St. John the Theologian's Monastery

St. John the Theologian's Monastery, a male house, stands in the village of Siltse in the Irshava district of the Zakarpattia region and belongs to the Mukachevo eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church¹. The eparchy's own publication presents the house as an example of the present-day development of monastic life in the Borzhava valley².

By the house's own account, it began as a parish church of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian, built in 2001 through the labours of Hieromonk Siluan (Chopyk); the house obtained the status of a monastery in 2008³.

The opening of a male monastery in honour of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian was blessed by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church at its session of 28 May 2010, by journal No. 29. The report of the ruling bishop which the Synod heard names the site of the house as the tract of Pcholynok in the village of Siltse, Irshava district, Zakarpattia region¹.

On 14 January 2016 another missionary liturgy with sign-language interpretation was celebrated at the monastery for people with hearing impairments from the Irshava and Vynohradiv districts; the service was interpreted by a student of the Kyiv Theological Seminary and a professional interpreter. After the liturgy the children of the Ilnytsia boarding school greeted those present with carols⁴.

A Sunday school worked at the house: with the support of the then superior of the monastery, Archimandrite Filaret (Skupeiko), children were taught the Word of God, and the classes gathered the pupils weekly after the Sunday service on the monastic hill, as an eparchial article calls the site of the house. A resident of the monastery, Hieromonk Ahapit (Shpyniak), taught in the school⁵.

Every Sunday the Irshava Orthodox youth brotherhood in honour of the Prophet and Forerunner John gathered at the monastery; its head became the dean of the house, Hieromonk Ahapit (Shpyniak), and the brotherhood's main direction became volunteer work - visiting lonely and elderly people, children's homes and boarding schools⁶.

At the beginning of December 2016 the brotherhood gathered at the monastery more than forty children with special needs from a specialised boarding institution of Mukachevo, a society of people with disabilities and a rehabilitation centre of Irshava; after the service the children gave a small festive concert⁷. In 2017 the brethren of the house passed humanitarian aid to the pupils of the Ilnytsia boarding school, who were under the monastery's spiritual care⁸.

From 9 to 16 July 2018 a free children's camp, “Стежина добра”, worked for pupils of children's homes and boarding schools and for children from low-income and large families; its organiser was a resident of the house, Archimandrite Ahapit (Shpyniak). The camp's participants, almost 150 children, were blessed by the ruling bishop in the church of the village of Kushnytsia in the Irshava area⁹.

The house venerates the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God “Look upon the Humility”. On 29 September 2019, the day of the prayerful commemoration of that image, the ruling bishop of the Mukachevo eparchy celebrated a festal service at the monastery and, after the liturgy, a moleben¹⁰. In April 2021 the eparchy reported that the image was streaming myrrh: on 14 April the ruling bishop served a moleben before it¹¹, and on 20 April the eparchy's publication wrote that the icon had not ceased to stream myrrh and that the ruling bishop had confirmed the drops on it¹².

On the night of 23 September 2020 the monastery's main brothers' block burned to the ground¹³. Restoration began at once: within seven months a new dwelling for the monks was designed and its building started¹⁴.

On 29 September 2023, after the Divine Liturgy and a moleben before the icon “Look upon the Humility”, the hierarchs and clergy performed at the house the rite of consecration of a chapel in honour of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker¹⁵.

Archimandrite Ahapit (Shpyniak), born on 21 January 1988, died on 26 May 2024; by that time he was a former vicegerent of the house, and the funeral rite was performed in his native Volyn¹⁶.

On 30 November 2025 an evening of spiritual conversation for young people, “Запитай монаха”, was held at the monastery and gathered about 100 young people from various parishes¹⁷. Such meetings continued afterwards: on 15 March 2026, at the “Καιρός” evening, confession, its traditions and canons were discussed at the house¹⁸.

On 18 August 2026 a popular-scholarly edition of 64 pages, “Обитель Любові: чверть століття молитви та творення. Нотатки з історії виникнення Свято-Іоанно-Богословського чоловічого монастиря в селі Сільце”, was published. The essay was prepared within the academic work of the Mukachevo Theological College: its author and compiler is Archimandrite Kyrylo (Shekmar), its reviewer Protopriest Oleksandr Monych; the facts gathered in it concern the founding and activity of the house in 2001-2026².