Massolyany. Church of the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary.

From March 6, 1878, to August 1881, Ignatius Ignatievich Móroz (c. 1835 - April 6, 1885) was rector of the church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In those years, he was also a law teacher at the Massolyany National School (information from the Lithuanian Diocesan Gazette, 1885, No. 44, and the Memorial Book of the Grodno Province, 1881, p. 145).

The time-lapse parish chronicle for 1880 says: "On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the reign of Tsar Alexander Nikolaevich, the following two icons, 2 yards high and 1 yard and a quarter wide, painted on canvas, were purchased by the parishioners and the care of Priest Ignatius Móroz in the Massolyany Church of the Grodno district: one is of the Iveron Mother of God with the inscription 'Open the doors of Mercy to us' in gold letters at the top and at the bottom, "In memory of the deliverance of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander from the danger that threatened him on April 2 and November 19, 1879," and another - St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsars Constantine and Elena with the caption at the bottom 'In memory of the 25th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Alexander, February 19, 1880'.

In addition, at the request of a local priest, the landowner of the Massolyany estate, Ivan Kamillich Bisping (of the Roman Catholic faith), "made three beautiful frames of carpentry, varnished, for the icons".

Olga Kavetskaya,

historian, writer, great-great-great-granddaughter of I.I. Móroz.

In the town of Massolyany, in addition to the gentry manor, there is a pre-revolutionary Orthodox church of the 18th century. The church was built at the expense of Marianne Bisping in 1796, as a Catholic church, or as a Uniate church. The building is built of brick and stone. In the 19th century, the church was handed over to Orthodox believers.

The church was built in the late Baroque style with elements of classicism. The temple is single-nave. The plan is rectangular, which is covered with a two-pitched roof. The main facade of the church is divided by a developed entablature into 2 tiers. The lower tier is decorated with pilasters. The middle part is decorated in the form of a triangular pediment. The upper tier is a square tower in plan. There are choirs in the interior above the entrance. The walls are decorated with pilasters with capitals. The apse is semicircular, in which a sacristy is created behind a partition. There is a three-tiered gilded iconostasis, which was created at the end of the 19th century. Some elements of the iconostasis are decorated with carved ornaments. There is an icon from 1882 by the artist M. Plis "John the Theologian."

In the 19th century, a church school was opened at the church, and a local priest was appointed law teacher. In 1880, there were 60 boys in the educational institution. In 1888, the church was extensively renovated at the expense of the parish. The repair cost 350 rubles.

The church has also been renovated in recent years.