On October 21, we left Belgrade for a 10-day trip through central Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo, where we visited famous monasteries and churches having a direct relevance to the formation of Serbian system of government.
On October 21, we left Belgrade for a 10-day trip through central Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo, where we visited famous monasteries and churches having a direct relevance to the formation of Serbian system of government. |
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Our first stop was at the Royal Lavra of Zica, a monastery established in the 13th century; it is to celebrate its 800th Anniversary in 2005. In the first half of the 20th century, Serbia’s Chrysostom, Nikolai Velimirovic (of whom we shall tell later), served as bishop of Zica.
The Zica monastery is in the very heart of Serbia, near the historical province of Rashka. Its founding benefactor at the beginning of the 13th Century was St. Stefan the First-crowned (in monasticism, taking the name Simon). Its builder (in the old sense of that monastic title) was Holy Hierarch Savva himself. Both were sons of the great holy ruler Stefan Nemanje (Venerable Symeon the Myrrh-gusher), founder of the Nemanje Dynasty, which gave the Church an unprecedented number of worthy ones, principally righteous sovereigns of Serbia.
The holy brothers put much work into establishing and putting in order their zadushbiny, (i.e. donating za dushu - for the soul). St. Savva oversaw the building of Zica with the resources donated by St. Stefan until he left for Byzantium. There, in 1219, he was consecrated a bishop for a henceforth independent Serbian Church. From Byzantium, he brought master craftsmen/iconographers to decorate the Zica Cathedral of the Lord’s Ascension.
In 1221, a great Council of Church and State took place at Zica. At that Council, Savva, the first Serbian archbishop crowned Stefan Nemanja as the first Serbian autocratic Orthodox king. Subsequently he became known as the First-crowned.
The years of 1219 and 1221 are two of the most important dates in Serbian history. Almost simultaneously, the Serbian national Church and the Serbian national state came into being, like a single national organism. From that point began the simultaneous flowering of “two branches of power.” Zica was the embodiment of that concordance of powers.
In the 1930s, Vladyka Nikolai (Velimirovic) who was transferred from Okhrid to Zica, made great efforts to renovate the buildings and to renew the cultural and spiritual activity of the monastery. At that time, spiritual life in Serbia was at its peak of blossoming, in significant part due to the efforts and concerns of Vladyka Nikolai, (as the troparion describes him) ‘leader of the prayerful forces of Christ,’ and Zica was filled with monks. Several of our compatriots found shelter there after their flight from Soviet Russia. Vladyka was, as he himself admitted, “a great Russophile,” and had as his spiritual father the Russian monk Khariton, who was of Estonian origin. When Khariton was translated to the Lord, Vladyka greatly mourned his passing. The Russian iconographers Ivan Melnikov and Nikolai Meyendorf worked in the monastery; the latter also decorated the newly erected Church of St. Savva.
Like the entire Serbian people, the monastery endured especially great sorrows during World War II. While tens of thousands of Serbs were being executed in neighboring Kraljevo, Kragujevtse, while hundreds of thousands languished in Ustashe concentration camps, and the fires of war consumed up to 1 million Serbs, Zica also suffered greatly under bombardment. Part of the North wall of the Cathedral was destroyed to its foundation, with the loss of its medieval frescoes. Neighboring kellia and a typesetting facility were consumed in flames, and the bishop’s quarters were shredded by shrapnel fragments. Nonetheless, Vladyka Nikolai immediately commenced reconstruction. He was not able to complete the work: he was arrested and confined to the Dachau concentration camp together with another holy confessor, Patriarch Gavriil. Forced to leave his native land after the War, he moved to America.
At this point, a new period in Zica’s life began: for the first time in its history, Zica became a women’s monastery, for under the Communists it was easier to open a women’s monastery. After all, “the opiate of the people” was considered to be more likely the milieu of “intellectually backward women.”
In the wonderfully frescoed refectory of Zica Monastery we were served coffee, spring water, raki, and Hieromonk Gerasim, spiritual director of the monastery gave us an extremely warm welcome. With obvious emotion, he spoke of the suffering of the Serbian people, past and present, sufferings that according to him were permitted by God on account of the sins of the people. He related to us several pages from the monastery’s history. He informed us that Vl. John of Shanghai had served in Zica, and that two nuns tonsured by vladyka were still alive. In my turn, I assured Fr. Gerasim that in many churches of the Church Abroad, prayers for the Serbian people continue to be raised up as before.
The next stop for our group of pilgrims was the Holy Dormition Lavra of Studenica, one of the most ancient monasteries in Serbia. It is far from any city and is surrounded by high mountains. The monastery itself is a fortress enclosing a cathedral dating back to the 12th century. The front elevation of one of the churches is laid out in polished white marble, and magnificent sculptured Romanesque decorations adorn the portals and windows. A second church dedicated to Sts. Joachim and Anna, which is significantly smaller than the first, has well preserved frescoes. It is not only the remarkable lightness and lucidity of the depictions that makes an impression on you, but also their sheer size. They are enormous! Studenica was Serbia’s most important monastery throughout the Middle Ages. Its myrrh-gushing relics of Serbian saints work miracles of healing and help from God.
The Studenica Monastery was founded by King Stefan (Symeon in monasticism). Here he began his monastic life. Born in 1114 from Zhupan David, Stefan was the youngest of four sons. Even at a young age he governed so wisely and piously that after his father’s death he was given a large part of the country to rule. For the rest of his life, he suffered his brothers’ anger. God comforted him, giving him Princess Anna, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor, for a wife. They acquired sanctity, and brought into the world two sons who also became saints. Striving to make Serbia into an Orthodox Kingdom, Venerable Symeon erected and maintained a multitude of churches in Serbia itself and throughout the Christian world. His crowning moment became his abdication, when he left his throne and at the age of 82, followed the example set by his son, Holy Hierarch Savva. Together they took up spiritual struggle on the Holy Mountain, where they established the Serbian Hilandar Monastery. At the age of 86, with a face shining with divine light, St. Symeon went to his rest in God. His relics remained pliable and warm, and exuded delicate myrrh. When Holy Hierarch St. Savva returned to Serbia, he brought with him his father’s relics, and all the people were witnessed to the fact that Symeon’s body still remained warm and looked alive, as if he were asleep.
In the Studenica Monastery, the marble floor under the reliquary containing the relics of St. Stefan (Symeon) the First-crowned, is polished to a mirror finish by the bodies of pilgrims, for it is the custom that pilgrims not only appeal to St. Symeon in fervent prayer, but also crawl on their elbows and knees under his reliquary three times. Many of our pilgrims took the opportunity to do so.
Studenica is also remarkable in that there rest the holy relics of its founders, the great zhupan Kir Stefan Nemanje (St. Symeon the Myrrh-gusher), his wife Anna (Venerable St. Anastasia), their son Holy Righteous Stefan the First-crowned (Venerable St. Symeon the Monk). Studenica is a place from which Holy Hierarch St. Savva, their son and brother, spread his efforts to enlighten the people throughout all Serbia. From here he directed the construction of Zica, the great Archbishoprics and the Royal Lavra, and from here he established Ispostnica – two of his anchorite sketes for profound spiritual struggles and prayer in isolation. Here he established the first brotherhood of Studenica and set down the rule for monastic life known as the Studenica typicon. St. Savva cared not only for the soul but also for the body, and established one of the first hospitals in Serbia as well as rules for medical care.
At Studenica, I had the great honor to serve the Divine Liturgy in the Dormition Cathedral. It is difficult to describe what I felt while serving in that holy place…
part 2 |