Church in Lipniki

Date: 2024-10-01    |    Tags: Lipniki

The oldest mention of the church in Lipniki can be considered to be 1762. In that year the church was destroyed, unfortunately it is not known why. Only the old icons were saved, which are now in the newly built church.

In the following years, most likely, the church was rebuilt (or there was an annex) where services were held. Since the next document about the active church in our area is the Uniate metrics from 1770 to 1801, which are in RGIA.

Uniate metrics 1770-1801
Document 1 — Uniate metrics (1770–1801), RGIA

In the description of "Descriptions of churches and parishes. Grodno Orthodox church calendar. Volume 1" there is a record of the construction of a wooden church in 1793.

Descriptions of churches 1793
Document 2 — Description of churches (1793)

Mention should be made of the Uniate metric books at Marmon for 1823.

Uniate metrics 1823
Document 3 — Uniate metrics (1823), Marmon

There is a mention of a Uniate priest in Lipniki from 1832 to 1836.

Korolewicz Foma, * 1774. Crowned by the Breszki bishops I.-I. Bulgak 1811; the saints of the tsar's office in Lipniki, Kobrin pavement 1832-1836 [575, arc. 61; 576, arc. 70 adv-71].

Thus, in the Grodno archive there are church registers from 1835 to 1871. Considering that the Polotsk cathedral was in 1839 and the church was transferred to the Orthodox, we have some Uniate registers.

Grodno archive registers 1835-1871
Document 4 — Grodno archive registers (1835–1871)

On Rittich's 1864 maps, the church is marked on the maps.

Rittich map 1864
Map 5 — Rittich map (1864)

It is also noted on Schubert's 1866 - 1887 maps.

Schubert map 1866-1887
Map 6 — Schubert map (1866–1887)

At the time of II Republic of Poland the church was active as an Orthodox church. But on Polish maps it is marked as a church.

Polish map 1918-1939
Map 7 — Polish map (1918–1939)

In the 1930s, a bell tower was added to the church. There is a photo of the church and its description in the book "Collection of Historical and Cultural Memories".

Church photo and description
Document 8 — Church photo and description (1930s)

During World War 2, the church was often burned, and after the Communist regime came, it was destroyed.

Today's temple was built in 1991 near the site of the old church and on August 30 of the same year consecrated. The temple is brick, with an area of 194 m², single-domed, double-headed. The domes have the shape of an onion. The temple is built in the shape of a ship with a semicircular altar in the east, has three entrances. In the narthex on the right side there is a baptismal room. Above the narthex there is a bell tower with three bells. The window openings are arched and have iron bars. There are two chancels in the church: a central and a side chancel. The walls of the middle part are painted by an unknown artist. The temple is surrounded on three sides by an artificial reservoir and is surrounded by a metal fence with brick pillars.

New church 2020
Photo 9 — New church (2020)

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