Zymno Svytogorsky Holy Dormition stauropegial Convent

The Dormition Sviatohirsk stauropegial convent of Zymne stands in the village of Zymne on the bank of the river Luha, in the Volyn region¹.

The sources speak differently about the time of its foundation, and this text does not choose between them. The Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine dates the foundation to 1001 and connects it with Prince Volodymyr, who, by that account, built a winter residence here and two wooden churches - of the Dormition of the Mother of God and of the Holy Trinity¹. The Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia writes that the monastery's origin is traditionally dated to the eleventh century, that its first documented mention is held to be in the Kyiv Caves Paterikon under the year 1062, in connection with the death here of Varlaam, hegumen of the Kyiv Caves monastery, and that the next mention is dated 1458². The house itself keeps to the first reckoning: in September 2011 it marked the 1010th anniversary of its foundation together with the 20th of its revival³.

For a long time the monastery was the residence of the bishops of Volodymyr-Volynskyi, among them St Stephen and St Amphilochius, and in the thirteenth century it was destroyed by the Mongols¹. In 1495 Prince Fedir Chartoryskyi of Lutsk built a stone five-domed church in place of the wooden Dormition church¹; the Dormition cathedral above the caves was raised in that same year, 1495, and rebuilt in 1550². From then the monastery was the burial vault of the Chartoryskyi princes, who opened a printing house and a school here¹. In 1566, at the expense of Prince Oleksandr Chartoryskyi, a bell weighing 720 kilograms was cast for the house².

In 1682 the monastery went over to the Union and belonged to the Order of St Basil the Great². In 1724 the Volhynian starosta Mykhailo Chatskyi despoiled the house and ordered the Dormition church rebuilt as a two-towered Catholic church¹; in 1790 the monastery was closed^{1, 2}. From 1795 to 1839 an Orthodox parish served at the Dormition church, partly repaired in 1857¹.

The house was revived as an Orthodox women's monastery - in 1892 according to the Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine, in 1893 according to the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia^{1, 2}. Substantial reconstruction was carried out in 1898-1900 to the design of the architect M. Kozlov: the gate bell tower was raised, the Dormition cathedral rebuilt, a school built, and on the site of the old cave chapel the underground church of St Varlaam was created, consecrated in 1902². As of 1914 the house held 16 nuns and 103 novices, and during the First World War the monastery was plundered¹.

The Soviet period the house survived twice closed. According to the Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine it was restored in 1921-1939 and in 1941-1949, and later a tractor brigade was stationed on its grounds, only the Trinity church serving as a parish¹; the Great Ukrainian Encyclopedia dates the closure to 1946². After the closure the bell of 1566 was handed in 1949 to the Trinity monastery of Derman, in 1960 to the Rivne regional museum, and only in 2001 was it returned to Zymne as a relic². In 1975-1990 the defensive walls with their towers, the buildings adjoining them and the churches were restored as a monument².

In 1991 two sisters came to Zymne from the Holy Trinity convent of Korets, in the following year 15 sisters already lived in the restored house, and in 1996 the monastery received stauropegial status¹.

The chief holy thing of the house is the wonderworking Zymne icon of the Mother of God. According to the Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine it was brought from Constantinople to Kyiv in 988 and was kept at the house from the day of its foundation; from 1914 the image was hidden in the village of Pavliukivka in the Zhytomyr region, from 1966 it was at the Holy Trinity convent of Korets, and only in 1995 was it returned to Zymne¹. By the account of the central church resource, in 1914 the image was taken to Zhytomyr by Hegumeness Ariadna with two sisters, and afterwards, when only one of the three was left alive, she asked the superior of the Korets house to take the holy thing into keeping⁴. The commemoration day of the Zymne icon is 24 September: on that very day in 2011 the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland, led the Divine Liturgy at the house, having served the festal vigil there the evening before³. The monastery keeps tombs with particles of the relics of the Protomartyr Archdeacon Stephen and of St Arsenius of the Caves¹.

A precentors' department of the Volodymyr-Volynskyi theological school operates at the house⁶. On 28 June 2024 the school's graduation ceremony was held at the monastery: six graduates received their diplomas⁵. Admission for the 2026/2027 academic year was announced on 2 July 2026 - the course is full-time, lasts three years, is taught in Ukrainian, and students may take their secondary education externally at the lyceum of the village of Zymne⁶.