The Catholic Pilgrim's Guide to Baruny, Belarus

In 1666, a plague swept through Minsk. Among the dying lay Father Jozafat Brażyc, a Basilian priest renowned throughout the region for his compassionate ministry—the kind of confessor who would listen for hours to the troubles of the poor. As he slipped toward death, the Virgin Mary appeared to him and restored his life. The small icon of the Mother and Child that had accompanied his priestly work became something more than paint on wood. Three decades later, that icon would draw a shrine out of the Lithuanian wilderness. Today pilgrims find the Church of Saints Peter and Paul rising above the village of Baruny with its distinctive asymmetrical facade—a masterpiece of Vilnian Baroque, the architectural language of the Greek Catholic Church that once flourished in these lands. The miraculous icon of Our Lady, Comforter of the Afflicted, remains preserved within. The monastery school that educated friends of Mickiewicz has fallen silent, but the faithful still gather where Byzantine and Western Christianity once met.

📜 History & Spiritual Significance

Father Brażyc belonged to the Order of St. Basil the Great, the monastic backbone of the Greek Catholic Church. This Uniate Church—born from the Union of Brest in 1596—held a unique position in Christendom: Eastern in liturgy, iconography, and tradition, yet in full communion with Rome. The Basilians carried this synthesis across Belarus and Ukraine, running schools, publishing houses, and missions. At their peak in the eighteenth century, they maintained nearly 160 monasteries. Father Brażyc's icon was one artifact of this world where Byzantine and Latin Christianity met. When the priest died, his relative Nicholas Pieślak inherited the image. Pieślak did not understand what he had received. He wrapped the icon in cloth, locked it in a chest, and forgot it. Years passed. In 1691, Pieślak fell gravely ill. As he lay dying, Mary appeared—not gently. She rebuked him for the years of neglect, for hiding her image in darkness while she had wished to pour out graces on the faithful. Then she told him where to build her chapel: in the wild forest where bears denned and elk grazed, at the junction of roads leading to Vilnius and Holshany. She commanded him to call the place Boruny—from bor, the Slavic word for forest. Pieślak recovered. He found the icon had moved on its own—from his locked chest to a tree in the exact location Mary had described. He built a wooden chapel. The miracles began. What followed defied all proportion for such an obscure place. The blind recovered sight. The paralyzed walked. Those tormented by demons found peace. The dying revived. Bishop Leon Kiszka of Kiev, writing in 1712, documented the phenomena in a 154-page volume titled The Sea of Graces and Divine Generosity, Flowing in the Baruny Forest. The scale was such that in 1692, Metropolitan Cyprian Żochowski of the Greek Catholic Church dispatched an investigative commission. They interviewed witnesses, examined evidence, and in 1693 issued a formal declaration: the image of the Mother of God of Boruny was a miraculous icon, and the graces flowing from it were genuine. By then, approximately 160 miracles had been recorded—healings, conversions, liberations, and what the documents describe as resurrections of the recently dead. The faithful called her the Comforter of the Afflicted. Pieślak invited the Basilians from Vilnius to take charge of the growing shrine. They came, and around the wooden chapel a village grew. But the founder's family fell into disgrace. His son Jan stole the votive offerings left by grateful pilgrims and desecrated them. The Basilians sued; they won. Jan Pieślak and his family were excommunicated. The monks became sole guardians of the shrine. The early eighteenth century brought the Great Northern War to these lands—Swedish, Saxon, and Russian armies crisscrossing the territory of the weakened Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. For safety, the Basilians entrusted the icon to the Lithuanian army under Hetman Michał Serwacy Wiśniowiecki. The Virgin traveled with the troops, and soldiers began calling her the Lady of the Camp. Wherever the army went, they believed she protected them. After the war, at Bishop Kiszka's urging, she returned to her forest sanctuary. Between 1747 and 1757, the architect Alexander Osikevich built the stone church that stands today—a masterpiece of Vilnian Baroque, that distinctive style developed to serve the Uniate Church. The asymmetrical towers, the elaborate stucco work, the upward-striving facade: all expressed a theology of synthesis, Byzantine and Western united. The Basilians established a school that became one of the finest in the region. Among its students were the poet Antoni Edward Odyniec and the writer Ignacy Chodźko, both friends of the celebrated national poet Adam Mickiewicz, who himself invoked Baruny in his verse. Then came the partitions of Poland and Russian imperial policy. In 1839, the Synod of Polotsk forcibly dissolved the Greek Catholic Church in the Russian Empire, compelling millions of Uniates to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. The Basilians saw it coming. Before the suppression, they secretly removed the original icon and placed a copy in the altar. The true image passed through trusted hands—the Ważyński family, then to Vilnius, Kraków, and finally Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains. The church itself became Orthodox and remained so for sixty years. After Poland regained independence, the church returned to Catholic hands in 1919—but not to Greek Catholic ones. The Uniate structures in this region had been destroyed; there were no Basilian monks to reclaim it. So Baruny became a Roman Catholic parish, Latin rite, which it remains today. On October 15, 1922, the original icon came home after ninety years of exile. That date is now celebrated as the Feast of Our Lady of Baruny. The monastery building from 1793 still stands behind the church, unrestored and unused—a silent witness to what was lost. But the icon that Father Brażyc carried, that Pieślak neglected, that Mary herself commanded be honored, remains in the central altar. The Comforter of the Afflicted still receives pilgrims in her forest clearing, as she promised she would.

