Church of Our Lady of Kazan and Saint Elijah, Wojsławice

The Church of Our Lady of Kazan and Saint Elijah is an Orthodox filial church in Wojsławice. It belongs to the Parish of St. John the Theologian in Chełm, within the Chełm Deanery of the Diocese of Lublin and Chełm of the Polish Orthodox Church. Orthodox churches have existed in Wojsławice since the town's founding in the 15th century. The present building was constructed in the Baroque style between 1771 and 1774 as a Uniate church. It became an Orthodox parish church during the Conversion of Chełm Eparchy. The Wojsławice parish remained active until the expulsion of the local Ukrainian Orthodox population in the 1940s, when it was closed due to a lack of worshippers. The abandoned church, used as a warehouse, gradually fell into ruin. It was only at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries that it was renovated, but the absence of an Orthodox community in the town means it is only opened for religious services occasionally. The church has no iconostasis, and the only preserved piece of its original furnishings is a historic thurible.

The first church in Wojsławice was mentioned in the town's founding charter around 1440. It was dedicated to St. Elijah. This wooden structure was likely destroyed during a Tatar raid. Another church with the same dedication was built before 1508. By the 16th century, Wojsławice had three Orthodox churches serving a congregation of 2,600 people. A monastery operated alongside St. Elijah's Church.

The present church in Wojsławice was constructed between 1771 and 1774 in the Baroque style. It was funded by Marianna of the Daniłowicz family. Originally built as a Uniate church, it had a masonry structure, except for the wooden church porch. In 1841, the church porch was rebuilt in brick, making the entire church a masonry structure. The church remained the seat of a Uniate parish until the Conversion of Chełm Eparchy. In 1874, a year before the formal liquidation of the diocese, the Wojsławice parish was incorporated into the Chełm Vicariate of the Orthodox Eparchy of Chełm and Warsaw. In 1880, a series of frescoes by Michał Olechwier was added to the interior. The church underwent renovations in the following decade. A brick bell tower was built next to it before World War I.

After Poland regained independence, the church in Wojsławice was legally recognized as an active Orthodox parish from the beginning. In 1919, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education included it on the list of churches designated for reopening. By mid-1921, an Orthodox parish was already operating in Wojsławice as one of 14 pastoral centers within the Chełm Deanery of the Diocese of Warsaw and Chełm and one of 13 Orthodox churches in Chełm County.

The church in Wojsławice remained in use until the 1940s, when the local Orthodox Ukrainian population was deported, and the building ceased to serve its religious function. The church's entire furnishings were taken from Wojsławice by an Orthodox priest. The abandoned church was repurposed as a storage facility for chemical substances and later for fuel and lubricants. The stored chemicals caused severe damage to the historic frescoes. During this period, the fence surrounding the church grounds and the Orthodox cemetery was also destroyed. The lower level of the bell tower was converted into a store and later into a waiting room for the state bus service before being entirely abandoned. From the 1960s, the church was used as a museum storage facility. However, this did not improve its condition, and the remaining frescoes continued to deteriorate. In the 1980s, local authorities became interested in restoring the deteriorating church and planned to reopen it for religious use by 1990. However, restoration efforts did not begin until the 1990s and were soon halted due

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