Khoiniki. Holy Protection Monastery.

In the middle of the 18th century, the church was captured by the Poles and rebuilt into a Roman Catholic church. After the church was returned to the Orthodox faithful, it operated until 1922, when the Soviet authorities closed it, and in 1928 it was completely destroyed. The miraculous icon "Blessed Heaven" was saved by the church minister Tarasy Dashuk, who secretly took it to the village of Guborevichi. In the following decades, the shrine passed from family to family, and before the revival of the temple, it was kept by laywoman Alexandra Nikolaeva (in monasticism, Sophia).  

After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (1986), the spiritual restoration of the region began. In 1988, on the initiative of Priest Vladimir Kozak and with the support of city enterprises, a new stone Church of the Intercession was erected on the site of the destroyed church in a few months, consecrated in 1989 by Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk. Ukrainian craftsmen created an iconostasis in the Old Russian style, and artists from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy painted the walls. The preserved list of the Holy Heaven icon was returned to the revived church.  

In 1990, a female monastic monastery was established at the temple. In 1995, a house church in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir appeared in the monastery, and on October 1, 1999, by the decision of the Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, the skete received the status of a monastery. Abbess Georgia (Schwab) became the first abbess, and six sisters lived in the monastery under her leadership.  

The monastery has become the spiritual center of the Chernobyl zone. A daily round of divine services is held here, there is a Sunday school for children and a brotherhood in the name of St. Theodosius. In 2001, the monastery was visited by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, who presented the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God with the patriarchal blessing.  

Today, the monastery occupies a small territory with a garden and a vegetable garden, continuing to feed the inhabitants of Khoiniki, pilgrims and all those who seek solace in the shadow of the Chernobyl tragedy. Its history symbolizes the triumph of faith over destruction, and the miraculous icon "Blessed Heaven" recalls the centuries-old bond of generations who preserved the shrine despite wars, persecutions and catastrophes.