Lypcha, Zakarpattia Province, Ukraine, May 6, 2025
Photo: esu.com.ua
A convent in western Ukraine celebrated its 100th anniversary over the weekend.
On the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, May 4, the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Monastery in Lypcha, Zakarpattia Province, marked its centenary with a Divine Liturgy led by the local hierarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Mark of Khust, the diocese reports.
Photo: orthodoxkhust.org.ua
Met. Mark was concelebrated by Their Eminences Metropolitan John of Kherson and Archbishop Simeon of Ugolsk, His Grace Bishop Benjamin of Skadovsk, and numerous local and visiting clergy.
“A large number of parishioners and pilgrims gathered for the festive service, sharing spiritual joy with the sisterhood of the monastery,” notes the diocesan press service.
At the Litany of Fervent Supplication, particular petitions were offered to the Lord for peace in Ukraine; for the Lord to preserve those in despair who have lost their homes; and for God’s blessing upon people of goodwill who help those in need.
After the Liturgy, Met. Mark celebrated the rite of blessing of water and congratulated the abbess, the sisters of the monastery, and the faithful on the monastery’s centennial anniversary.
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Photo: orthodoxkhust.org.ua
The Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Convent of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church was founded in 1924 in the village of Lypcha by Nun Paraskeva (Prokop), Archimandrites Amphilochy (Kemin) and Panteleimon (Kundrya), and Abbot Dionysius (Pyrko).
Nun Paraskeva had attempted to establish the first Orthodox monastery in Zakarpattia as early as 1911, but the Austro-Hungarian authorities did not permit it and severely punished the initiators.
By 1926, a church, two residential buildings, a kitchen, refectory, and workshops were constructed. In 1928, the monastery charter was developed (approved in 1931 by the district government). At that time, 19 nuns and 34 novices lived in the monastery.
In 1929, Czech industrialist R. Zahrada opened a carpet-making workshop at the monastery. In 1930, Nun Paraskeva was appointed abbess and elevated to the rank of igumena. The number of residents reached 70 sisters.
In the following year, some of the nuns relocated to the village of Domboky, where they founded the women’s Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God.
Photo: orthodoxkhust.org.ua
In 1932, a chapel in honor of the Prophet Elijah and a water mill were built according to the design and with the funds of Abbot Amphilochy (Kemin). That same year, Bishop Arseny (Chakhovtsev) of Canada proposed that Igumena Paraskeva organize a convent in Canada, but she declined due to limited financial resources.
From 1940, the monastery faced oppression from the Hungarian administration, and after 1944, from the Soviet authorities. In 1947, Igumena Paraskeva was transferred with 44 sisters to the Mukachevo monastery. Igumena Sophronia (Rebrey) was elected as abbess, and in 1957, Igumena Makrina (Kemin) took over.
Due to the mass closure of monasteries and hermitages in 1959, nuns from these communities were relocated to Lypcha, increasing the number of residents to over 100 people. In 1961, the monastery was liquidated (some sisters moved to the Mukachevo convent), and a boarding school was established in its buildings.
Monastic life was revived in the early 1990s. In 1991, Igumena Olga (Vovkanets) was elected abbess. That same year, the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos was founded and consecrated in 1995 (the wall paintings were completed in 2000).
The monastery also has house churches dedicated to the Archangel Michael and Princess Olga, as well as chapels of Prophet Elijah and All Saints of Rus’. It preserves relics of the venerable Kiev Caves and Optina elders, as well as icons with relics of St. Theophan the Recluse and St. Theodore of Sanaxar.
In 2008, Igumena Evgenia (Mykyta) was elected as abbess.
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