The Monastery of Saint Jovan Bigorski () is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery located in the western part of

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 ...

, near the road connecting the towns of

Debar Debar ( ; , sq-definite, 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 an ethnic Albanian majorit ...

and

Gostivar Gostivar ( ; sq-definite, Gostivari) is a city in North Macedonia, located in the upper Polog valley region. It is the seat of one of the larger municipalities in the country with a population of 59,770, and the town also covers . Gostivar has ...

. The monastery church is dedicated to St.

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

. One of its most valuable treasures is 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 ...

, created by Petre Filipov - Garkata from the nearby village of , 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 (; floruit, fl. 1018–1037) was an 11th-century Bulgarians, Bulgarian clergyman. He was a bishop under Samuel of Bulgaria, Emperor Samuel of Bulgaria. According to Srđan Pirivatrić he became the last Bulgarian patriarch David in 10 ...

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 :bg:Софийска епархия, Sofia''. The current patriarch Daniil of ...

before the fall of the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led by Asparuh of Bulgaria, Asparuh, moved south to the northe ...

. 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, a Bulgarian priest who became an important figure in the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian Revival (, ''Balgarsko vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and ), sometimes called the Bulgarian National Revival, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian pe ...

.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 (or Kliment) of Ohrid ( Bulgarian, Macedonian, , ''Kliment Ohridski''; , ''Klḗmēs tē̂s Akhrídas''; ; – 916) was one of the first medieval Bulgarian saints, scholar, writer, and apostle to the Slavs. He was one of the mos ...

Lazarus of Bethany Lazarus of Bethany is a figure of the New Testament whose life is restored by Jesus four days after his death, as told in the Gospel of John. The resurrection is considered one of the miracles of Jesus. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lazarus i ...

Saint Stephen Stephen (; ) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity."St ...

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara (; ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an Early Christianity, early Christian Greek saint and martyr. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings nor in the origin ...

Paraskevi of Rome Saint Paraskevi of Rome (also Parasceva) is venerated as a Christian martyr of the 2nd century. She was arrested on multiple occasions for her Christianity and was eventually beheaded by the Roman governor Tarasius. She is invoked for the heali ...

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.

References

External links

The official website of the monastery in Englishgostivar.com
{{Authority control Christian monasteries established in the 1020s Macedonian Orthodox monasteries Eastern Orthodox monasteries in North Macedonia Mavrovo and Rostuša Municipality Archbishopric of Ohrid Eastern Orthodox pilgrimage sites Christian pilgrimage sites