Ascension Cathedral

The church was built in the forms of mature classicism. The church is cruciform in plan, four-pillared, with a centric composition. It is single-domed, crowned with a drum with a spherical dome. The entrances are decorated with triangular pediments. Four small domes are located at the corners of the church. The corners of the church are decorated with rustication. The church is made of brick, plastered and painted. Moreover, while the walls of most churches are painted white, this church has atypical colours – a combination of green and yellow.
The church was probably built according to a standard church design developed by the outstanding architect Giacomo Quarenghi. In fact, the church is a copy of the earlier-built Church of the Archangel Michael in Mostyshche (now Kozelets district, Chernihiv Oblast). In turn, the church in Voznesenske also has its own copy – the Church of St Nicholas in the village of Hostroluchchia (the only difference being that a long gallery connecting the church with the bell tower is attached to the church).
The church and the brick bell tower next to it were built in 1808 at the expense of the local landowner, Second Major Fedir Hryhorovych Ivanenko. He came from a Cossack officer family.
In 1902 the villages of Voznesenske (then Popivka), Hrechana Hrebl, Paiky and the Burty farmstead belonged to the church’s parish. The number of parishioners was about 2,000. In 1907 the church was repaired. The church was “stone, with a separate bell tower, cold”. That is, the church was not heated. At the church there were “a church watchman’s hut and 2 buildings for the clergy’s lodgings”.
Before the revolutionary events of 1917–1920 the church was served by priest Oleksandr Ioanovych Tykhonovych, with priest Fedir Yakovych Klymenko serving alongside him.
In Soviet times the church was closed; the church itself survived, but the separately located brick bell tower was destroyed. Only in the late 1980s and early 1990s was the church returned to the Church. It was restored at the expense of the local Orthodox community. In place of the destroyed bell tower, a modern one in a completely different style was built. Today the church is in good condition and active. It is the modern spiritual centre of the village. The church has a very good church choir.