☩ Pilgrimage Sites in Baruny

Касцёл Святых Пятра і Паўла

Church of Saints Peter and Paul Alexander Osikevich completed this three-nave, two-tower basilica in 1757, creating one of the finest Vilnian Baroque churches outside Lithuania. The facade rises in elaborate tiers of pilasters and cornices, topped by twin towers—yet look closely and you'll notice the asymmetry, unusual for religious architecture. The semicircular apse anchors the east end, while inside the baroque program unfolds in stucco and painted decoration. The style itself tells a theological story. Vilnian Baroque emerged at the junction of Byzantine and Western European artistic traditions, developed by architects trained at Vilnius University to serve the Uniate Church—Catholics of the Eastern rite who maintained communion with Rome while preserving Eastern liturgical practices. Every decorative choice reflects this synthesis. Address Baruny, Ashmyany District, Grodno Region, Belarus GPS 54.318903, 26.133546 Map Google Maps

The Miraculous Icon

Our Lady of Baruny — Comforter of the Afflicted The icon is painted on a wooden panel in dark, warm tones. Mary wears a purplish-red robe with gold embroidery at the neck, covered by a dark green mantle whose hood frames her face. Her expression is serene, faintly smiling, her gaze fixed on the Child she holds close. The Christ Child reaches toward his mother. The style is Eastern—this is an icon, not a Western painting—yet it belongs to the tradition of Marian images that flourished in the Greek Catholic communities of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Before it came to Baruny, the icon accompanied Father Jozafat Brażyc, a Basilian priest based in Polotsk. It was before this image that he prayed for his penitents, and before it that he himself was healed during the Minsk plague of 1666. When Brażyc died, the icon passed to his relative Nicholas Pieślak, who locked it in a chest and forgot it for years—until Mary appeared to rebuke him and command him to build her a shrine. The miracles that followed the icon's enshrinement in 1691–92 were extraordinary in both number and kind. Bishop Leon Kiszka's 1712 chronicle documents healings of the blind, the paralyzed, and the dying. It records deliverances from demonic torment and conversions of heretics. Most remarkably, it describes cases the witnesses called resurrections—people who had recently died returning to life after prayers before the image. By 1693, when Metropolitan Cyprian Żochowski's commission formally declared the icon miraculous, approximately 160 such events had been recorded and verified. The faithful gave her the title Comforter of the Afflicted, from the Litany of Loreto. The name captured what pilgrims experienced: not merely physical healing, but consolation. Those who came burdened left lighter. The icon seemed to specialize in cases others had given up on. Small copies of the image, blessed at the shrine, carried graces far beyond Baruny. Kiszka records that a noblewoman named Bohdanowa Starosielska, whose body was covered in swelling, was healed simply by praying before a small copy she had received from a provincial governor. The original need not be present; connection to it was enough. The icon's ninety-year exile began around 1832, when the Basilians, anticipating the forced dissolution of the Greek Catholic Church, secretly removed the original and substituted a copy. The true image traveled through the hands of the Ważyński family to Vilnius, then Kraków, and finally to Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains, where it waited out the long decades of partition and suppression. It returned to Baruny on October 15, 1922, and that date became the icon's principal feast. Today the icon occupies the central altar, framed by the baroque stucco work of the eighteenth-century interior. The annual feast on October 15 draws pilgrims from across Belarus and the Polish-Lithuanian borderlands. A secondary celebration occurs on August 29. Those who come still seek what pilgrims have sought here for over three centuries: the intercession of a Mother who, as she promised Nicholas Pieślak in his vision, would pour out graces on all who pray before her image in this place.

