Church of Saint Nicetas in Banjane (Macedonian and Serbian Cyrillic: ''Свети Никита'') is a medieval

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

church in the village of Banjane, midway between this and the villages of

Čučer-Sandevo Čučer-Sandevo () is a village in Republic of North Macedonia. It is a seat of the Čučer-Sandevo Municipality. Geography The village is located in the northern part of the Skopje Valley, in the central part of the territory of the Municipality ...

and Gornjane (thus it is also often referred to as Saint Nicetas in Čučer). The church and all the villages are a part of

Čučer-Sandevo municipality Čučer-Sandevo Municipality (), is a municipality in northern part of North Macedonia. ''Čučer-Sandevo'' is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is found. It is located in the Skopje Statistical Region. Geography The municipa ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. The church nowadays belongs to the Skopje diocese of the Ohrid Archbishopric.

History

The monastery and church, dedicated to Saint Nicetas, was built by the

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

king Milutin Stefan Uroš II Milutin ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош II Милутин, Stefan Uroš II Milutin; 1253 – 29 October 1321), known as Saint King, was the King of Serbia between 1282–1321, a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. He was one o ...

ca. 1300 on the ruins of a previous church. The monastery was donated by

Milutin Milutin () is a Serbian masculine given name of Slavic origin. The name may refer to: *Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia (1253–1321), king of Serbia * Milutin Bojić (1892–1917), poet * Milutin Ivković (1906–1943), footballer *Milutin Milan ...

short after their construction to the Serb monastery

Chilandar The Hilandar Monastery (, , , ) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian Orthodox monastery there. It was founded in 1198 by two Serbs from the Grand Principality of Serbia, Stefan Nemanj ...

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...

. St Nicetas was thoroughly renovated in 1484.

Architecture

Saint Nicetas has a simple cross-in-square base with a central dome standing on

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

s and four columns. The outer decoration is typically

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

, done in layers of stone and red brick. The nicest decoration is to be found on the wall of the apse.

Fresco paintings

The signature on the shield of St Theodore reveals that the church was painted by the famous Michael, son of Eutichios, the favorite court painter of

King Milutin Stefan Uroš II Milutin ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош II Милутин, Stefan Uroš II Milutin; 1253 – 29 October 1321), known as Saint King, was the King of Serbia between 1282–1321, a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. He was one o ...

who painted many other of his churches as well (for example

Staro Nagoričane Staro Nagoričane () is a village in North Macedonia and the seat of the Staro Nagoričane municipality. The village is primarily known for its 11th century Church of St. George, first constructed in 1071 during Byzantine Macedonia, and reconstr ...

). The frescoes are well preserved and all date from around 1324, except those in the dome which are from 19th century, done by the well-known Dimitar "Dičo Zograf" Krstević. One of the reasons for their good condition was the renovation of 1484 done in an astonishingly modern manner by the group that fresco painted Treskavec Monastery (1483), old katholikon of the Monastery of Great Meteoron (1483) and the church of St Nicholas of the Nun Eupraxia in Kastoria (1486). In the lowest section are represented life size figures of saints. In the middle section we see

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

's miracles while in the upper parts of the church are representations of

Passion Passion, the Passion or the Passions may refer to: Emotion * Passion (emotion), a very strong feeling about a person or thing * Passions (philosophy), emotional states as used in philosophical discussions * Stoic passions, various forms of emotio ...

. The inscriptions are in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Church Slavonic Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...

of Serbian redaction.

Iconostasis

The

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

of the church was painted in 1846/47 by

Dičo Zograf Dimitar Krstev Dičov ( Bulgarian: Димитър Кръстев Дичов, Macedonian: Димитар Крстев Дичов, Serbian: Димитар Крстевић), also known as Dičo Krstev (Дичо Крстев) and best known as Di� ...

References

{{Authority control Čučer-Sandevo Municipality Macedonian Orthodox churches Byzantine church buildings in North Macedonia Nemanjić dynasty endowments Buildings and structures completed in 1307 Churches completed in the 1300s