Crna Reka Monastery
History
Crna Reka Monastery is located in the gorge of Crna Reka, in the area of the village Ribariće (municipality of Tutin) on the border between Kosovska Mitrovica, Rožaje and Novi Pazar. The monastery has been hidden from the public from the beginning, so history has followed it in its records. t is not known when exactly it was founded, but it certainly existed at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century. From the beginning, the monastery was conceived as a hermitage, a place where people would retreat to distance themselves from the world,
in order to pray to God. The monastery was named after Saint Joanikije who lived in the monastery and is considered to be the founder of the monastery. Since it was never demolished, the monastery has preserved its original physiognomy to this day, and it preserves the most precious Serbian fresco-biography from the 16th century. In 1898, a school was built here next to the monastery. At that time it was still part of the Ottoman Empire and students were educated there for a long time.
Cultural site details
The maThe main monastery church is dedicated to St. Archangel Michael and St. Archangel Gabriel. What makes the Crna Reka monastery specific is its church, located in a cave. Its base is rectangular and has one ship. Next to the main church, in the immediate vicinity of the monastery, there are three hermitages. They are dedicated to the holy apostle and evangelist Luke, the holy prophet Ilija and the ancestor Enoh, as well as the Venerable Siluan of Athos.
In addition to the church and school, in monastery complex there is also a bell tower, a boarding house, a guest hall, a library and a shop. Due to the high humidity, all books decay quickly. Due to heavy rains and moisture, the wooden roof and the access bridge, also made of wood, which have not been renovated for decades, are in danger of collapsing.
In the caves of the monastery Crna Reka, hidden high in the hills of Mokra gora, the relics of St. Peter of Koriska, the Miracle Worker, the protector of the sanctuary. It is believed that those who fall asleep under the saint's relics will cure all diseases. It is also believed that the water that flows from one wall in the monastery cave cures many diseases, and that the girls who serve at the monastery celebration will get married next year.