CHURCHES & MONASTERIES
Church “St. John at Kaneo”
One of the most magnificent churches in all of Macedonia stands right above a small fishing settlement, on a cliff rising up from Lake Ohrid; St. Jovan Kaneo is a combination of Byzantine and Armenian architectural styles.
Built in the honor of St. John the Theologian, St. Kaneo with its sublime atmosphere and views of the placid lake below, remains an inspiring place for spiritual contemplation.The church which was consecrated at the end of the 13th century was built on a rectangular stone base. Its exterior is decorated with ceramic decorative sculptures and stone carvings.Though the fresco painters are unknown, the fragments that have been preserved are of exceptional quality; the Communion of the Apostles and the portraits of St. Clement, St. Erasmus and Constantine Kavasilas especially stand out.
Being as it is – an extraordinarily unique construction – St. Kaneo is indeed one of the most beautiful churches in Macedonia as well as in the whole Balkan region.
Monastery “St. Naum”
Set amidst lush verdure where the River Crn Drim tumbles into the lake, the monastery of St. Naum is a refuge of tranquility at the very southwestern corner of the Macedonian Republic. Situated 29 km (18 m) from the town of Ohrid and only 1 kilometer (0.6 m) from the Albanian border, the monastery brings the Macedonian experience to a dramatic culmination.
As with most Byzantine churches, St. Naum was chosen primarily for its location – on a high, rocky outcropping over the lake, above deep forests and life-giving springs of the river Crn Drim. The monastic complex and church of St. Naum were built originally at the turn of the tenth century by the monk that beared the same name; Macedonians believe you can still hear the saint’s heartbeat by pressing an ear to his stone coffin inside the church.
The monastery has been renewed and enlarged several times over the centuries. While most of its iconostases and frescoes date from the 16th and 17th century, earlier etchings in the Byzantine Greek vernacular also remain. But numerous orthographical mistakes indicate that they were written by Slavic-speaking local monks. Other inscriptions in the church make up some of the oldest epigraphic evidence of Slavic literacy.
The icons of St. Naum are some of the best religious painting achievements in the Balkans. They date from the first half of the 18th century. The wood-carved iconostasis itself was made in 1711 by an unknown artisan.
A peculiar element of St. Naum is located not on the inside of the church but on the outside: the preponderance of multi-colored peacocks strutting around and luxuriating in the grass.
Monastery “Treskavec”
They say, Treskavec takes your breath away twice. The first time for sure, whether you have climbed the steep mountain path for almost two hours, or you went for an adventure to get to the Monastery with an off-road vehicle. The second time, when you’re almost there, the view opening in front of you will take your breath away for sure. High on a mountain top in the middle of the Pelagonia plain, the Treskavec Monastery is a vertical peak of the spiritual continuity of a nation that hides many chapters of history, human presence written on every rock throughout the ages. Zlatovrv (Golden Peak) is crowned with the Monastery walls dedicated to the Dormition of Most Holy Bogoroditsa, and from them one can observe the immeasurable horizon of spiritual peace, but also the challenge to accomplish communication with God. Marko Tsepenkov, the collector of the people’s wisdom of this region, has noted these verses that praise Bogoroditsa’s thankfulness to the saints that have built the Monastery. “O, you holy God’s men, you have cast away the heathen, and from their pagan church, made a church for me, and called it a Monastery.”
The remains of the fort around the Monastery, the necropolis Gumenje, the graves carved in the rocks, the traces of objects all around the Zlatovrv plateau, the niches built in the west wall of the church, as well as those scattered all around, witness that a heathen temple dedicated to Apollo and Artemis existed there, as well as a populated place called Kolobaisa, one that existed beneath Zlatovrv for more than 800 years. The first Christian church on this site is dated around the 5th or 6th century. The most of the church architecture visible today is dated from at least the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century. The dining room with its impressive stone table, as well as the kitchen, are facilities built in the 14th century. The two-winged door positioned on the west entrance to the narthex of the church, made in the 16th century, is the peak of the Macedonian wood-carving art from the Middle Ages and belongs to the renowned Prilep-Slepche wood-carving school. By the end of the 16th century, extensive manuscript copying activities have been noted, and in the period of the 18th and the 19th century, a cell-school is mentioned. The wall paintings in the church are from different periods. Starting from the oldest paintings from the 14th century, through the 15th, 16th, and to the 19th centuries, when the blind calotte in the narthex was painted. The wall painting of the Byzantium emperors Andronicus II Palaeologus (1282–1328) and Michael IX (1294–1320), above the entrance, points to their patronage of the Monastery.
Almost all Balkan rulers and dignitaries from the Middle Ages had great respect for the Monastery. The Serbian emperor Stephen Dushan (1331–55), during a visit to the Monastery, noticed that “it is not so much the building and the interior, but the order and the typicon of the holy fathers living in it the Monastery is most decorated and most celebrated. The life of the monks is nothing less that the life of those living on Mount Sinai or the Holy Mount of Athos”. Tsepenkov has noted: “In the Treskavec Monastery, there is a decree from the Sultan, with the hand of the prophet Mohamed, that no tax would be taken from it, and no Turk is allowed to make harm to it. And it is true that our Turks look upon the Monastery with great reverence and the Monastery properties”.
