Babriškės church, Varėna district

54.322254, 24.511133

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The only parish founded by Teofilius Matulionis. St. Michael the Archangel Church in Babiškės is a church standing in the village of Babriškės, close to Alytus – Varėna road, Varėnė road, on the right bank of the Varėnė. It has classicist proportions. A chapel was in the village in 1724; a stone masonry chapel in the cemetery was built by Rosochakis in 1838. Occasionally, worship services were held there. The monk Marian priest Juozas Rakickis settled in Babriškės in 1942. He introduced a wooden sacristy to the chapel and built a modest rectory in 1940. In 1944, after the burning of Varėna I church, the parish was moved to Babriškės. The renovated chapel became a church. Pentecostal celebration in Babriškės celebrated spiritually, meaningfully and in great abundance every year, but in 2017, it was special: a spectacular twelve-meter white metal cross was erected on the hill in front of the church on the occasion of the proclamation of the Archbishop Teofilius Matulionis the Blessed One. The architect of the monument is Brunonas Bakaitis. The cross is made of white metal, the base of which is decorated with marble, and bears the inscription of Matulionis life slogan, “Through the Cross to the Stars”, and the heart made of brass, because the bishop was a great worshiper, is mounted on the top.

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