# Saint Michael Church, Lanivtsi

Saint Michael Church (Ukrainian: Церква святого архистратига Михаїла) is a parish of the same name of the Greek Catholic (UGCC) and Orthodox (OCU) communities in Lanivtsi, Borshchiv urban hromada, Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast.

## History

The wooden church in Lanivtsi was built in the middle of the eighteenth century. The street where the church was built, and later the village, was named Kozachchyna. In the middle of the eighteenth century, a monastery of the Order of St. Basil the Great was also built in the village, which existed until the reduction of 1783. The abbot was at. Kornelii.
In 1785, the construction of a new stone church of St. Michael began to replace the old one. The construction was completed under the priest at. Vasyl (Bazylii) Lukashevych in 1802.
In 1898, with the assistance of at. Ulanytskyi, the monastery of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Virgin Mary was founded in the village. Its founder was Princess Teresa Sapeha. She donated a spacious house with a large plot of land on Rynok Street. It was occupied by 11 Sisters of the Servants.
The miraculous icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lanivtsi was consecrated by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. In 2011, the pilgrimage was restored.
On 18 August 1907, a branch of the Ukrainian Patriotic Union "Sokol" and the "Silskyi Hospodar" society headed by at. O. Ulanytskyi were founded in the village.
On 11 February 1921, at. Oleksii Hunovskyi, an active figure in public life in the district and a well-known composer at the time, was appointed parish priest in Lanivtsi. During his tenure, Prosvita was restored, which he headed in 1933.
When the communist offensive against the UGCC began, at. O. Hunovskyi moved to the village of Dora, near the town of Yaremche. In 1946, the Greek Catholic parish and the Church of St. Michael were closed by the state authorities, and the Greek Catholic priests from the village were deported to the camps of Siberia. These were at. Vasyl Zharyi (1894–1985), at. Ivan-Markiian Baraniuk (1911–1982), and at. Mykhailo Kysil (1912–1996). After their release in the 1950s, despite the danger, these priests continued to hold underground services.
In 1990, the parish and the church returned to the UGCC. The services in his native church were performed by at. Mykhailo Kysil, but due to poor health, in 1991 he was replaced by at. Yaroslav Havryshev, who served in the parish until 2002.
In October 2002, at. Y. Havryshev, with the support of part of the population of Lanivets and Kozachchyna, tried to convert the Greek Catholic parish and the Church of St. Michael to Orthodoxy. The confrontation between the two denominations was long. In the summer of 2003, a session of the village council transferred the old clubhouse to the Orthodox community for a church. From the fall of 2002 to the present day, at. Ivan Sabala has been the pastor of the Greek Catholic community. The confrontation between the denominations, which had been going on for many years, ceased thanks to the fruitful work of at. Today, interfaith harmony reigns in the village.
The Greek Catholic parish has the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network brotherhood and the Association of the Living Rosary. A plaque in honor of at. Oleksandr Ulianytskyi and at. Oleksii Hunovskyi is installed on the church's facade.