Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Rogacze

The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an Orthodox parish church in Rogacze. It belongs to the Kleszczele Deanery of the Diocese of Warsaw and Bielsk of the Polish Orthodox Church. The Orthodox church in Rogacze existed at the beginning of the 17th century. It is not possible to determine precisely when the local parish joined the Uniate Church, but it definitely occurred no later than the middle of that century. In the 18th century, funded by Jerzy Matuszewicz, a new Uniate church was erected on the site of an older, very dilapidated temple. During the same century, the cult of St. Anthony emerged in Rogacze, with his image reportedly appearing miraculously on a tree. According to Grzegorz Sosna, the venerated figure was initially Anthony of Padua. In 1839, the church in Rogacze was administratively incorporated into the Russian Orthodox Church following the resolutions of the Synod of Polotsk. After this date, the church became a center for the veneration of Anthony of Kiev. In 1872, the building was completely destroyed by fire. The burnt church was replaced by a temple purchased from the parish in Dubiny. In 1940, a second altar dedicated to Anthony of Kiev was installed in the Rogacze church. Four years later, the building was severely damaged by artillery shelling. After the war, the building was renovated several times, with a thorough renovation taking

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).