First anniversary of restoration after 520 years

Cutting of the slava cakes: Bishops Artemije and Teodosije with priests and monks

By Jelena Tasic

Banjska - Last week the medieval monastery of Banjska, the endowment and tomb of King Milutin celebrated its first anniversary of restoration after 520 years of vacancy. In recent years, especially since the introduction of an international protectorate in Kosovo and Metohija, church celebrations have become one of the main forms of social life of the Serbian community in the Province and thus, several hundred Serbs arrived in Banjska.

"Wherever new life moves into a monastery, the entire environment begins to gain strength and to progress, first of all spiritually, but also economically," said local Bishop Artemije (Radosavljevic). The Bishop and representatives of the local administration in Zvecan, who actively participated in the restoration of Banjska, as well as in the celebration of the anniversary, hope that "the resurrection of this monastery" means the revival of the area around this holy shrine.

New churches and monasteries According to Bishop Artemije in the Diocese of Raska and Prizren there are presently more than 15 living monasteries. "We also plan to restore the monasteries of St. Varvara, between Novi Pazar and Sopocani, and the Unmercenary Physicians near Lesak in the foothills of Mt. Rogozna; and the construction of new monasteries in Leposavic and Devine Vode between Zvecan and Zubin Potok, where the wonderworking waters of the Holy Theotokos are located according to folk tradition. We have dedicated it to the Icon of the Three-Handed Theotokos," said Bishop Artemjie. He hopes that "the state will also participate in the restoration of monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija because the Church is not able to restore this many holy shrines by itself". The listed monasteries are planned in the north of Kosovo and Metohija and the district of Raska because, according to Bishop Artemije, there is no possibility for building or restoring medieval shrines south of the Ibar River, and the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church is responsible for the restoration of churches and monasteries destroyed since 1999, in accordance with the Memorandum signed with the Kosovo Government's Ministry of Culture. "We are working where we are able to work. In cooperation with the local administration the Diocese of Raska and Prizren is currently building new churches in Leposavic, in northern Mitrovica, in Supanj near Raka, and we also plan to build a church in Socanica," said Bishop Artemije. He said that monasteries in completely Albanian environments are living under imposed conditions but nevertheless a full monastic life. "They have internal freedom, within the monastery and within themselves. This spiritual freedom that God grants to his servant is most important, while external freedom does not exist. These monasteries are hard to reach, the monks within them have a hard time leaving them, sometimes their escorts are cancelled, sometimes they are provided but all in all life goes on because if monasticism was not as strong in our Diocese, if the Church was not stable thanks to the monks and priests who remained in their posts, it's questionable whether any of our people would remain in Kosovo and Metohija now after six years. Here the role and the mission of the Church is more than apparent and it confirms what it has been throughout the centuries of our history. When the people were left without any institutions, without a state, the Church remained with it, guarding and protecting it spiritually and physically," emphasized Bishop Artemije.

Banjska Monastery is located near Zvecan, approximately 10 kilometers north of Kosovska Mitrovica, three kilometers from the main highway that connects this city in northern Kosovo and Metohija with Raska. Located in the foothills of Mt. Rogozna on the right side of Banjska Creek, a tributary from the left of the Ibar River, in a village bearing the same name as the holy shrine. Built at the beginning of the 14th century on the foundation of an older church which, in the time of Milutin's father, King Stefan Uros I, served as the seat of the Diocese of Banjska.

King Milutin, the greatest endower among Serbian medieval rulers who, according to folk tradition, "reigned 40 years and built 40 churches", entrusted the construction of Banjska to his spiritual father, later the first abbot of Banjska, and then to Serbian Archbishop Danilo II. During the reign of its founder, Banjska was the fourth most important and, according to its charter, the wealthiest Serbian monastery. Its complex included defensive watchtowers, a representative refectory and a series of other edifices whose purpose changed several times through the centuries.