Wooden churches

The wooden Greek Catholic church of the Holy Evangelist Luke, 1739, NKP 

The wooden church in Tročany is dedicated to the holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke. Probably it was transferred here from a close by located village of Rešov, a fact confirmed by gages on beams and dedication record at the icon of the Crucifixion. It is probably the oldest wooden church of the Eastern rite not only in Slovakia, but in whole Carpathian region. According to the church style it definitelly dates back to the turn of the 15th and 16th century at latest.

            The church is of a log structure. It has three parts, three spaces, two towers and three crosses. It stands on a low fundament. The entrance is protected by an extended roof and leads from the western part into the narthex. In the back part is a choir loft, accessible by wooden steps from the southern side of the nave. The apse is rectangular. The church is equipped with small windows in the nave and in the sanctuary. The bottom part under the tower consists of horizontally laid wooden panels. The peripheries of all three spaces are covered with shingles. These shingles are laid vertically, in horizontal strips. The main tower gets narrower upwards. On the top sits cone shaped roof. Its circle ground plan intensifies the original look of the building. The sanctuary is covered with saddle roof. In the church tower are two bells. Above the tower is a three – barred cross, above the nave is a single – barred cross, and above the end of the sanctuary is located a simple one – barred cross.

            In the church is located also uncomplete iconostasis, being part of the National Cultural Monuments. It has two rows and dates back to the 17th century. Instead of the first row are only freely hanged icons of St. Nicholas, icon of the Mother of God the Hodegitria, icon of Christ the Teacher and smaller patron feast icon of the holy Evangelist Luke. 

The royal doors, or also holy or main doors are in the middle of the iconostasis, leading into the sanctuary. Above the royal doors is placed Mandylion – depiction of the face of Christ on a cloth. The whole second row of feasts is missing. Very precious is also the sizeable tablet, containing the third and fourth row of the iconostasis. The thrid, apostolic row creates Great Deesis. In the middle is the icon of Christ the Teacher, depicted with the Mother of God on the northern side and St. John the Baptist on the southern side. It is hard to identify the apostles. From those, that are known to us, we can identify only St. Peter, St. Paul and St. James the Zebedee. Other figures are either without attributes or only with a general apostolic attribute – book and are unclear in their appearance. The fourth row, of prophets has in its middle the icon of the Panagia – Interceding Mother of God with angels on both her sides. From other figures one can identify Aaron, Nahum, Ezekiel, Haggai. The top of the iconostasis consists of a sizeable icon of the Crucifixion with several figures. On the northern side is the Mother of God, and presumably also the Mary Magdalene, on the southern side the Holy Evangelist John and presumably holy centurion Longinus. Behind the iconostasis in the sanctuary is a decorated altar with the icon of the Descent from the Cross from the 18th century and the icon of St. Michael the Archangel above the praparatory table. 

            In this church are also displayed several other icons, hanging independently in the nave. Worth to mention are also those sizeable icons painted on canvas and hanging on the sides of the iconostasis. On the southern side it is the icon of the Last Judgment, on the northern side those of the Annunciation and of St. Parasceve.

            On the northern side one may see several wooden icons of the Mother of God the Hodegetria and also dominant icons of Christ the Pantocrator and St. Michael the Archangel. On the opposite side are also several smaller icons: The Crucifixion, rare icon of St. John of Sučava and common depiction of the holy bishop Nicholas and St. Parasceve and other icons in the narthex of the Church.

            The wooden church in Tročany was in 1968 proclaimed a National Cultural Monument. Several renovations took place in 1897, 1933 and 1968. In 2010 - 2011 was the church completely renovated and restored as a part of the project Preservation of the Wooden Churches on the Interational Wooden Road, financed by the European Fund of Regional Development.

Contact:

Travel agency BYZANT
Hlavná 3, 080 01 Prešov
tel.: + 421 51 7562668
e-mail: info@drevenechramy.sk