Supraśl Orthodox Monastery

The Monastery of the Annunciation in Supraśl , also known as the Supraśl Lavra is a monastery in North Eastern Poland in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Today it belongs to the autocephalous Polish Orthodox Church and is one of six Eastern Orthodox Christian men's monasteries in Poland.The Supraśl Orthodox Monastery was founded in 1498 by the voivode of Nowogródek and the Marshall of the Great Duchy of Lithuania Aleksander Chodkiewicz and the Archbishop of Smolensk and Archimandrite of Slutsk Joseph Soltan. Jeremias II Tranos, the Patriarch of Constantinople issued a special tomos sanctioning its foundation. 1501 saw the building of the first wooden church of St. John the Evangelist. In this period, Anthony of Supraśl lived in the monastery before his martyrdom. In 1516, the Church of the Annunciation was consecrated, later the monastery was further expanded with the addition of another church dedicated to the Resurrection of Our Lord, which housed the monastery catacombs. With the passing of the years, the Supraśl Lavra became an important site of Orthodox culture as a result of its large library and lively contacts with other important Orthodox sites such as the Kiev Lavra and Mount Athos.

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