{"id":25,"date":"2019-04-22T01:39:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T01:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecradlemagazine.com\/sr\/the-orthodox-faith\/"},"modified":"2019-04-22T01:39:52","modified_gmt":"2019-04-22T01:39:52","slug":"the-orthodox-faith","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thecradlemagazine.com\/sr\/the-orthodox-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"The Orthodox Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monastery Visoki Decani<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Visoki De\u010dani or simply De\u010dani is a medieval <\/strong>Serbian Orthodox Christian<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>monastery<\/strong><\/a> located near <\/strong>De\u00e7an<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>Kosovo<\/strong><\/a> and Metohija, Serbia. It was founded in the first half of the 14th century by Serbian king <\/strong>Stefan De\u010danski<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Visoki De\u010dani monastery is located by the De\u010danska Bistrica<\/a> river gorge at the foot\nof the Prokletije\nMountains<\/a>, in the region of Metohija<\/a>.\nIt is located about 2 kilometres from the town of De\u00e7an. The monastery is\nmanaged by the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Ra\u0161ka and Prizren<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monastery has been under the legal protection of Serbia since\n1947with a designation of Cultural Monument of Exceptional\nImportance<\/em><\/a>. Also, it is part of the World Heritage site named Medieval Monuments\nin Kosovo<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction began\nduring the reign of Serbian King Stefan De\u010danski<\/a> in 1327 and the\noriginal founding charter from 1330 has been preserved. De\u010danski\u2019s son, Stefan Du\u0161an<\/a>, seized the Serbian throne in 1331 and had his father\nstrangled to death in the Zve\u010dan Fortress<\/a> shortly afterwards. De\u010danski was buried in the\nstill incomplete Visoki De\u010dani monastery in 1331 and its construction was\ncontinued by Du\u0161an. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The monastery’s main\narchitect was Fra Vita, a Franciscan<\/a> friar from the Montenegrin coastal town of Kotor<\/a>. Construction of the\nmonastery lasted for a total of 8 years, and ended in 1335. The wooden throne\nof the hegumen<\/a><\/em> (monastery\nhead) was finished at around this time, and the church interior was decorated.\nDe\u010danski’s carved wooden sarcophagus was finished in 1340.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15th\u201319th century<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Turkish army  guarding Visoki De\u010dani, around 1904. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bulgarian writer Gregory Tsamblak<\/a>, author of\nthe Life of Stefan De\u010danski<\/em>, was the hegumen<\/a>\n<\/em>(monastery head) at the beginning of the 15th century. The painter-monk\nLongin spent two decades in the monastery during the second half of the 16th\ncentury and created 15 icons with depictions of the Great Feasts<\/a> and\nhermits, as well as his most celebrated work, the icon of Stefan De\u010danski. In\nthe late 17th century, the Ottomans plundered the monastery, but inflicted no\nserious damage. In 1819, archimandrite Zaharija De\u010danac<\/a> became Metropolitan of Ra\u0161ka and Prizren<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crucifixion of Christ, detail, fresco at Visoki De\u010dani Serbian Orthodox monastery, 14th century <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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20th and 21st century<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During World War I<\/a>, the\nmonastery’s treasures were plundered by the Austro-Hungarian Army<\/a>, which occupied Serbia between 1915 and 1918. The\nmonastery fell within the territory of the Italian-ruled Albanian Kingdom<\/a> during World War II<\/a>, and was\ntargeted for destruction by the Albanian nationalist Balli\nKomb\u00ebtar<\/a><\/em> and Italian fascist<\/a> blackshirts<\/a> in\nmid-1941. The Royal Italian Army<\/a> responded by sending a group of soldiers to\nhelp protect the monastery from attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monastic treasure\nwas exhibited in the rebuilt medieval refectory in 1987. The monastery’s monks\nsheltered refugees of all ethnicities during the Kosovo War<\/a>, which\nlasted from March 1998 to June 1999. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the violent unrest<\/a> in Kosovo on 17 March 2004, KFOR defended the\nmonastery from an Albanian mob trying to throw Molotov cocktails<\/a> at\nit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 2 July 2004, the\nmonastery was declared a World Heritage Site<\/a> by the United Nations Educational,\nScientific and Cultural Organization<\/a> (UNESCO). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNESCO cited it as\n„an irreplaceable treasure, a place where traditions of Romanesque\narchitecture meet artistic patterns of the Byzantine world.“The\nmonastery, along with all other Serbian Medieval Monuments in Kosovo<\/a> and Metohija, was\nadded to the UNESCO list<\/a> of\nendangered World Heritage sites in 2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suspected Kosovo\nAlbanian insurgents hurled hand grenades<\/a> at\nthe monastery on 30 March 2007, but caused little damage. In recent years, the\nsituation around the monastery has stabilized and it has reopened to visitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Architecture\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church has five-nave naos, a three-part iconostasis<\/a>, and a\nthree-nave parvise<\/a>.\nWith the dome, it is 26 m high. Its outer walls are done in alternate layers of\nwhite and pink marble. The portals, windows, consoles, and capitals are richly\ndecorated. Christ the Judge is shown surrounded by angels in the western part\nof the church. It\u2019s twenty major cycles of fresco murals represent the largest\npreserved gallery of Serbian medieval art<\/a>, featuring\nover 1000 compositions and several thousand portraits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heritage\nsite in danger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

De\u010dani Monastery is one of four World Heritage medieval monuments in\nKosovo and Metohija designated as a heritage site in danger. Since the arrival\nof KFOR<\/a> peacekeepers in the region in 1999, attacks\non the Monastery have increased exponentially. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

De\u010dani Monastery is currently under 24\/7 guard from KFOR<\/a>. Of the\nfour medieval monuments in Kosovo and Metohija that are designated as a\nheritage site in danger, De\u010dani is the only one under direct guard from KFOR<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Wikipedia<\/p>\n