The Monastery of Saint Jovan Bigorski ( mk, Свети Јован Бигорски) is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery located in the western part of

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

, near the road connecting the towns of

Debar Debar ( mk, Дебaр ; Albanian: ''Dibër''/''Dibra'' or ''Dibra e Madhe;'' ) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar has ...

and

Gostivar Gostivar ( mk, Гостивар , Albanian and Turkish: ''Gostivar''), is a city in North Macedonia, located in the upper Polog valley region. It is one of the largest municipalities in the country with a population of 81,042, and the town also ...

. The monastery church is dedicated to St.

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

. One of its most valuable treasures is the iconostasis, created by Petre Filipov - Garkata from the nearby village of

Gari Gari may refer to: Places *Gari, Tombouctou Region, Mali, a village *Gari, Russia, several inhabited localities * Gari, Kruševac, Serbia, a village *Gari (river), Monte Cassino, Lazio, Italy *Gari, an Indigenous name for Fraser Island in Queens ...

, and considered one of the finest examples of wood-carved iconostases.

History

According to its 1833 chronicle, the monastery was built in 1020 by the Bulgarian clergyman

John of Debar John of Debar ( bg, Йоан Дебърски; fl. 1018–1037) was an 11th-century Bulgarian clergyman. He was a bishop under Emperor Samuel of Bulgaria. According to Srđan Pirivatrić he became the last Bulgarian patriarch David in 1016. He r ...

who was the last

Patriarch of Bulgaria The Patriarch of All Bulgaria is the patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The patriarch is officially styled as ''Patriarch of All Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia''. Patriarch Neophyte acceded to this position on 24 February 2013. Hist ...

before the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire. The Ottomans destroyed the monastery in the 16th century, but it was restored in 1743 by the monk Ilarion, who also constructed a number of cells for monks. The archimandrite Arsenius further expanded the monastery between 1812 and 1825. The historical record also mentions a monk Iov, recognized by some researchers as the future educator

Yoakim Karchovski Yoakim Karchovski ( bg, Йоаким Кърчовски; mk, Јоаким Крчовски c. 1750 - c. 1820), also known as Hadži Joakim, was a cleric, writer and one of the early figures of the Bulgarian National Revival.Becoming Bulgarian: the ...

, a Bulgarian priest who became an important figure in the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian National Revival ( bg, Българско национално възраждане, ''Balgarsko natsionalno vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and tr, Bulgar ulus canlanması) sometimes called the Bu ...

.Becoming Bulgarian: the articulation of Bulgarian identity in the nineteenth century in its international context: an intellectual history, Ost-European studies, Janette Sampimon, Pegasus, 2006, , p. 234. Most of the old monastery complex was destroyed by a fire in 2009, while the new sections of the complex and church were saved. Reconstruction of the old sections began in May 2010 with the goal of restoring the buildings as closely as possible to their original style.

Holy Relics

The monastery has a large collection of holy relics including

Clement of Ohrid Saint Clement of Ohrid ( Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian: Свети Климент Охридски, ; el, Ἅγιος Κλήμης τῆς Ἀχρίδας; sk, svätý Kliment Ochridský; – 916) was one of the first medieval Bulgarian ...

Lazarus of Bethany Lazarus of Bethany (Latinised from Lazar, ultimately from Hebrew Eleazar, "God helped"), also venerated as Righteous Lazarus, the Four-Days Dead in the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the subject of a prominent sign of Jesus in the Gospel of John, ...

Saint Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

, Saint Nicholas,

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara ( grc, Ἁγία Βαρβάρα; cop, Ϯⲁⲅⲓⲁ Ⲃⲁⲣⲃⲁⲣⲁ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Lebanese and Greek saint and martyr. Accounts place her in t ...

Paraskevi of Rome Saint Paraskevi of Rome (also Parasceva) is venerated as a Christian martyr of the 2nd century. She was arrested and tortured under the reign of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius for her refusal to worship idols. Though he eventually released her ...

Tryphon, Respicius, and Nympha Saint Tryphon of Campsada (; also spelled ''Trypho'', ''Trifon'', ''Triphon'') was a 3rd-century Christian saint. He is venerated by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches as a great martyr and holy unmercenary. Saint Tryphon was form ...

, and part of the Holy Cross. Another valuable monastery treasure is an icon dating from 1020 with supposedly miraculous healing power.

Gallery

File:Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski Church.JPG, Monastery of St. Jovan (John) Bigorski near

Image:Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski, Macedonia (15).JPG, View from the entrance of the monastery File:Christian religious buildings 169.JPG, Dome in Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery Complex near Rostuša, Debar Region Image:Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski, Macedonia (9).JPG, Inside the monastery File:Bigorski august 2012 (4).JPG, Bigorski August 2012 File:Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski, Macedonia (4).JPG, Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski File:Bigorski august 2012 (78).JPG, Bigorski August 2012 File:Bigorski Manastir 56.JPG, Bigorski Manastir File:Bigorski Manastir 79.JPG, Bigorski Manastir File:Candles and Fresco at Sv. Jovan Bigorski Monastery.jpg, Candles and Fresco at Sv. Jovan Bigorski Monastery File:Бигорски.jpg, Bigorski manastir File:Christian religious buildings 24.jpg, Christian religious buildings Bigorski manastir na stara razglednica.jpg, An old postcard of Bigorski Monastery Bigorski manastir, 1930-ti.jpg, Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery, photo from 1930's Bigorski manastir, staro foto.jpg, from the 1930s Bigorski manastir, od 1930-ti.jpg, photo taken in 1930's Bigorski manastir, foto od 1930-ti.jpg, photo from 1930's

References

External links

The official website of the monastery in Englishgostivar.com
{{Authority control Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Macedonian Orthodox monasteries Eastern Orthodox monasteries in North Macedonia Mavrovo and Rostuša Municipality Archbishopric of Ohrid