Lauryshava Monastery: An Orthodox Monastic Center in Belarus
Site at a Glance
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- Belarus
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- Modern
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- Modern
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- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page14 sections
History
Lauryshava Monastery is an Eastern Orthodox men’s monastery in Belarus, revived near Gnesichi beside the Neman River. Its foundation is generally dated to around 1260, probably 1257 or 1258, when Voyshalk, the eldest son of Mindaugas and an Orthodox monk, established a monastery between Lithuania and Navahrudak. It became one of the principal spiritual and cultural centers of the Navahrudak region and is described as the earliest-founded currently functioning men’s monastery in Belarus.
Foundation and medieval growth
A monastic community may have existed at the site as early as 1223. The more usual foundation tradition connects the monastery with Voyshalk, whose assumed monastic name, Lawrence or Laurysh, may have given Lauryshava its name. Voyshalk later returned to political life and ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1264 to 1267. He then transferred power to his brother-in-law Shvarn Danilovich and withdrew to the Ugrovski Monastery in Volhynia.
Another tradition places the monastery’s beginnings with Elisha of Lauryshava, who is regarded either as its founder or as an earlier initiator and first abbot. His possible identification as a son of Grand Duke Traidenis remains uncertain. Elisha was killed by a novice during the night of October 23, corresponding to November 5 in another calendar. The novice, described as being in a state of mental disturbance, was said to have recovered after touching Elisha’s body. Elisha was buried in the monastery church, and his relics became objects of veneration. He was canonized in 1514, meaning that he was formally recognized as a saint.
The expanding brotherhood eventually gave Lauryshava the status of a lavra, a major Orthodox monastic institution associated with an especially important monastery or group of communities. By the fourteenth century it was among the largest monastic institutions in the western Rus’ and Lithuanian lands. In the fifteenth century it ranked among the principal monasteries of the Turov-Pinsk Diocese. Its privileges included land grants and the right, granted by Grand Duke Vytautas, to obtain timber from the Naliboki and Niehniewicki forests. Two haymaking plots were granted in 1521, and a privilege issued in 1522 addressed the appointment of monastic superiors.
Books, learning, and destruction
Lauryshava was also a center of manuscript culture. The Lauryshava Gospel was produced for the monastery around 1329, or by the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. It arranges Gospel readings for use throughout the church year and includes sung canons in Church Slavonic based on Byzantine hymnography. Its richly decorated covers were made in the early sixteenth century in connection with Elisha’s canonization. In the sixteenth century, scribes working under the hierodeacon Joachim, a monk ordained as a deacon, produced a Prologue, a liturgical collection of saints’ lives, religious instruction, and edifying stories modeled on Greek menologies and synaxaria.
During the sixteenth century the monastery maintained a school, a library of more than 300 volumes, a stable, a printing house, a carpentry workshop, and other workshops. By 1824 the library held 500 volumes. The monastery survived a Tatar attack in 1508. A tradition says that the attackers withdrew after mistaking an illusory cavalry force in the monastery yard for a large military contingent. In 1530, however, another Tatar attack completely destroyed the monastery. Its relics and most of the valuable furnishings from its churches were lost.
Rebuilding and changes in jurisdiction
The monastery was rebuilt at Lauryshava in 1550, after the former site had become overgrown with pine forest. It later passed from Orthodox to Greek Catholic, or Uniate, jurisdiction, probably in 1596. Greek Catholic communities retained Eastern-rite worship while recognizing the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. A further Greek Catholic monastery was established at Lauryshava in the late eighteenth century.
The complex was rebuilt again around 1775–1780. It was dissolved in 1836, after which its church became a parish church. Following the restoration of Orthodox church structures in 1839, the building functioned as an Orthodox church. The icons of the Savior and the Virgin were transferred to the church at Derechin.
Twentieth-century revival and destruction
The monastery was revived near Gnesichi in the early twentieth century. Count Konstantin Khreptovich-Butenev supported the foundation, while Mitrofan Krasnopolsky promoted its restoration. The church was consecrated on July 27, 1913, by Mitrofan, then Bishop of Minsk and Turov. Hieromonk Varlaam became the first superior of the revived monastery.
Military operations during the First World War caused the monastery church to burn in 1915, while the other buildings were destroyed. The monks were forced to leave, and the monastery ceased to function. A tradition that the earlier monastery stood on a peninsula surrounded by the Neman on three sides may relate to this period. The abandoned location later became covered by pine forest, and a lilac bush was planted to mark the site.
Restoration near Gnesichi
In 1993, Archbishop Sava of Bialystok and Gdansk and Bishop Konstantin of Navahrudak and Lida consecrated the site near Gnesichi. Construction began in 1997, and the church interior was completed in 1998. The church was consecrated in early November 1998 in honor of Elisha of Lauryshava. A parish community was registered there in 2001, and on August 15, 2007, the Holy Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church converted the parish into the Monastery of Saint Elisha of Lauryshava. Elisha’s commemoration on November 5 is the monastery’s principal feast.
Remains
The historic Lauryshava site
Early churches and monastic buildings
The early community at Lauryshava consisted of wooden residential buildings for the monks and churches dedicated to Saint Elijah and the Ascension. Records associated with the Lauryshava Gospel identify churches of the Resurrection and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary at the monastery by the fourteenth century. These buildings formed the early physical setting of the monastic institution on the Neman.
Late eighteenth-century complex
The rebuilt complex of around 1775–1780 included wooden residential buildings, a church, and a bell tower. A small stone building housed the library and a storehouse, providing a more durable structure within the otherwise largely wooden complex. The monastery’s physical remains are also connected with the relics of Elisha, which were displayed for veneration in the principal church before being lost in the destruction of 1530.
Archaeological discoveries
Excavations have taken place at the original location in Lauryshava. In 2016, the clearing of an underground structure revealed two previously unknown sarcophagi. Archaeological work at the site also uncovered an old seal matrix, adding material evidence to the remains of the former monastery.
The revived monastery near Gnesichi
Church and buildings
The modern monastery stands near Gnesichi beside the Neman River. Its complex includes the church dedicated to Elisha of Lauryshava, a residential building, and a house for pilgrims. A project for a combined church and bell tower was prepared in 1912, although its completion is not established. The present church, consecrated in 1998, provides the central structure of the revived monastic community.
Monument to Elisha
A bronze monument to Elisha of Lauryshava was erected on the monastery grounds on November 5, 2009. It gives a physical focus to the memory of the monk traditionally regarded as the monastery’s first abbot or an early founder, whose relics had once been displayed in the principal church.
Nearby sites
