Saint Ilya Old Believer Church, Homieĺ

Saint Ilya Church is a wooden house of worship built entirely from timber with traditional Orthodox design features including its distinctive roof forms. Inside, the walls display carved religious decorations and the space feels intimate despite its religious grandeur.

Built in 1774, this structure embodies the construction traditions of the Eastern Paliessie architectural approach. It represents how communities in this region adapted Orthodox church building methods using locally available materials.

The Old Believer community gathers here to practice their distinct form of Orthodox Christianity that separated from mainstream church tradition centuries ago. You can observe their particular rituals and devotional practices during services.

The church is located in Gomel and opens during worship services when visitors can respectfully observe the community at prayer. Appropriate clothing and quiet behavior are expected when entering any active place of worship.

The structure contains original wooden components and hand-crafted religious objects that reveal how local builders constructed places of worship without modern tools. These traditional craftsmanship methods are now quite rare to see.