Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit

Three brothers were martyred in 1347 for refusing to renounce their Orthodox faith under Grand Duke Algirdas. A church was built on the site of their execution. The monastery has operated continuously since 1609. The current Baroque church was designed by Johann Christoph Glaubitz and rebuilt 1749-1753.

The three brothers, courtiers of Grand Duke Algirdas, had converted to Orthodox Christianity. When Algirdas reverted to paganism, he demanded they participate in pagan sacrifices to Perkunas and eat meat on a fast day. They refused.

Anthony, originally named Nežilo or Kumec, was the first to die, hanged from a sacred oak on April 14, 1347. John, also originally Nežilo, followed on April 24. Eustathius, originally Kruglec, was martyred on December 13 of the same year. All three died on the same tree.

The oak became a site of veneration. A church was built with its altar on the stump. In 1364, Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople sent a cross containing their relics to Saint Sergius of Radonezh, indicating the pan-Orthodox significance of the Vilnius martyrs even within decades of their death.

The current Holy Spirit church and monastery complex developed on a site near the original martyrdom location. The monastery has operated continuously since 1609, serving as a center of Orthodox resistance to the Union of Brest (1596), which attempted to bring Orthodox communities under Roman authority.