“Christ the King” Church, the year 1935. Patrimony number 257-if. Monument of local value. Situated in Ivano-Frankivsk city, Nezalezhnosti Street, no. 181.
The Vasilian monastery of monks in Stanislaw and the “Christ the King” Church became the last spiritual and prayer centres in Galicia, opened before the Second World War. The establishment of a monastery at Stanislaw was one of the strongest wishes of the titular bishop Hryhoriy Komyshyn. The hierarch supported the Vasilian priests in every way. In the complex political and economic conditions of the thirties of the 20th century, he blamed the organization of the pastoral life of the faithful in the “Myzlye” neighbourhood. The Vasilian priests managed to mobilize the parishioners to build the church and the monastery. Their monastic service example helped to spread a culture of great Christian spirituality and devotion to the church and the people.
The establishment of the church and monastery of the Vasilian Priests has an ancient history. Even in the period of the Austrian administration, the public council of the Kneahynyn-Colony (Maizli) donated a plot of land to construct the reading house of the “Prosvita” Society. On this land, the buildings of the church and monastery of the Vasilian Priests were later erected. The place was constructed in Byzantine style with five domes (after the model of the “St. Sophia” Cathedral), the author of the project being the architect Oleksandr Pezhansky from Lviv. The construction of the church began in 1928 and was completed in 1935.
The church was consecrated, and the first service in it was held in 1935. Since 1957 the church has been closed, being passed on to a collection centre. Later it served as a furniture warehouse, then as the State Archive.
After the exit of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from the illegality, the monastery church was returned to the order of “Saint Basil the Great”. On the 24th of June 1989, the shrine was consecrated and then repaired.
