Temple-Fortress of St. Michael in Sonkovichi

The amazing church in honor of St. Archangel Michael can be seen on the outskirts of the Belarusian village of Sonkovichi. According to archival sources, it was built approximately in the XV century. Although in the framework of the restoration work, under a layer of plaster found graffiti dated 1312.

A local priest tells tourists and pilgrims one of the legends of this temple. It is associated with the name of the brother of the Polish king Vitautas. At the time of persecution, he was hiding in the nearby city of Slonim and dressed in a woman's dress fled from captivity, and when the danger passed, decided to lay a temple in honor of the miraculous liberation.

In its appearance, the temple resembles the oldest Byzantine-Russian churches and has monumental towers with observation platforms and loopholes. In the interior you can see the hall with three naves, covered with cross vaults. Under the floor of the church there is an ancient crypt, and in the courtyard there is a tombstone to the wife of the abbot of the church and her newborn child, who died in 1872.

But the most important shrine of the temple is the icon of the Mother of God “Vsezaritsa”, which was specially painted from the original icon on the Holy Mount Athos. Thanks to this miracle-working icon, many received healing for cancer, infertility, alcoholism and drug addiction. All cases are described in the “Book of Testimonies of Miracles of Healing”, and the icon itself is bequeathed with golden gifts of parishioners and pilgrims.