Two years ago, I visited the Farny church in Grodno.  It is a beautiful cathedral and in the late 1800s when the Russian government changed many of the local Roman Catholic churches to orthodox churches the villagers would go to the Farny to baptize their children. This happened in my family when the church they attended in Sopockin became an Orthodox church. Three children in 1882, 1885 and 1887 were baptized in the Farny.  The locals refer to this church as the Farny although when they write about the church they write Fara.  Churches in Poland and in this area of Belarus are never referred to as St. John, etc.  it is always the name of the village were the church is located. When the Russians turned over the Roman churches to Orthodox in the Grodno area, they left a couple of churches as Roman Catholic, one of them being the Fara, the other one was in Hora and I think there was the Franciscan church between the Hora church on the east side of the Nemen River and Grodno. Many villagers on the west bank of the Nemen who originally would have attended the Selivanowcy church had row boats on the banks of the Nemen, they would then cross the Nemen and go to the church in Hora.  As of about 15 years ago, the churches in Sopockin and Selivanowcy were changed back to Roman Catholic churches and priests from Poland came to man the chiurches.  I have been also to both of these churches and have found a religious fervour that is undescribable. -----Original Message----- From: harcardinal@earthlink.net To: polandbordersurnames@rootsweb.com Sent: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 9:00 am Subject: [PBS] Farny Church in Grodno I'm trying to understand the name of this cathedral in the city of rodno. I have googled it. I have a postcard and photos of it. I even ave a small book on it, which is in Belorussian and Polish (neither f which I read). I have viewed some of the LDS films for Kościół arny. In writing, it is referred to as: Grodno-FARA ara Grodzien~ska. Zdje~cie z 1917 r. arny Church he Farny (Principal) Catholic Church t. Francis Ksaveriy's (Farniy) Roman Catholic Church ranciszka Ksawerego t. Francis Xavier Church athedral Church - Minor Basilica, 1705 I'm just curious about the name. Do "fara" or "farny" mean the principal" church in a city or village? (There seems to be "farny" hurches in locations other than Grodno.) bviously, it is named after St. Francis Xavier and is a cathedral. I remember hearing that people from surrounding village churches ould sometimes go to Farny church to get married or take their hildren there for baptisms. Have any of you had this experience? articularly in 1880-1910? Thanks, arriet ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to POLANDBORDERSURNAMES-request@rootsweb.com ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com

Very interesting! Thank you so much! On Sep 28, 2007, at 10:31 AM, chrishuk@aol.com wrote: > > Two years ago, I visited the Farny church in Grodno. It is a > beautiful cathedral and in the late 1800s when the Russian > government changed many of the local Roman Catholic churches to > orthodox churches the villagers would go to the Farny to baptize > their children. > > > > This happened in my family when the church they attended in > Sopockin became an Orthodox church. > Three children in 1882, 1885 and 1887 were baptized in the Farny. > The locals refer to this church as the Farny although when they > write about the church they write Fara. Churches in Poland and in > this area of Belarus are never referred to as St. John, etc. it is > always the name of the village were the church is located. > > When the Russians turned over the Roman churches to Orthodox in the > Grodno area, they left a couple of churches as Roman Catholic, one > of them being the Fara, the other one was in Hora and I think there > was the Franciscan church between the Hora church on the east side > of the Nemen River and Grodno. > > Many villagers on the west bank of the Nemen who originally would > have attended the Selivanowcy church had row boats on the banks of > the Nemen, they would then cross the Nemen and go to the church in > Hora. As of about 15 years ago, the churches in Sopockin and > Selivanowcy were changed back to Roman Catholic churches and > priests from Poland came to man the chiurches. I have been also to > both of these churches and have found a religious fervour that is > undescribable. >