Kruonio stačiatikių cerkvė ir vienuolynas

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Brėžiniai; Cerkvė; Kruonis; Oginskiai; Statybos; Stačiatikiai; Stačiatikių Bažnyčia; Vienuolynas; Church; Constructions; Kruonis; Lithuania; Monastery; Oginskiai; Orthodox; Orthodox Church; Ortodox Church; Plans.

ENKruonis Manor, located just 17 kilometres from the first possession of the Oginskis in Lithuania - Uogintai, belonged to the Ogiński family from 1570 to 1831. At the junction of i6lh th centuries, chamberlain of Trakai duke Bogdan Ogiński in Kruonis, on the right bank of Kruonė creek, built a new and fancy Renaissance style stone palace. In 1588 a church was built as well. Bogdan Ogiński and his wife Raina (Regina) Ogińska, who built this church, were known as supporters of the Orthodox faith. Religiosity was in the blood of Raina: she came from the famous family of voivodes Valavičiai, who in several generations confessed to Orthodox faith. Her sisters Ana and Teodora Valavičiūtės were the ones who in 1597 on their plot in Vilnius built the Church of the Holy Spirit. Bogdan and Raina Ogiński had the idea of building a monastery whilst still working on the stone church. However, soon Bogdan died (1625) and Raina Ogińska took over the management of monastery building. On 2 August 1629 the monastery was established and Raina Ogińska signed over 2000 sexagenae of Lithuanian groszy, also a folwark and several villages in Kaunas district. Decision to establish a monastery was an opportunity to preserve a seedbed of Orthodoxy, because after the Union of Brest Lithuania did not have any operating parish Orthodox churches, such rights were granted only to the monasteries subordinate to Vilnius Monastery of the Holy Spirit, which was under direct patronage of the Patriarch of Constantinople.After Lithuania restored independence in 1918, and questions were raised about the restitution of confiscated and closed churches to believers, a myth of Kruonis church belonging to Uniate - O.S.B.M was born. On 23 March 1919, the population of Kruonis municipality and parish prepared a petition for the Executive Board of the Council of Lithuania about returning of the Kruonis Church to the Catholics, where they argued that in 1847 a stone church in Kruonis, built by duke Ogiński and 'put under the care of monk Father Basil,' was taken away from the Catholics. After analysis of documents and information collected by the Department of Religion of the Republic of Lithuania it was decided that Ogiński had built in Kruonis a Uniate Church, which after the Union was terminated the Russians took away from the Catholics and turned into Orthodox Church. At the end of April in 1919, on the basis of the Land Reform legislation, the church was transferred to the Catholics. Thus for the long decades ahead a myth of the "Uniate" story of Kruonis was established. [From the publication]