The
Gorioc Monastery (Gorioca, Ogorioc), metoh (church or monastery
dependency to a large monastery) of the Decani Monastery with the
Church of St. Nicholas, konak and belfry, is located on White Stone
above the little town of Istok, north-west Kosovo. According to
the tradition, it was built by King Stefan Decanski and devoted
to St. Nicholas as a sign of gratitude for healing his "burned"
eyes on that place. However, since the same tradition is linked
to a number of other toponyms it is not possible to establish for
sure which place was really the endowment of the healed King. The
old church of St. Nicholas at Gorioc, most probably from the 14th
century, is not preserved. It was renewed in the 16th and 18th centuries
and at the beginning of the 20th century. The church of St. Nicholas
is a modest one-nave semi-ovally domed building without wall paintings.
It keeps 11 icons painted during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
The Monastery used to keep a rich collection of Serbian medieval
books, including several Serbian manuscripts from the 14th and 15th
century which the Russian Consul and historian A. Gilferding book
from the Monastery. Today, they are kept in the Public Library in
St. Petersburg. During World War Two, the Monastery was used by
Albanian Nazis as a prison for arrested Serbs and Montenegrins.
In the churchyard, konak (dining- room and dormitories), belfry
and the fountain were restored.
At the moment
Gorioc monastery is a convent with five nuns and and elderly archimandrite
Fr. Sava. Decani Monastery monks are regularly visiting Gorioc to
serve Sunday and feastday liturgies as well as to help the sisters
run the monastery. After the war in Kosovo 1999 all Serb population
from this area was forced to leave Kosovo and the sisters with Fr.
Sava remained alone without any protection for several days. As
soon as the international peacekeepers were deployed they protected
the monastery. Today Gorioc Monastery is guarded by Spanish soldiers
who assist sisters in getting necessary supplies and give them military
escort when they have to travel or visit doctor out of Kosovo.
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