There are many other stories, traditions, legends and historical facts that are untold, but that’s Treskavec. So many words are written, and so little is said. We could also talk about the sound of silence, about the tameness of these rough rocks, we could write about the vastness of the sight, or maybe about the proximity of the heights, about the decoding of the mystic cryptography of every step of this mountain. We can also talk about the ontological need of the creation for joining the Creator. However, anyone who climbs Zlatovrv and touches the Monastery walls will hear the prayers of thousands of monks who have struggled throughout the ages in the Monastery and the nearby caves and lonely places, and shall feel the Grace of God, which is poured in abundance here, and in the silence of the Monastery, they shall understand the mosaic called Treskavec, becoming a personal stone in it.
Source: http://treskavec.blogspot.com/p/history-en.html
St Sophia Church
The church of St. Sofia is one of the largest medieval churches on this territory. For a long time it was the cathedral church (“Great Church”) of the Ohrid Archiepiscopate whose ecclesiastical authority covered the territories up to the river Danube to the north, the Albanian coast to the west, and the Bay of Thessalonica to the east.The church was probably used as a cathedral way back in the past, in the period of the Car Samuel who, in the late X century, moved his throne from Prespa to Ohrid. The other assumption is that there used to be another church on the same site during the reign of the Macedonian Czar Samuel, and that later on this church was ruined for unknown reasons. The date of the construction of that church is uncertain because there are no inscriptions that help reveal it. It is also mentioned that today’s church was either built or restored during the period of the Archbishop Leo who was on the throne of the Church in the period between 1035-1056. His esteemed ecclesiastical principal became a donor of the painting decorations in the church of St. Sofia.The original church had only one main dome. In the XIV century an opulent external nartex was constructed. Its original shape was a three-naval basilica with a transept, a dome, and galleries on the side naves. It had a parvis and separate chapels above the northern and southern altar sections even in XI century. Almost three centuries later, during the period of the Archbishop Gregorius, a new parvis was built. It represents the climax of the Macedonian XIV-century culture. The concept of the extended parvis was horizontal, with portico on the ground, and galleries on the first floor. Above the Gregorious Gallery, on the northern and southern sides, there were separate sections with towers.With the arrival of the Turks, the church St. Sofia was converted into a mosque. They “took care” to reshape the church almost entirely so that it could serve the Muslim religion. The frescoes were whitewashed, the ornamented plates from the iconostasis were used for constructing the internal staircase, and a minaret was built above the northwest dome. These undertakings distorted the structure of the entire church.In the period from 1950 to 1957 extensive conservatory and restoration activities were performed. The frescoes were cleaned and conserved, and also some reconstruction work was done. The fresco paintings in the church are amongst the highest achievements in medieval painting in Macedonia and even wider. At that time Ohrid was under the direct authority of the Constantinople Patriarchate, so these are the most important preserved works of Byzantine monumental painting. The donor of the fresco paintings, one of the most learned men of the time, the Archbishop Leo, directly influenced the selection of the compositions painted in the XI century.
Monastery “St. Jovan Bigorski”
St. Jovan Bigorski is a 19th century monastery standing on the slopes of Debar’s Mt. Bistra, above the banks of the River Radika. While relatively new, St. Jovan was constructed over the remains of an older church dating from 1021.
Built on a steep slope surrounded by dense woods and rocky hills, St. Jovan is reminiscent of the cliff top monasteries of Mt. Athos in Greece.
Since the monastery is dedicated to St. Jovan the Baptist, worshippers believe that icons with his image are blessed with a miraculous healing power.
The monastery has a small silver coffin containing alleged relics of St. Jovan. The monastery complex includes a dining room and an old monastic dormitory, tower, charnel house and two fountains over spilling with fresh mountain water.
Church “St. Panteleimon”
Only a 15 minute drive from downtown Skopje near the tiny village of Gorno Nerezi high on the forested slopes of Mt. Vodno, the 12th century church of St. Panteleimon offers Macedonia’s capital city such serenity. The church which is one of the oldest and most important in Macedonia was built and painted in 1164 under the patronage of Byzantine Prince Alexios Komnenos whose name is made immortal by being carved in marble, right above the entrance in the church. It was dedicated to St. Panteleimon, the protector of health.
The monastery is most famous for its exceptional fresco paintings which convey dramatic facial expression and emotions not commonly found in Byzantine art. In 1555 the main dome collapsed but within a short time the monastery was renewed and repainted. Fragments of the old frescoes were incorporated into new ones. An example of a combination of a new and an old painting is the fresco portrayal of the Communion of the Apostles. Other well-known fresco themes are the Transfiguration, the Raising of Lazarus, the Birth of the Mother of God, the Presentation of the Mother of God to the Temple, the Entry into Jerusalem and the Descent from the Cross.
The most impressive fresco in St. Panteleimon created under the influence of apocryphal religious literature is the Lamentation of Christ. Art historians consider it a masterpiece as it displays traits associated with renaissance art at a much earlier stage than the blossoming of the Italian Renaissance.
Monastery “St. Joachim Osogovski”
The monastery of St. Joachim Osogovski is set amongst verdant green woods near the northeastern town of Kriva Palanka. It was founded in the 12th century and rebuilt many times during the ensuing centuries. Its frescoes are especially characteristic of the 19th century. The monastery complex had always been an important cultural, religious and educational center.
It consists of the church of St. Joachim Osogovski, a smaller 14th century church dedicated to the Holy Mother of God, a three-story dormitory, a bell tower with a charnel house at the bottom, a passage building, guardhouse, new dormitories and a residency of the Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Art colonies, scientific gatherings and seminars are regularly organized in this complex.