Macedonian Monastiers

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It is evident that according to the number of monasteries Macedonia takes the first place on the Balkan peninsula. The data available testify that there are about 155 preserved monasteries and another 90 in ruins.
Our book deals with the most representative monasteries in Macedonia built during the time of St. Clement and St. Naum, the entire Middle Ages and the Revival.
In the early-Christian period, here in Macedonia, there was intensive construction of ecclesiastical holy places - basilicas in the renowned centres: Stobi, Skupi, Bargala, Heraklea, Lihnida etc. The remnants of their interior decorations - the frescoes on the walls and the floor mosaics, give evidence about the high accoplishments of the artistic creations.
Later, with the arrival of the first Macedonian and Slavic educators St. Clement and St. Nauru in Macedonia, Ohrid became a center of the culture and education not only of the Macedonian, but of other Slavic peoples as well. Church books had been translated there and the first foundations of the Slavic literacy had been laid. The oldest churches and monasteries in Ohrid and its surroundings had in fact been the first schools where the mother tongue had been heard. Numerous churches and monasteries had started to be built along the shores of the Ohrid Lake: down by the southern coast of the lake, Nauru had established the monastery of St.
Archangel, the present-day St. Naum, and up on the hill, below the Samuel fortresses, Clement had built the monastery of St. Panteleimon and also with his own hands he had built a crypt, wherein he had been buried later, in 916.
There, in Qhrid, Clement and Nauru had marked the ways for their disciples to spread the literacy in all the regions in Macedonia and had struggled to maintain their own people's tomgue. They had built monasteries which had become ecclesiastical-spiritualand cultural-educational centers and they had established the Ohrid literary school.
The spiritual education that had been founded on the teaching by Clement and Naum and inherited from theirThessaloniki brothers St. Cyril and Methodius, had been supported in Macedonia by the Ohrid archbishopry for about 800 years. The continuity of that education had not even been stopped after the abolition of this independent ecclesiatic organization which had happened in 1767. The spiritual education and literacy had continued mainly in the monasteries, which had been centers of the cultural-educational activity. The spreading of Christianity and the building of monasteries had been carried out concurrently in the Bregalnica region too, which is testified by the results of the latest archeological researches.
The intensive building of monasteries in Macedonia had continued in all regions. Their facades had been richly decorated by niches, arcades, rosettes-made in ceramics.
The Macedonian monasteries have unThey had versatile architectural lay-outs: single-domed and multi-domed, with transepts, open porches or with nartexes. Their interior wall surfaces had been completely covered with fresco-paintings, abounding in compositions and scenes from the Old and New Testament, illustrating the life of the Holy Virgin, Jesus Christ, the holy martyrsascetics, the apostles, the evangelists, the prophets, the holy warriors and the hagiohraphies of individual saints.
In the monasteries' churches, the altar screen -the iconostasis had its own iconography and function. It was decorated with throne and festive icons, icons of the holy apostles and prophets, and in the upper part there was the Big Holy Cross with a scene of the Christ Crucifix.
All that setting in the monasteries was supplemented by silver, brass and carved chandeliers, icon lamps, candlesticks, brought over from the Holy Mountain, as well as, by choirs, bishop's thrones, ambones, a great number of church books like: Gospels, books of psalms and menaions, crosses, chalices, painted canvases etc.
The monasteries in Macedonia represented a rich treasury with inestimable wealth for the Macedonian people. They had been holy places radiant with spiritual power and representing a source of the spiritual values.
The monasteries in Macedonia had been literary centers and had developed great transcriptional activity. A distinguished place
among them is taken by the monasteries of: Lesnovo, Leshok, Bigorski, St. Marko's monastery, the Holy Virgin of Kichevo, the Polog monastery etc. They had preserved the folk essence, traditions had been maintained and developed there, and the hope for the future of the Macedonian people had become stronger. They influence of the monasteries had particularly been significant during the period of the long slavery under the Turks.
In the Macedonian monasteries the monastic life had widely been developed. They had been educated people, most of them had stayed in the Holy Mountain monasteries, especially in the Zograph monastery. There, they had accepted the monastic order and life and some of them had become icon-painters and zographs, while others had become woodcarvers, transcribers of books, papyruses, book binders. Their works have been preserved and can be found in our monasteries even nowadays.
A great number of monasteries had been built in the course of the Middle Ages, the most significant of which are: the monastery of St. Naum, the monastery of St. Panteleimon in Nerezi, the monastery of St. Andrew Marko's monastery, the monastery of St. Nikola, Lesnovo, Mateiche, Vodocha and Veljusa, the Polog monastery of St. George etc.
The most distinguished monasteries built during the Revival are the following: the monastery of St. John Bigorski, the monastery of St. Joackim Osogovski, the monastery of the Holy Virgin of Kichevo, the monastery of St. George in Negotino etc.
During the Revival, the monasteries in Macedonia had lived a new life and had higher aspirations, with new ideas for prosperity. New educational centers for development of the educational work had been founded. Cell schools and church communities had been established, the united craft-guild had built monastery lodgings, their own chambers for festive days and other occasions. A great number of educated people had come from the monasteries like: Partenie Zografski, Anatolij Zografski, Teodosij Sinaitski, the renowned Christofer Zefarovich from Dojran and many other archimandrites and priors among whom the prior of the monastery St, John Bigorski - Arsenie from Galichnik.
During the Revival, for the requirements of the monasteries in Macedonia, groups (tajfi) of zographs, wood-carvers and builders had been formed, originating mainly from the region of Mala Reka, who had built and decorated many churches and monasteries on the territory of Macedonia in the course of the entire 19th century. They had also worked on the territory of the whole Balkan peninsula as the best known and the most demanded zographs, wood-carvers, builders and iconpainters.
The monastery complexes had been built very richly: with multi-storey lodgings having extended and projecting belvederes, with watch-towers, which had served for defending the safety of the monasteries, with many economic buildings, dairy cottages, cellars for wine, brandy and winter food stores.
The monasteries in Macedonia had their own metohs (small churches with land around them), forests and meadows, cattle pastures, vineyards and orchards, movable properties and live cattle: sheep, goats, beef cattle, and they also dealt in bee-keeping.
The monasteries had their own Slava (a feast for their patron saint) and on that day the people from the nearby and distant places would gather there to pray and pay their respects, to meet their friends and close relatives, to bring presents for the sake of their health, as well as, to enjoy themselves
In the course of the centuries, the Macedonian monasteries had always their gates open for unexpected guests and believers and for all good people, in order that they may have a rest, be fed and spend the night there and be able to continue on their way the following day.
The monasteries had also helped the poor and disabled by giving them flour, oil, fruits etc.
Within the monasteries' complexes there had been bell towers and the sound of the bells would spread to the surrounding villages. Depending on the occasion, it would convey joy or sorrow, or even summons for resistance during the difficult days of slavery.
Such was the history of the monasteries in Macedonia in the past and they have remained up to the present time to be the pearls of the Macedonian culture, and to bear witness of our cultural heritage.

Dimitar Kornakov

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