Mhar Monastery, Orthodox monastery in Mhar, Ukraine

Mhar Monastery is a monastic complex set on a hill near the Sula River, featuring a main cathedral with domes and towers as its focal point. The site includes a bell tower, the Church of Saint Athanasius, and residential buildings where monks dwell.

Founded on 18 January 1619 by Isaia Kopynsky, then hegumen of Hustynia, with funds from Princess Raina Vyshnevska, on the right bank of the Sula about 6 km from Lubny. In 1692 Hetmans Ivan Samoilovych and Ivan Mazepa paid for a stone Transfiguration Cathedral by Vilnius architect Johann-Baptist Sauer with local masters Martyn Tomashevsky and Opanas Pyriatynsky. Its central dome collapsed in 1728 and the rebuilt church became five-domed in 1754; the classical bell tower begun in 1785 was finished only in 1844.

The monks who live here have created spaces filled with frescoes and icons that give the place its spiritual character and shape how visitors experience the site. The monastery still functions as a center of Orthodox faith, where believers gather to practice their traditions and observe religious life.

The monastery sits along the Kyiv-Kharkiv route, making it accessible to travelers passing through the region. The setting is hilly, so visitors should expect uneven terrain and wear suitable footwear for walking around the grounds.

Patriarch Athanasius III of Constantinople died here in 1654 while returning from Moscow and was buried at the monastery; his relics were kept here until 1922 and are now in Kharkiv's Annunciation Cathedral. The monastery also holds the graves of Patriarch Seraphim of Constantinople and Kyiv Metropolitan Joseph Nelyubovich-Tukalsky.