Driving along the road Stryi — Ivano-Frankivsk near the village of Stankiv, in the Stryi district of the Lviv region, it is impossible not to notice the wooden Holy Trinity Church.
Many times I had seen it from the bus, as I often travelled along this road. I had about an hour of free time, and I got off in this village to take a closer look at the church, which has a glorious history, like many other churches in Ukraine.
The village has been known since the end of the 15th century. In distant times there was a chapel here. In 1850 the Holy Trinity Church was built with donations. Its first holy image, an icon of the Mother of God, has been preserved to this day.
Until 1911, the residents of the neighbouring village of Falysh also prayed in this church, until they built a new church of their own to replace the one that had burned down. The bell tower was erected in 1934, and three bells were bought. During the Second World War the Nazis demanded that the bells be taken down for melting, but the villagers managed to give up only one. The rest, at the risk of their lives, they hid and preserved.
After the war, oppression from the atheist authorities awaited the faithful. The church was closed. The head of the collective farm hired Roma to dismantle the iconostasis. Some of the church furnishings the people managed to save. For many years the villagers pressed for the shrine to be reopened. They went from office to office, asking and begging. The officials' answer was always the same: "As Moscow decides." Only after 40 years, in 1986, at the cost of the believers' incredible efforts, was the goal finally reached. On that joyful day the bells were rung without pause for four hours. Another two years went into the repairs. In May 1988, all the residents of Stankiv gathered for the church's ceremonial reopening, and communities from other villages came too.
Later, on the grounds of the shrine, a symbolic grave of the Sich Riflemen, destroyed by the Bolshevik authorities, was restored. Prayer services in memory of the fallen defenders of Ukraine are now always held here.
Not far from the church, on a large clearing, stands a sculpture of Jesus Christ.
In the road itself, holy images are set under glass.
Having walked some 200 metres along the highway, I photographed a chapel of the Mother of God.
Another 600 metres on stands the recently renovated village school — the alma mater of all the children of Stankiv.
The local authorities sit in the building opposite.
Nearby is a monument to the fallen countrymen — soldiers of the UPA.
Such was the short but instructive excursion that it turned out to be; and I share my impressions with you.
This story is also available in Ukrainian: Станків. Свято-Троїцька церква та інші культові споруди
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