Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery
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| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Macedonian Orthodox |
| Established | 1020 |
| Diocese | Diocese of Debar and Kičevo |
| Controlled churches | Church of St John the Baptist |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Ivan I Debranin |
| Site | |
| Location | Mavrovo and Rostuša Municipality |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Public access | yes |
The Monastery of Saint Jovan Bigorski (Macedonian: Свети Јован Бигорски) is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery located in the western part of Macedonia, near the road connecting the towns of Debar and Gostivar.
The monastery church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. One of its most valuable treasures is the iconostasis, created by Petre Filipovski Garkata from the nearby village of Gari, and considered one of the finest examples of wood-carved iconostases.
Contents
History
According to its 1833 chronicle, the monastery was built in 1020 by Ivan I Debranin. 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 to 1825. The historical record also mentions a monk Iov, recognized by some researchers as the future educator Yoakim Karchovski.
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 John the Baptist, Clement of Ohrid, Lazarus of Bethany, Saint Stephen, Saint Nicholas, Saint Barbara, Paraskevi of Rome, Tryphon, Respicius, and Nympha, and part of the Holy Cross.
Another valuable monastery treasure is an icon dating from 1020 with supposedly miraculous healing power.
Gallery
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Logo of Monastery St. John the Baptist - Bigorski.png
Logo of Monastery St. John the Baptist - Bigorski
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Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski Church.JPG
CMonastery of St. Jovan (John) Bigorski near Debar
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Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski, Macedonia (15).JPG
View from the entrance of the monastery
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Christian religious buildings 169.JPG
Dome in Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery Complex near Rostuša, Debar Region
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Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski, Macedonia (9).JPG
Inside the monastery
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Bigorski august 2012 (4).JPG
Bigorski August 2012
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Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski, Macedonia (4).JPG
Monastery Sveti Jovan Bigorski
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Bigorski august 2012 (78).JPG
Bigorski August 2012
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Bigorski Manastir 56.JPG
Bigorski Manastir
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Bigorski Manastir 79.JPG
Bigorski Manastir
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Candles and Fresco at Sv. Jovan Bigorski Monastery.jpg
Candles and Fresco at Sv. Jovan Bigorski Monastery
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Бигорски.jpg
Bigorski manastir
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Christian religious buildings 24.jpg
Christian religious buildings
