Monastery in Lyady

In the village Small Lyady, Minsk region, you can find one of the sights of Belarus - Church of the Annunciation. This place is located 45 km from Minsk, in the Smolevichi district. The construction of this temple is shrouded in legends. Initially, there was a small wooden church in Lyady, later it was founded basilian monastery. Its appearance in 1730 is connected with the vow that Zawisza made for the healing of a serious illness of his wife Teresa from the Tyszkiewicz family.

Teresa prayed for Holy Dormition Zhirovichi Monastery for her healing in front of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, and she was heard. Teresa transported the list of the miraculous icon to the Church of the Annunciation, the news of the power of which began to spread with incredible speed. Shortly after his recovery, Teresa's husband died without fulfilling his promise. Then the widow took over. With donations and her own money, Teresa founded a monastery. The temple in the style of late classicism began to be erected in 1792 and completed by 1794.

The stone building of the monastery began to be built in 1811. Under him, there was an almshouse and a religious school. In 1839 the monastery in Lyady was transferred to the Orthodox Church. At the end of the 19th century, major repairs were carried out in the church and the interior was updated.

Closing of the church in Lyady

In the 1920s, the monks were evicted, and in 1939 the temple was completely closed. Services resumed immediately after the end of the war. But during the anti-religious campaigns of the Soviet authorities in the 1950s, the church again had to stop worship. This time, the director of the local school was the culprit, demanding the closure of the Church of the Annunciation, as the services interfere with raising children. Closing did not have to wait long and in 1960 the parish was abolished.

The first years after the closure, a distillery operated in the temple. And later they began to ruin the temple - they took away the icons for sale, burned the iconostasis and removed the dome. Some valuable icons were redeemed and transferred to the temples of the nearest villages. The shrine became a granary, and when the temple became very dilapidated, it was abandoned.

Thanks to Abbot Afanasy Vankevich, in 2001 the church began to be reconstructed. After 6 years, the Church of the Annunciation in Malye Lyady was restored, and a stone fence was erected around it.