The number of sheep that are in the care of Putila residents is not found in any other settlement of Ukraine, hidden from civilization in the intermountain hollow of the Pokutsko-Bukovyna Carpathians. In spring the sheep, like a wide white river, «flow» to the pasture, to the meadows. They are accompanied by shepherds and huge dogs, as white and fluffy as their favorite animals and the main producers of meat, wool and milk for the locals.
Therefore, the main secular holiday in Putil is the May send-off of shepherds with their white-fleece beauties to the mountains — to savor fresh grass from the alpine meadows. And the main church holidays, which all the Soviet power could not beat out of the heads of the villagers, are Christmas, Easter and Trinity or Green Sunday. Most likely, this is why Putila’s only church is painted in a pleasant emerald color — the symbol of Green Sunday, the shade of the lush grass and the needles of the firs and spruces that cover the surrounding mountains.
The Emerald Putilov Church is dedicated to St. Nicholas, the most beloved Christian saint in the Carpathians. It is one of the most typical examples of Hutsul sacral architecture of the XIX century. Saint Nicholas Church is built of wood, but it is placed on a massive stone foundation. It is three-domed and is the dominant structure of the historical center of the village.
The land for the construction of the church was allocated by Yuriy Fedkovych, one of the most interesting Bukovina writers, Polish nobleman, Austro-Hungarian soldier and Putilov viyt. But it was built by the local community for funds collected by «the whole world». The case was in 1886, during the period of mass construction of sacral buildings in Bukovina, so the temple has a number of features characteristic of that time. For example, the church consists of 3 equally wide log cabins, built on the axis «west-east». Each log cabin is crowned with its own octagonal dome with a small onion with a cross. The central dome is slightly larger than its eastern and western «colleagues».
The babinet of the church is extended longitudinally, and the side vestibules together with the nave form a single space, well illuminated by natural light. During the Austro-Hungarian, Romanian and Soviet times the walls of the church were covered with shingles, but recently they have been removed. The temple has lost its wild, forest appearance and has gained a lot in aesthetics. Many connoisseurs of authentic wooden Ukrainian churches do not like the new roof of St. Nicholas Church, which is made of plaque. On the one hand, it outshines the sun with its glow and glare. On the other hand, it will keep the church from destruction for the next hundred years under any power and level of economic devastation in the country.
St. Nicholas Church is not a super-original construction. It is a typical wooden church of the Carpathians, moreover, it is active and very honored by its parishioners. If you come to Karpaty, you can attend the Sunday service, breathe in the smell of the two hundred year old wood and admire the sunbeam coming through the windows above the babinets. Besides exploring the usual Hutsul temple, choosing holiday in Putila, you can visit Fedkovicha Museum, try to unravel the mysteries of «Zaklyataya Skala», taste the whole palette of local sheep cheeses and meditate while admiring the views of the Bukovyna Carpathians with the valley of Pitila River and Cheremosh.