Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mielnik

The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an Orthodox parish church located in Mielnik. It belongs to the Dekanat Siemiatycze (diecezja warszawsko-bielska) of the Diecezja warszawsko-bielska of the Polish Orthodox Church.The first written records of the existence of an Orthodox church in Mielnik date back to 1260 and then to 1551. In the 17th century, the Mielnik parish adopted the Union of Brest, becoming a Uniate (Greek Catholic) church. The church was destroyed by fire in 1614 and again in 1656, each time being rebuilt afterward. The first brick church in the village was constructed between 1821 and 1823 in the Neoclassical style. Like all Uniate churches in Podlachia, it had strongly Latinized features, including an organ, pulpit, and side altars, but it uniquely retained an iconostasis. Most Latin elements were removed from the church between 1835 and 1838 during the de-Latinization campaign that prepared the entire Lithuanian Uniate diocese for conversion to Orthodoxy. The manner and extent of changes in the church's interior led to a dispute between the clergy and the county head, Miedwiediew, who insisted on immediately remodeling Uniate churches in the typical Russian architectural style. The consistory of the Lithuanian diocese, led by Bishop Joseph Semashko, advocated for gradual changes and agreed to allow some secondary Latin elements to remain in th

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