Myrrh-bearers’ Convent

Myrrh-bearers’ Convent stands at the Leorda hamlet near the village of Verkhni Petrivtsi in the Storozhynets district of the Chernivtsi region, and belongs to the Chernivtsy and Bukovyna Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church^{1, 2}. The convent's own site and the Romanian-language press of Bukovyna call it briefly by the name of the hamlet, «Leorda»^{3, 5}.

Building of the convent began in 1994³. It arose north of Verkhni Petrivtsi, on the slopes of the hill that shares the hamlet's name⁴. A Romanian-language paper of Chernivtsi writes that the house was founded in that same year of 1994 through the efforts of the dean of the Storozhynets district and the generosity of benefactors⁵.

Until 1998 the sisters lived temporarily in the clergy house of the parish church of St Paraskeva in the village of Verkhni Petrivtsi³. The convent itself was opened on 12 September 1996 at the church of St Michael the Archangel in the Leorda hamlet².

In 1998 the church of St Michael the Archangel and a two-storey block with a house church of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women were finished at the convent^{3, 4}. In 2000 a chapel was raised over the well here, in 2000-2001 the wall, and in 2001 the foundation was laid of a bell-tower with a church of the Great Martyr Panteleimon³.

The bell-tower was completed later. A local heritage essay describes a convent met by a tall gate-bell-tower, and calls the bell-tower church in honour of the Great Martyr Panteleimon 50 metres high⁴.

On the grounds of the house stand the church of St Michael the Archangel, a residential monastic block with the house church of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women, the church of the Great Martyr Panteleimon and the monastery cemetery; the convent also has a farm of its own². The Romanian-language paper lists three altars of the convent's churches - of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women, of the Great Martyr Panteleimon, and of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel⁵.

By the heritage essay, the church of St Michael the Archangel keeps 40 relics of saints, among them those of the Great Martyr Panteleimon, in whose honour the bell-tower church was consecrated⁴. A particle of the relics of St Silouan the Athonite is named independently of one another by two publications - the central church news desk and the same essay^{2, 4}.

The essay also lists particles of the relics of the Great Martyr Barbara, of Demetrius the Myrrh-streaming, of Gregory the Dialogist, of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, of St Lavrentiy of Chernihiv and of one of the infants killed by Herod, particles of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord from Jerusalem, and the Pochaiv icon of the Mother of God⁴.

Most of the sisters of the house are Romanian by origin, and the services here are celebrated in the Romanian language, on Sundays and on feasts^{2, 3}.

The patronal feast of the convent is the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women⁵. On 30 April 2023 hundreds of Orthodox Romanians of the Siret valley gathered for it⁵, and on 19 May 2024 the Orthodox Romanians of the Chernivtsi region⁶.