Novotroitske. The Wooden Holy Ascension Church of 1893. Without Status, but with a Rich History

Ancient churches draw believers with their prayer-steeped setting and centuries of history. Pilgrims come to the Holy Ascension Church in the village of Novotroitske in the Donetsk region from all regions of Ukraine to bow before the spiritual relics and to see the only wooden church in the Pokrovsk district that has survived in its original form since 1893.

Novotroitske, Pokrovsk district, Donetsk region. Holy Ascension Church. 1893.

For reasons that are unclear, this 130-year-old object of cultural and spiritual heritage has no protected status.

The single-altar church was built in the centre of the village with the funds of Ya. I. Drevytskyi, the owner of the mines, an entrepreneur and a patron of village schools and churches.

The church's main sacred image is the icon of the Ascension of the Lord.

The traditional Orthodox church forms a cross in plan — a symbol of the Lord's cross as the foundation of eternal salvation.

The church building is crowned by 2 small domes, signifying the divine value and the human nature of Christ.

The walls are horizontally clad with boards and painted green.

An openwork white cornice frames the church around its perimeter.

The arched windows are adorned with carved architraves.

Some facts from the sanctuary's history at the beginning of the 20th century are recorded in the reference book of the Katerynoslav eparchy for 1913. The church stood on the priest's homestead. Its parishioners numbered 950 males and 852 females. Believers were required, without fail, to confess and take communion. Peasants came to the services from the surrounding villages of Novo-Pustynky, Zhovte, Novo-Vasylivka and Novo-Olenivka.

The church's allotment amounted to 34 desiatinas. The clergy consisted of a priest and a psalm-reader. From 1905 the priest was Father Ioann Shamraiev. There was no school at the church, but four zemstvo schools operated in the district, where the Law of God was taught. In 1913 there were 141 baptisms, 15 marriages and 90 burials.

In the years of the God-fighting regime they tried to turn the church into a club, but the believers managed to save the sanctuary from desecration. Throughout its whole history the house of God did not close, except in the hard times of war, and believers came to it from towns and villages where places of prayer had been destroyed and converted into warehouses, stables and fertiliser stores. During the years of the Hitlerite occupation a camp for prisoners of war was set up in the church.

In the post-war period the atheist course of the ruling party could not but leave its mark on the state of the village church. The wooden building was in need of repair.

In 1976 Father David arrived in Novotroitske to serve God. The 74-year-old priest found a church with a wooden iconostasis and altar and a dozen ancient icons. But the house of prayer had no fence, and its roof and window frames had rotted. The elder settled in a little house in the church yard, which served at once as a baptistery and a watch-house, and set about restoring the church.

The iconostasis was renewed, murals were painted, heating was installed, a new baptistery was arranged, and a fence was put up.

The devout man gave his pension to the repair work, and the community helped him in this godly endeavour. Abbot David was the church's rector from 1976 to 1992 and helped many with his prayer. People came to him for spiritual help and blessing from various places, stayed in the little church house, and the priest cared for everyone with tenderness and love.

Dmytro Neliubov was born in 1902 and at the age of 15 devoted his life to serving God, becoming a monk and taking the monastic name David. For his service to the Christian Faith, like many servants of the church, Father David served a term in a camp on Solovki. Behind the barbed wire, the priest helped people as best he could, despite the harsh conditions and his frostbitten hands and feet. After his release he came to Donetsk to his brother, and on the bountiful Ukrainian soil, the granary of the whole country, he was overtaken by the hard times of the artificial famine created by the Kremlin leadership. Neliubov worked as a blaster at the "Lidiivka" mine. On his days off he went to church, enduring mockery but taking no offence. When things went wrong at the coal enterprise, yet the plan for extracting black gold had to be met, the bosses would ask him to pray for accident-free work at the enterprise.

Having retired, Father David, with the metropolitan's blessing, set off for Novotroitske to the poor church. Parishioners recall that the elder possessed the gift of foresight, refused no one his help, gave the payment for a memorial service or a wedding to the needy, and addressed everyone with a wise word and a fatherly blessing. David Neliubov is buried beside the church. On his grave a votive lamp always burns and flowers from believers lie.

In recent years a new bell tower has been built, the roof repaired, and work is under way to improve the grounds around the church.

You can reach Novotroitske by scheduled bus from Pokrovsk or by other transport along the T-0515 road, heading south-east from the district centre.

I thank the duty staff of the Holy Ascension Church for their hospitality and for the information about the church.

Coordinates: 48°11’45"N 37°5’24"E