801:

RGIA Uniate metrics 1767-1801
RGIA Uniate metric books, 1767–1801

In the list of Christian Catholic settlements of 1726 – Brashevichi is mentioned as the center of the parafia.

Christian Catholic settlements 1726
Christian Catholic settlements, 1726

It’s worth adding that metric books (metrical records) for Braszewicze are available in the Main Archive of Old Acts:

References and information used in the material

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