Description of the attraction
Yelsk Temple of the Life-Giving Trinity is an ancient wooden church and the oldest house in Yelsk. The church was built in 1780 on the initiative and at the expense of Kazimir Askerka especially for the locally revered miraculous icon of the Vaskovichi Mother of God.
The icon was miraculously found by a peasant looking for his cattle lost in the forest in 1760. He saw a wondrous radiance emanating from the crown of a wild pear tree, in which there was an unusual icon of the Mother of God. The peasants learned about the miraculous find and began to come to pray to her. Surprisingly, no requests, if they came from a pure heart and did not contain evil, were not left unanswered. A chapel was built for the icon, to which people flocked.
In 1817, the miraculous icon was transferred to Yelsk in the Trinity Church. Since then, the temple seems to have bypassed all wars, troubles and revolutions. The wooden church was not damaged neither in the First nor in the Second World War. Of course, they tried to close it under Soviet rule, but it did not stay closed for long.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Trinity Church was a mournful place. Here, partisans and rebellious Yelchan people who tried to resist the new authorities were executed.
Today, the Trinity Church has been restored. The pilgrims again reached for the miraculous icon. It is interesting that during the time of godlessness, the miraculous icon disappeared into no one knows where. Only during the restoration in 2008, under a layer of masking decorations of an unknown list, was the original Vaskovichi icon of the Mother of God discovered.
At the Trinity Church there is a church choir, famous for the whole district. There is a children's Sunday school.
