St. Barbara the Great Martyr's male skete

The skete of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara is a male house of the Rivne Diocese in the village of Staryy Korets in the Rivne Region¹. The village lies in the forest-steppe zone, six kilometres south-east of the town of Korets².

The house began as an ordinary village church: in 1999 the building of a church of St Barbara was begun in the village, and in 2001 the first service was celebrated in it². The church was raised on the village's new cemetery³.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of 16 October 2003, journal No. 19, it was resolved to create at that church a skete of the Dormition Monastery of the village of Lypky¹; from that time the former village church came to be called the skete of St Barbara².

By 2005 the house already had a new church building and was putting up a hotel-and-residence block, whose interior finishing was completed in 2006³.

As the Rivne Diocese described it, the skete's yard holds a church building and three domestic and guest blocks; since 11 July 2011 the services here are celebrated daily, morning and evening, according to the monastic rule, and are sung on weekdays by the brethren's choir and on Sundays and feast days by the parish choir and the choir of the Sunday school's pupils¹.

The skete's church holds a venerated icon of the Great Martyr Barbara with a particle of her relics, and a reliquary with particles of the relics of the saints¹.

By decree No. 68 of Archbishop Varfolomii of Rivne and Ostroh, of 31 December 2012, the skete left the subordination of the Dormition Monastery of the village of Lypky and from 1 January 2013 acted on its own, as a separate skete; the brethren who had borne their obedience here remained its residents¹. Later reports of the diocese and the site of the Dormition Monastery of the village of Lypky itself still call the house a skete of that monastery^{3, 12}.

The founder of the church and of the skete was Archdeacon Mykhailo Hnesiuk, a spiritual father of many houses, buried on the grounds of the house^{1, 4}. He taught that night prayer has great power, and so on the monastic feast days night liturgies are celebrated at the skete: on 16 December 2015, on the eve of the patronal feast, the festal all-night vigil was served here, and at midnight, after the nocturns, the festal Divine Liturgy⁴.

On 18 April 2017, on Bright Tuesday, the skete was visited by its sacred archimandrite, Metropolitan Varfolomii of Rivne and Ostroh, who celebrated the festal vespers and afterwards prayed at the founder's grave⁵. Archdeacon Mykhailo's memory is honoured at the house with memorial services as well: on 12 August 2021 the Divine Liturgy in the yard beside the church was celebrated by the vicar bishop of the Rivne Diocese, with Metropolitan Varfolomii praying at it, and a panikhida was served at the grave⁶.

The patronal feast of the house is led by the ruling bishop: on 17 December 2022 and 17 December 2023 the Divine Liturgy in the skete was celebrated by Archbishop Pymen of Rivne and Ostroh, with the brethren of the house concelebrating^{7, 8}.

On 25 August 2024, on the eve of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, the skete became one of the stations of the annual great cross procession of the First Korets deanery: the procession set out from the church of St George in the town of Korets and covered nearly twenty kilometres⁹.

On 17 October 2024 Archbishop Pymen laid at the skete the foundation of a house church of St Luke of Crimea; the bishop called that saint renowned for his labours as a physician and a spiritual guide¹⁰.

On 20 February 2025, with the blessing of Archbishop Pymen, the dean of the Korets deanery performed the rite of consecration of the dome cross for the church of St Luke of Crimea; the brethren of the skete took part in the rite, after which the cross was set on the dome¹¹.

On 12 February 2026, on the feast of the Three Hierarchs, the festal Divine Liturgy in the skete was led by Metropolitan Pymen of Rivne and Ostroh, who during it ordained a deacon to the priesthood¹².