St. George Cathedral of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Lviv: description

Lviv is rightly called the cultural capital of Ukraine. In this city there are constantly held exhibitions, festivals, concerts. It is a major tourist center. And Lviv can be called the spiritual capital of the country. Due to the fact that this city was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Poland, its architectural ensemble enchants tourists with Western European charm. Local people call their city a little Paris, and there is something in it. The top 10 places to visit in Lviv include: Rynok Square with the cathedral Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of Mary and the Boim Chapel, the Opera House, the Armenian Street, the Lychakiv Cemetery, the High Castle and the Church of St. Jura. The cathedral dedicated to George the Victorious will be in the focus of our article. Where is this shrine of the Greek Catholic Church and who built it - read below.

History

The Church of St. Jura is a new cathedral. But the place on which it stands, has long been considered holy. The city itself was built in the middle of the 13th century by the Galician-Volhynian King Danil and was transferred to the reign of Lev's son (for which he received his name). Initially, the settlement was located on the slope of Zamkova Mountain. On the other side of the river Poltva towered a hill on which Prince Leo ordered the construction of a monastery for his uncle, Prince Vasylka, who decided to devote himself to God in his declining years. At the end of the 13th century there was a wooden church "with many cells". Fifty years later the summit of the high hill was crowned with a monastery complex. From that time only the bell reached us. It reads: "6849 summer (1341) under the prince of Dmitri by the abbot Evfim." The complex, which we see today, arose in the 1750s. He, like the historical center of Lviv, is listed in the UNESCO list as a historical and cultural heritage of mankind.

Greek Catholic shrine

What is included in the complex of St. George? Cathedral, bell tower, metropolitan's chambers, chapel houses, terrace and Vladycha Garden. The monastery of the Order of St. Basil ceased to exist in 1817. A year earlier the Cathedral of St. George was transferred to the Greek Catholic community of the city. Since then, the temple is a shrine of the faithful of this Christian denomination. In 1946, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was outlawed. Metropolitan Joseph Slipy was imprisoned, and the complex of St. George's Cathedral was transferred to the Orthodox community. In August 1990, the banned Church returned from overseas exile and again began to act. At the same time, the cathedral was returned to its original confession and liturgy. The Greek Catholic (still called Uniate) church preserves the Orthodox rite, but considers it its pontiff of the Pope.

Construction of the Cathedral

The main architect of the temple and other sacral buildings is Bernard Meretin - an architect of German origin, who arrived in Lviv and settled there in 1738. He was not a part of the builders' shop, so he had several lawsuits with him (two lawsuits are kept in the city archive). However, in 1744 Meretin, as they would say now, won a tender for the construction of a new complex of St. George. The cathedral is his brainchild in the Baroque and Rococo style. After the death of Metropolitan Atanas Sheptytsky, the order was prolonged in 1750 by his successor Leon from the same family. When Bernard Meretin died (and this happened in 1759), the cathedral was completed by Clementy Xavier Fesinger. The sculptures of the two founders of the temple complex - Atanasiy and Leona Sheptytsky, as well as the equestrian status of St. George, striking with a serpent's spear, belong to the incisor of St. George Pinzel.

What do tourists need to know?

Due to its location on a hill, almost from all points of the center of Lviv, the cathedral of St. George is seen. The address of this complex is very simple. It is located in St. George's Square, 5. You can get there from the center by tram No. 6 (stop Yaroslav Mudry st.). To the St. George's Square there are many city bus services to the railway station market and the Neo-Gothic St. Elizabeth's Cathedral. It should be remembered that the Church of St. George is not a museum, but a functioning temple. It symbolizes the shrine, which on Ukrainian soil became a bridge of unity of the great heritage of Christian spirituality and culture of two branches - the Byzantine East and the Latin West. First you need to look at the exterior of the cathedral. Admire from the eastern terrace to the view of Lviv, go under the openwork gates, look at the chambers of the Metropolitan.

Exterior

In its layout the cathedral of St. George (Lviv) is laid on an equal Greek cross. Between the cross-arms of it are four chapels with miniature baths under the roof. In the center of the building a large round dome rests on a wide drum and arches. Numerous pilasters are crowned with stone lanterns in the style of rococo. It is they who give the squat structure the harmony and loftiness of the Gothic cathedral. At the entrance to the temple leads a long staircase with an openwork balustrade, decorated with vases and rods. The courtyard in front of the cathedral is closed by two brambles decorated with allegorical sculptures of Faith and Hope, as well as the Roman and Greek Churches. You should pay attention to the figures of the founders of the temple of Atanas and Leo Sheptytsky and the beautiful sculpture of St. George by Pinzel.

Interior

The Cathedral of St. Jura (Lviv) owes its own interior decoration to the artist S. Fabiansky (1876). Of course, various artists worked on the painting of the temple. But all of them, over a long historical period, managed to achieve organic coexistence of styles. Baroque, rococo, classicism in the interior of the cathedral look like a single whole. Sculptures at the entrance and at the altar are in harmony with the canvases "Appearance to the Apostles", "Bishop" (Radivilovsky brushes), the sacrificial composition "The Sermon of Christ" (works by Smuglevich). It is necessary to pay attention to the oval icons of prophets, baroque sculptures of angels and elegant decoration of the main altar.

Crypt

According to the chronicles, Prince Leo buried his father's body in the underground room of the cathedral, which he transported from Galich. However, in 1991 these remains were identified as Yaroslav Osmomysl. When the temple became the throne of the Galician Orthodox diocese, bishops were buried in the crypt. Since 1700, the Greek Catholic Cathedral of Lviv is the burial vault of the priests of this Church. In the crypt there are the graves of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, Patriarch Joseph Slipogo, Cardinals Miroslav Ivan Lyubachivsky and Sylvester Sembratovich, Vladyka Vladimir Sternyuk. The cellar-tomb of the temple is open for visiting. For believers it will be interesting to learn that in the church of Saint Jura there are two miraculous icons (Kiev and Terebovlyan), relics of saints, and a copy of the Shroud of Turin.