| Saints Peter and Paul Church | |
|---|---|
Cerkiew Świętych Apostołów Piotra i Pawła | |
 | |
 | |
| 52°25′51.9″N 22°51′51.0″E / 52.431083°N 22.864167°E | |
| Location | Siemiatycze |
| Country |  Poland |
| Denomination | Eastern Orthodoxy |
| Churchmanship | Polish Orthodox Church |
| History | |
| Status | active Orthodox church |
| Dedication | Saints Peter and Paul |
| Dedicated | November 6, 1866 |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | project from Konstantin Thon's design catalog |
| Style | Russian Revival |
| Years built | 1865–1866 |
| Specifications | |
| Number of domes | 7 |
| Number of towers | 1 |
| Materials | brick |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Diocese of Warsaw and Bielsk |
Saints Peter and Paul Church is an Orthodox parish church located in Siemiatycze, belonging to the Siemiatycze Deanery of the Diocese of Warsaw and Bielsk of the Polish Orthodox Church.
The first church in Siemiatycze was established in the 15th century and served as a parish church from the beginning. It officially became property of the Uniate Church immediately after the signing of the Union of Brest, effectively transitioning in 1614. A new wooden Uniate church in Siemiatycze was funded in the same century by Lew Sapieha. The temple became an important pilgrimage center on Trinity Sunday, originally its patronal feast. Over time, its significance in the town diminished, and the Uniate parish gradually became impoverished.
In 1839, the Siemiatycze parish was compelled to return to Orthodox faith, following the decisions of the Synod of Polotsk. Although the 17th-century church was already in poor condition by then, a brick Orthodox temple was built in Siemiatycze only after the suppression of the January Uprising, largely funded by the Russian state. The building remained active until 1915 when the Orthodox inhabitants of the town went into exile. During the interwar period, the church was reopened and has been continuously active since.
Inside the church, there is an iconostasis from 1908, along with Baroque icons of Saints Peter and Paul and St. Paraskeva.
The church is situated on Powstania Styczniowego Street, on a hill overlooking the Muchawiec stream,[1] a tributary of the Kamianka river. The churchyard, surrounded by a wall, also served as a cemetery (part of the historic tombstones have survived), where Orthodox clergy are currently buried.[2]
- ^ Maroszek (1989, pp. 10–12)
- ^ "Cmentarz Par. Prawosławnej Świętych Apostołów Piotra i Pawła, ul. Pow. Styczniowego, Siemiatycze" [Cemetery of the Orthodox Parish of Saints Peter and Paul, Powstania Styczniowego Street, Siemiatycze]. cmentarze24.pl (in Polish). 25 November 2021. Retrieved 2024-09-21.