The Roman Catholic Church of St.Nicholas

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The Roman Catholic Church of St.Nicholas (ruins), the X�V-XVIII �enturies. Preservation Number #750 | Foto
1 Virmens'ka St.

The remains of the Virmens'ka Church (Roman Catholic Church) of St.Nicholas (further - Mykolayivs'ka) are located in the southern part of the Old Town, not far from the Armenian Market. Its name originates from the Kamyanets' Armenians, that lived here in the ղV-�V�� enturies in this part of the town. As for building of the temple, the historians have no common version. For example, �.Vashykian (1777-1851) claims, that the Church has been built by the craftsmen �yrem and Hachyk. Doronovych points to another date of building - 1495, claiming, that the Church was not built in place of the wooden temple, but on the other one. At the same time, he refers to the Dean of the Kamyanets' Armenian Roman Catholic Church, �.Demkovych, who has known the authentic written documents. By the way, the previous temple was said to be big and made of stone.
In the XVII �entury, the Church became the Uniate one. This Church differs from the rest of the Armenian temples by its beauty and greatness. The temple was surrounded by the gallery from three sides, that were supported by cut columns, being made of stone.
The Armenian researcher, Z.Grygorian, writes, that after the fire in 1632, the Church was reconstructed: the babynets' was extended, the wall around the church was changed into the stone one. In the information about the fire they say also about building of the Bell Tower, but the date is not mentioned. The researcher thinks, that the Bell Tower had been built till 1555, then, in 1633, the Church was built there.
During the siege �f ��myanets' by Turks (1672) the temple was ruined and has been in a such condition till 1730. The temple had been restoring from that date up till 1757, and from 1791 it became to functionate as the Uniate one. In the visiting descriptions of 1797, it is mentioned, that before ruining by Turks the temple had been not large, stone. Only in 1787, owing to efforts of the local prists the temple was extended due to the money collected from Kamyanets' Armenians and Armenian citizens of other towns,and consecrate on June 27, 1791.
Y.Sitsins'kyi (Sichyns'kyi) has left a brief outer external description of the religious building at the end of the ղ� century. Besides, he has written, that �ykolayivs'ka Church (Roman Catholic Church) is of the Byzantine architecture, it was crowned with the octahedral dome. The main altar was in the east, the eastern side of the western part was arranged by the greco-Roman pediment. The building was surrounded by covered gallery. The Bell Tower is situated separately from Mykolayivs'ka Church (Roman Catholic Church).
In the middle 30's, during rule of the Soviet Union, the Church was destroyed. Partial research on the ruins of the Armenian Church was held in 1972 under the direction of Y. Plamenyts'ka, in 1973, the researches were held there with the assistance of the Armenian reseacher, G.Grygorian.

�.�.��. "�� XV-XVIII �.�. � �.��-�o��". �� Ĳ��

The church is situated in Armenian Street, precisely - aside of it, as if in the alleyway and from the side of the street it is small and almost imperceptible as it is closed by the building of the Armenian Roman Catholic church and neighbouring buildings. The building of this church is considered to be rather old. Some people think, that it was built by Armenians, which first settled on Podillia in the ղ-ղ� �enturies, as in the time of ��riatovyches Armenians, as it is known, had not already been the new settlers in ��yanets'. There are different poits of view as for the building of this church: Y.Y. Rollie and other researcher thought, that the church had existed before foundation of Kamyanets' by princes ��riatovychs; the archpriest �.Z. Doronovych pointed at that the church of St. �ykolay was built by Armenian Synan Kotlubey in 1398, �nd when in 1495, a new stone church in honour of St. Mykolay was built, the old one was turned into the chapel of Annunciation of St.Virgin Mariya, and in 1811, it was turned into the church again and devoted to St. �ykolay.
However, for the first time in the town's history notes about the building of present St. �ykolayivs'ka Church appear in the documents of the XVII �entury, where this church becomes famous as the Armenian temple in honour of Annunciation of St.Virgin Mariya. During the rule of the Turks, in Podillia the temple began ruining. In 1700, the Armenian Bohdan Liatynovych on his own costs restored the church. The course of the restoration of the temple was returning to Podillia of the wonder-working icon of God's Mother, that had been in L'viv. It had been in restored temple up to 1767. That year the main temple of the Armenian Catholics - the church of St.Mykolay was consecrated and the icon was placed in it.
In 1811, the Armenians members of Uniate Church obtained by request from the Armenian Catholics for doing their devotions the permission to turn the chapel of Annunciation into the Uniate church, and devoted it to St. �ykolay. This church had been Uniate till 1840 and that year it was joined to Orthodoxy in the time of the senior priest Victor Labeykovs'kyi. In present St. Mykolayivs'ka church there is an icon of St.�ykolay, painted in (2 ? � 1 ?). The icon was brought there by the members of Uniate Church. Besides, there is a stone high relief in the centre of the church - lying figure of the Saviour in mitre, almost life-sized. This high relief is a monument of Echmiadzins'kyi patriarchy Mel'hisedeck, later L'viv Armenian bishop, which died in ��yanets' on 27, March, 1627 and was buried in that church.
The form of the building is �lliptic and from the front side it is of a vertical cut. There are 4 windows in the church, one on each side; the windows are small, round and cut high through the walls, almost under the roof. The temple is very small and narrow inside, it can house not more than hundred people.

�� .�. �� . - ��-��: �� , 1901. - �.342-344.

Translated by Yana Anufriyeva
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