Bell Tower and Chapel

Adjacent to the church stands a tall bell tower from the mid-eighteenth century, contemporary with the main building. A small chapel of the same period rises before the church entrance, completing the ensemble. Behind the church, the main monastery building—constructed in 1793—survives though unrestored and unused. The monastery itself no longer functions, but these structures preserve the memory of the Basilian community that shaped this place.

🕯️ Annual Feast Days & Celebrations

Feast of Our Lady of Baruny — October 15

The principal feast commemorates October 15, 1922, when the original icon returned to Baruny after ninety years of exile. For nearly a century, the true image had wandered—hidden by the Basilians before the forced dissolution of the Greek Catholic Church, passed through trusted families, sheltered in distant mountain towns while a copy hung in its place. When the original finally came home to the village it had never left in spirit, the date became sacred. The celebration centers on the icon itself: veneration, special Masses, and prayers seeking the intercession of the Comforter of the Afflicted. For those whose families have prayed before this image for generations, the feast carries the weight of both loss and restoration—a reminder that the icon survived what the monastery and the Greek Catholic Church in this region did not.

Secondary Celebration — August 29

A secondary observance falls on August 29, coinciding with the universal feast of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist—one of the oldest celebrations in both Eastern and Western Christianity. The connection to Baruny reflects the icon's roots in the Greek Catholic tradition, where the Baptist's martyrdom holds particular importance as a day of fasting and solemn commemoration.

🚗 Getting There

By Car: Baruny sits directly on the M7 highway connecting Minsk and Vilnius. From Vilnius, the drive takes approximately 45 minutes (48 km). From Minsk, allow roughly 90 minutes (130 km). The church is visible from the main road, making the village an easy stop for travelers between the two capitals. By Bus: Regional buses connect Ashmyany to both Vilnius and Minsk. From Ashmyany, local transport or taxi reaches Baruny (10 km). By Air: Vilnius Airport (VNO) is the nearest international airport at 48 km. Minsk National Airport (MSQ) lies 130 km east.

📚 Further Reading

Online Resources: Baruny — Overview of the village, monastery history, and notable alumni. (Wikipedia) Vilnian Baroque — Architectural context for understanding the church's significance within the late Baroque tradition of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. (Wikipedia)

🔗 Useful Links

Grodno Region Tourism — Official tourism portal for the Grodno Region with travel information.

🧭 Nearby Pilgrimage Destinations

Vilnius (48 km) — The Gate of Dawn houses the miraculous icon of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, venerated by Catholics, Greek Catholics, and Orthodox alike. The Chapel of Divine Mercy holds the original Divine Mercy image painted under St. Faustina's direction. Budslaw (120 km) — Belarus's most important Marian pilgrimage site, housing the Icon of Our Lady of Budslau—brought from Rome in 1598 and blessed by Pope Clement VIII. Tens of thousands gather for the July pilgrimage. The church received Minor Basilica status in 1994.

🪶 Closing Reflection

"Pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward heaven."

— Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2691

---

⚠️ Travel Advisory: As of December 2025, the U.S. State Department maintains a Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory for Belarus, citing risks of harassment by security officials, arbitrary enforcement of laws, and danger associated with Belarus's support of Russia's war against Ukraine. The U.S. Embassy in Minsk has suspended operations. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advises against all travel to Belarus due to significant risk of arrest and the possibility that conflict may spread from Ukraine. Land border crossings between Lithuania and Belarus are subject to restrictions and may close at short notice. Travel insurance may be invalidated if traveling against official government advice. Pilgrims considering travel to Belarus should consult current advisories and their national foreign ministry before planning any visit.