St. Afanasievsky Monastery

Saint Athanasius was an irreconcilable fighter against the transfer of Orthodox churches and monasteries to the Uniates (later their church was called Greek Catholic). Athanasius spoke several times at the Sejms and achieved success, but in the end he was arrested and executed. The place where Athanasius was buried alive was shown to the monks by a local boy. The relics of the saint, untouched by decay, were solemnly buried in the St. Simeon monastery in Brest.

At the place of the death of St. Athanasius, a chapel was installed, in which services were held in the days of memory of Athanasius of Brest. In the 1960s, the chapel was closed and restored only in 1989. With the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II during his visit to the chapel in 1995, a monastery was opened at the chapel in 1996. At first there were only a few monks in the monastery. They expanded the chapel and the church house, adding cells and a refectory to it. Later, after the change of the viceroy of the monastery, in 1998, the monastery building and the gate church, as well as the bishop’s rooms, were rebuilt.

Twice a year, on the day of the Belarusian saints and on the day of the death of Athanasius of Brest (18 September), a procession is made to St. Athanasievo Monastery.