Abbey Sozan

Abbey Sozan is a district in Sambir Raion which once was Austrian territory, but currently is part of Ukraine.

History[]

The foundation date of the abbey is uncertain, but by 1291 it already was known as a monastery of the Eastern Orthodox Church.^[1]

The patron saint of Sozan Abbey is St. Michael the Archangel and the feast day is 29 September. Since 1907 the Holy Virgin Mary and St. Gregory the Illuminator have been co-patrons.

The monastery has been the private property of the Sozanski family since 1392, when Simon de Sozanski acquired the monastery in exchange for various other royal properties.^[2] The family uses the Polish Korczak coat of arms.

In the 17th century the abbey transferred to the Catholic Church; it was immediately secularized and transformed into a secular community of canons following the Armenian Rite instead of the Byzantine Rite, reflecting a reorientation towards western Catholic practice rather than the Eastern Orthodox practice.

The property of the abbey comprised several villages in territory that was proclaimed a sovereign principality of the Church in 1918 at the end of World War I, but in 1921 it was annexed by the Polish Republic. The first and only sovereign was Prince Abbot Heinrich Adam de Sozanski. In 1945 the Red Army exiled him and he sought asylum in Hungary. Currently the canon community continues in exile.

References[]