The church in Szczawne was originally built in 1889 by the followers of the Greek Catholic rite. After World War 2, the Ukrainians were deported from this region and the church was to be demolished. Fortunately, the local population, of whom some converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, opposed this decision and the building survived. Since 1962, it has been used by the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The building is placed on a foundation made of stone and later protected by metal sheets. The church is oriented, therefore the sanctuary and the altar face east. According to the tradition, from this cardinal point the Saviour is to come again. This is also a very smart solution allowing to use the sunlight in order to illuminate the inside of the church.

The building has a log structure, traditionally divided into three parts: women’s gallery, a nave and a sanctuary. Interestingly, above the women’s gallery a tower was built using a post-frame structure. It is crowned with an onion helm, so characteristic for Greek Catholic churches. The other two helms are located above the sanctuary and the nave. The tripartite structure of the church is characteristic for the traditional way of building as this way the architecture presents the order of the world. This kind of division will be found in the Lemkos style, where the way from the women’s gallery to the sanctuary and the altar represents the journey of a soul from the sinful state on Earth to the state of grace in Heaven.

The inside of the church is decorated with polychromy executed in 1925. It represents people as well as decorative elements. The brazen chandelier lighting the nave dates from 2004 and was offered to the parish by a clergyman from the USA. Interestingly, the building has no electricity.

When visiting the church, it is worth paying attention to the campanile. It dates from 1889 and has four bells. In the nearby cemetery you can see commemorative wooden crosses. One of them is dedicated to the millennium of the Christianization of Kievan Rus’.