St. John the Forerunner's Monastery

St. John the Forerunner's Monastery of the Khust eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church stands in the Tyschora tract by the village of Roztoky, Rakhiv district, in the Zakarpattia region¹.

Before the monastery there was a skete on this spot. The Monastery of Saint George at Kryva, listing its own sketes, wrote that in 2000 the monastic skete of Saint Seraphim was founded in the village of Roztoky of the Rakhiv district, and that by 2010 the skete had a church of Saint Seraphim of Sarov².

The house's own site names hieromonk Veniamin (Melnychuk) as the founder of the monastery³.

On 29 January 2016 the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, having heard the report of Metropolitan Mark of Khust and Vynohradiv, blessed the establishment of a men's monastery in honour of the holy prophet John the Forerunner of the Khust eparchy in the village of Roztoky, Rakhiv district, Zakarpattia region, and the adoption and registration of its Statute; the decision is recorded in Journal No. 2 of that session⁴.

In the annual report of the Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for 2016 this house is named as the only men's monastery among the three that the Synod established during the year⁵.

In the eparchy the house is known by two names: the eparchial list of monasteries gives St. John the Forerunner's Monastery in the Tyschora tract¹, while an eparchial report of 3 August 2021 calls the same place the Monastery of Saint Seraphim in the Tyschora tract⁶.

On that occasion, 1 August 2021, with the blessing of the ruling bishop, Metropolitan Mark, the festal Liturgy in the house was led by the vicar of the Khust eparchy, Bishop Symeon of Uholka; at the service special petitions were offered for the ending of the epidemic and for the doctors who were fighting the disease⁶.

The monastery's own site also describes the road to the house: it begins at the collective-farm bridge in the village of Roztoky and leads straight to the monastery, the ascent takes about two hours, and the same road can be travelled by an off-road vehicle; a second road comes from the village of Bilyn and takes roughly an hour and a half⁷.