Temple of the Protection of the Mother of God, Jedlinka: A Greek Catholic Church
Site at a Glance
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Slovakia
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Hungarian
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page7 sections
History
The Temple of the Protection of the Mother of God, Jedlinka, is a wooden Greek Catholic church in Slovakia, built in 1763 in the Baroque style. Greek Catholic churches follow Byzantine liturgical traditions while belonging to the Catholic Church. The year 1763 appears on a window frame, and local tradition holds that the church was bought in Poland and moved to its present location.
The church was renovated after 1945 and remains active. Dedicated to the Protection of the Mother of God, it is a filial church, meaning a subsidiary church affiliated with a parish, in this case Mikulášová. It belongs to the Slovak Greek Catholic Church, within the Bardejov Deanery, an administrative district grouping parishes, and the Prešov Archieparchy, an Eastern Catholic archdiocese. It has been protected as a national cultural monument since 1968.
Remains
The east-facing timber church is built from logs and has an elongated rectangular nave, a separate narthex (entrance area), and a smaller presbytery (the area around the main altar) with a rectangular end. A columned porch projects from the narthex. The building’s design includes three cupolas, or small domes.
Exterior
A single tower rises from the ground, its walls tapering slightly inward. It has a tent-shaped roof topped by an onion-shaped cupola. Tent roofs with a break in their slopes cover the nave and presbytery, and wooden shingles form their outer covering.
Interior and furnishings
Timber structure and fittings
The narthex has a flat ceiling, while the nave and presbytery have log-built, tent-shaped cupolas. A three-armed beam braces the nave roof and carries carved rosettes. Original furnishings and grilles survive on the doors and windows.
Altars and icon screen
The presbytery contains a Rococo main altar, in an ornate style that developed during the eighteenth century, with an icon of the Nativity of the Mother of God dating to the early twentieth century. A smaller altar holds an eighteenth-century icon of the Protection of the Mother of God. The richly framed Rococo iconostasis, a screen of icons separating the sanctuary from the nave, dates to the late eighteenth century.
Icons from earlier screens
Several icons from older icon screens hang on the nave walls. They include a 1741 Hodegetria, an image of Mary pointing toward Christ; a Deesis, showing Christ with figures such as Mary and John the Baptist in intercession; an image of Saint Nicholas, the fourth-century Christian bishop venerated as a saint; and an image of the Protection of the Mother of God. A 1744 image of Christ Pantocrator, a title meaning Christ as ruler of all, is also preserved there. Another Deesis dates to 1715.
