Komańcza - former Greek Catholic parish church of the Protection of the Virgin Mary. Care of the Mother of God, built in 1802 (since 1963 an Orthodox branch church). In 1834 a bell was erectedand the gatehouse, and in 1836 the sacristy was rebuilt. The church has been repaired several times. Of the old furnishings, the iconostasis of 1832 was preserved until 2006. A special feature is the location of the sacristy on the extension of the sanctuary, on the longitudinal axis of the church. The Orthodox church in Komancza, together with the bell tower, was one of the three surviving (besides Turzansko and Rzepedzi) examples of East Wallachian (so-called Oslavian) religious architecture. On September 1 3, 2006, the church and its furnishings burned to the ground; firefighters managed to save only the historic bell tower. The next day, Archbishop Adam Dubec announced that the church would be rebuilt in its pre-fire shape. There are also several other Orthodox churches in the area. Szczawne - former Greek Catholic Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (now an Orthodox branch church) built in 1888-1889. A wooden bell tower was erected at the same time as the church. In 1925, the interior of the church was polychromed. Until 1947 it had a branch church in the town of Kulaszne. In 1968 the church's roof was repaired, and in 1973 the bell tower was repaired. Rzepedź- originally the Orthodox church in Rzepedź was mentioned in 1526. The current Greek Catholic branch church of St. Nicholas was built in 1824, and was renovated and rebuilt in 1896 - including changing the roof structure and repainting the iconostasis, by Josyp Bukovych, and a vestry was added. The building represents the northeastern type of Lemko Orthodox church, a towerless variant (according to R. Brykowski), also known as Oslavic/Oslavic. Radoszyce - the first Orthodox church in Radoszyce is mentioned in 1530. The present church, standing on a small hill (according to the principle that God's house should stand higher than people's houses), was built in 1868. The wooden church in Radoszyce is classified as a Northeastern type of Lemko Orthodox church. The wooden building has a log structure (walls made of horizontally stacked brushes or logs, connected at joints by notches and stiffened by wedges) with equal height of the logs of the individual parts.
Andrew - 24.06.2008
