Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God Convent

In 1924 the nun Paraskeva (Yuliana Prokop in the world), together with Mariya Ratsiuk, Hanna Kemin and Hanna Izai, petitioned Bishop Dosifei (Vasych) to found a women's monastery at Lypcha; the land for it was donated by Mariya Vakarova¹. On 5 June 1925 the site was consecrated by the hieromonk Amfilokhiy, whom Bishop Dosifei had appointed dean of the future community^{1, 2}. By 1926 a church, two residential buildings, a kitchen, a refectory and workshops already stood here^{2, 3}, and in 1928 a monastic statute was drawn up, approved in 1931 by the district government³.

In 1929 the Czech industrialist R. Zahrada opened a carpet-weaving workshop at the convent³. In 1931, when a women's monastery was opening at Domboky, some of the sisters — the nuns Sofiya and Anysiya and three novices — moved there¹. In 1932 a summer chapel in honour of the Prophet Elijah was built at the convent¹. In 1944 one hundred and twelve people lived here¹; during the war the Hungarian administration restricted the community's economic activity and confiscated its land¹. In 1946 the hegumen Feofan Sabov and his brother, the priest Petro Sabov, were buried in the monastery cemetery, having been killed on 14 June of that year¹.

By a decree of the executive committee of the Khust district council of 12 December 1958 the convent's landholding was cut from 42.21 to 3.5 hectares¹. In 1959, after the closure of the monasteries and sketes at Drahovo, Kopashnevo, Domboky, Pryborzhavske and Bedevlya, the nuns of those communities were transferred to Lypcha, and the total number of residents passed one hundred¹. On 24 June 1961, however, the Zakarpattia oblast executive committee resolved to close the convent: its land, buildings and other premises were handed to the regional department of public education for a boarding school¹. On 10 July 1961 the police surrounded the convent, twenty-five sisters were taken to the Mukachevo convent and the rest dispersed to their homes; in 1964 the church, which had stood only ten years, was destroyed, three buildings, a chapel, two mills and the weaving and sewing workshops were dismantled, and the bells and an electric turbine were confiscated¹. The iconostasis made by I. Pavlyshynets vanished without trace after the convent's destruction¹.

Monastic life at Lypcha was revived in 1990^{2, 3}. In 1991 the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos was laid down, consecrated in 1995, and in 2000 its wall paintings were completed^{2, 3}. From 2001 a bell tower and a chapel in honour of the holy equal-to-the-apostles Princess Olha were built at the convent². On 18 April 2010 a triple jubilee was celebrated here — eighty-five years since the founding, twenty since the revival and fifteen since the rebuilding of the main monastery church²; at that time twenty-three sisters and three clergy served in the community². On 4 May 2025, the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women, the festal Divine Liturgy marking the centenary of the convent's founding was led by Metropolitan Mark of Khust and Vynohradiv, concelebrating with Metropolitan Ioann of Kherson and Tavriya, Archbishop Symeon of Uhol, Bishop Veniamin of Skadovsk and the clergy of the eparchy⁴. In July 2025 the convent handed over an off-road vehicle for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine⁵.