A small church is in the middle of the village. A wooden two-tiered building is painted in green and blue colours. There are several elongated windows. Here is no magnificent belfry or golden domes, but this does not diminish the significance of this sacred place. An ordinary wooden white door invites to enter inside. The temple is the Church of the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner in Malye Zhukhovichi, a small village in Grodno region, where in the 16^th century was created Malozhukhovitsky Gospel – a monument of the old Belarusian book writing.

The temple in the form of a ship 

The Orthodox Church in Malye Zhukhovichi has really such a form. The parish was founded here in 1783, and at the same time was built the church. Means for the construction were donated by a local owner Nisisslavsky. About 400 people lived then in Malye Zhykhovichi.

One can judge by its appearance about the fact that the foundation of the current temple was cut down in the late 18^th century. In the second half of the 19^th century the Church of the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner was restored a little, in the result of which here appeared a narthex and tower. In 1876 was laid a new foundation.

The temple survived the World War I and the Great Patriotic War, but in 1961 the Soviet government canceled the registration of the Church in Malye Zhukhovichi in Grodno region. The village parish was closed after that and the Orthodox people here had nowhere else to go to pray. Services have been resumed since the end of the 1980-ies, when the Church was returned to the believers. Since then the doors of the Church of the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner have always been opened, the parishioners look after the building on their own and maintain order inside the temple. The adjacent to it territory is fenced with a small metal fence; a few trees are planted in the yard. The church satnds on a low hill at the asphalt road; a stone staircase built not so long ago leads to the temple.

St. John the Forerunner – the Church in Malye Zhukhovichi is consecrated in his honor

Orthodox Christians venerate this Saint the second after the Virgin Mary. The Gospel calls the Prophet John the closest relative of Christ. He also predicted the coming of the Messiah to earth and prepared people for the acceptance of the expected Savior. The life of the Prophet was spent in the desert, he preached, called to repentance and performed sacred ablutions - also for cleansing of sins of the Jews and their repentances, and therefore he is also called John the Baptist. Later this rite became known as the sacrament of baptism.

The history of Malye Zhukhovichi

The village on the border with Brest region had the same life path as many Belarusian towns and villages. First the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and then the Royal power of the Russian Empire.  It was a part of the Polish Interwar Republic. Later – BSSR and independent Belarus. In the 19^th century noblemen built here an estate, but nowadays here are only its ruins and a part of the Park. The village belongs to Korelichy district, today its population is about seven hundred villagers.