Pielgrzymka
(from Ks. W. Sarna,"Opis Powiatu Jasielskiego", Jaslo 1908)
Translated by Halina Małecki
edited by
Urszula Green and A. J. Smith
Pielgrzymka is located along the way from Zmigrod to Gorlice, 7.3 kilometers from Zmigrod, on the Pachniączka stream, a tributary of the Kłopotnica, at an elevation of 313 meters above sea level. To the south there are extensive forests which cover the northern slopes of the Magóra mountain (elevation 842 meters), where petroleum deposits were found. To the north lies the valley of the Wisloka (river) at an elevation of 280 meters. Pielgrzymka is bordered by Klopotnica and Folusz to the west, Zawadka to the north, Samokleski to the south, and Czekaj and Mytarka to the east.
In the village is the very beautiful St. Michael the Archangel cerkiew, which was rebuilt in 1872 of fine materials and covered with wooden shingles; it was finished inside and consecrated in 1887. Its length with the vestry at the back of the church is 30 meters (the vestry has the shape of half of an octagon and has a length of 3 meters and width of less than 7 meters). The width of the nave is 9 meters. The windows are rectangular. Three symmetrical domes rise from the roof of the church; the first one to the east (ed., west, error in the original text) is the highest. There are two small bells in this dome that were cast in 1601 (by whom it is not known). The church was built in the original Byzantine style typical of all churches in the Lemko area. It has the following notable features:
1. A stone baptismal font dating to 1636, according to the inscription on it.
2. An artistically made icon of the Holy Mother holding the baby Jesus in her arms, from the year 1649 according to the inscription on it; and preserved in good condition. In the local lore, the icon has miraculous properties. During finishing of the church interior, it was placed by the present priest, Jan Myszkowski, on a small golden altar of barocco style, on the left side of the altar where “prozkomidya” is said before the Holy Mass. It is the only icon in the new church remaining from the old church.
3. The original tomb of Jesus from the earlier church, used in Good Friday services since the year 1684; introduced by the then parish priest, Maksym, and his son Mateusz a deacon, according to the inscription on it. It has the shape of a tomb, with pillars at its four corners carrying the stone to close the tomb. In the four corners of this stone there are another four pillars supporting an image of the sky containing the Lord’s cross, the symbol of our redemption.
4. An ancient, meticulously made metal cross 63 centimeters high, on which The Holy Trinity is shown; at the base of the cross is the Mother of Christ and St. John, the Evangelist; and crying women at the ends of the crosswise arm. The cross is located on the altar in front of the before-mentioned icon of the Holy Mother.
5. An ancient, meticulously made “daronosica”, a metal box for carrying Holy Communion to the sick, with the Lord’s Last Supper shown on one lid and the annointing of the sick with holy oil on the other. Both images are heavily embossed and carefully hand finished.
6. An ancient vestment with a black background, with rich embroidery of golden thread and ribbons. According to tradition, it was a gift to this church by the father of Maryna Mniszech, the wife of the false Dimitrij. The vestment was sent by priest Myszkowski to an archeological exhibition at the “stauropigialny” institute in Lvov, in 1888. Canon Priest Pietruszewicz and Isydor Szaraniewicz, a fellow of the institute and a university professor in Lvov said that there is a possibility that if the vestment comes from Mniszech, it was brought from the czar’s treasury in Moscow and given to the church in Pielgrzymka. Dr. Tomkowicz, a conservator from Krakow had a different opinion, namely that the vestment didn’t come from Moscow because it was of Polish origin and there were vestments like that in Krakow, in the church of St. Mary.
7. There is also one other ancient vestment in this church, with a green background and woven with gold, about which Dr. Tomkowicz said, “I have seen plenty, thousands of vestments, but none like this. It must be very unique.” He photographed it.
The parish priest sent several dozen icons from the old, small, torn-down church to the previously mentioned archeological exhibition in the “stauropigialny” institute in Lvov, along with the before-mentioned vestment. Almost all of the icons (except four) were shown in the exhibition and, according to a printed catalogue of this exhibition, the images on the icons portray five centuries of time, from the 14th to 18th century, and each separate century is represented on them. The artist, Jan Bogdanski, who was painting the new church at the time, discovered another icon nailed to the reverse side of the before-mentioned icon of the Holy Mother, as a reinforcement. He said it was a very old painting because it was painted in a very similar way to icons from the 10th and 11th centuries. Dr. Tomkowicz examined the paintings from the old church (only a part of them was chosen by the parish priest to send to the exhibition in Lvov) and said that all of them had archeological value and should be placed in a museum. The church records begin in 1770. (I owe all of this detailed information to the Reverend Canon Priest, Jan Myszkowski, the priest of Pielgrzymka, and thank him for it).
A school has been organized in Pielgrzymka, but it is not yet open; however there is a parish school with Rusyn language instruction; 78 children attended it in the year 1905. There is also a community store, a community treasury with total sum 1,294 krones and 70 halers; a church treasury, and a reading room named for Michal Kaczkowski, with 65 members.
To the Rusyn parish belong: Kłopotnica, Huta Samoklęska, Mrukowa, Samoklęski and the town of Zmigrod. Pielgrzymka already existed in the 15th century. A resident of Pielgrzymka, named Procz, came here around 1450. Dlugosz called this village Pielgrzymowka and wrote that it belonged to the nobles Jan and Stanislaw Gamrat of the Sulima Coat of Arms. There was peasant land in the village from which a quarter of the income was paid to the Canon of the 4th “prebenda” at St. Floryan’s church in Krakow. In 1581, Pielgrzymka belonged to Jan Mniszech but was leased by Piotr Broniowski. In the village were 15 “połłanek (peasants), 9 ‘zagrodnikow’ with some fields, 5 ‘komornikow’ (without fields) with some cattle, and 1 ‘komornik’ without cattle. There was also a Rusyn priest who paid the church rent. Since the end of the 18th century Pielgrzymka has had the same owners as Samoklęski. It was paid 16,102 złotys m.k. for the abolition of serfdom.
Statistics. There are 1,608 inhabitants living in Pielgrzymka and 10 in the manor area. The “Wloscianie” (people with fields) own 1,209 hectares, 15ar, 25m.2; the manor area 636 hectares 4ar 42 m.2; there are 775hectares 13ar 21m2 of forests; of the total 24 hectares 31ar 95 m2 of forest belong to the villlage, 2 hectares 93 ar 66m.2 to the church, and the remainder to the manor.