Krka Monastery

The monastery of Krk was founded in 1350 by the Serbian princess , the sister of King Stefan Uros IV and the wife of the Croatian nobleman Mladen III Subic ^[1] . The idea of ​​founding the monastery belonged to the confessor of the princess, the monk Reuben ^[2] . According to the ancient historian Lucius, the apostle Paul preached in that area. Under the monastery itself are the catacombs, where, according to legend, the apostle preached. Also close to the monastery are the ruins of the Roman military camp Burnum. Most likely, the founders of the monastery knew about it. In 1402 the monastery was completed and expanded ^{[1] [2]} .

In 1530, the church in the monastery was destroyed by the Turks, it was restored only in 1577 . In 1647 it was again destroyed, and the monastery was plundered. Three years later, his recovery began. In the 16th century, it was ruled by the bishops of the Dabro-Bosnian diocese, such as Gavrilo, Arcentius and Theodore. In the 18th century , the spiritual shepherds of Montenegro, such as Petar Tsetinsky or Sava Petrovich, were engaged in this ^[1] .

The monastery got its modern look in 1779 . At the same time, a new large altar was erected. Since its inception, the Krka Monastery has been the spiritual center for the Serbs of Dalmatia . Many Catholic Croats also prayed in it. The monastery was often sent various shrines and jewels from Jerusalem , Holy Mount Athos , Venice , Russia , etc. ^[1] .

During the existence of the monastery, it was visited by many famous Serbs, among whom were Dositey Obradovic, Gerasim Zelich, Simo Matavul, Nikola Tesla, Mirko Korolia, Milosh Zrnyanski, Vladan Desnitsa and others ^[1] .

During the war in Croatia in 1991-1995. the monastery was located on the territory of the Serbian Krajina and the center of the spiritual life of the Orthodox Serbs in this region. In 1995 , after the destruction of the Serbian Krajina, he was looted by Croatian troops. After these incidents, the Croatian government took it under its protection ^[1] .

In 1995-1998 Krka monastery was in desolation and only then gradually began to recover. The first monk after the war there was Gerasim Popovich. A considerable effort to renovate the monastery was made by the Bishop of Dalmatia, Fotius (Sladojevich) ^{[1] [3]} .

In addition to the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, the complex of monastic buildings also includes the Romanesque bell tower, the chapel of St. Sava , built in the 17th century, the new building of the seminary and the cells of the monks. At the foundation of the new seminary building, stones from the Pech Patriarchate and a number of other monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church were laid in the foundation. Also in the monastery there are archives with many ancient books and manuscripts and the sacristy of church valuables, the oldest of which date from the XIV century ^[3] .

Currently, the monastery remains one of the spiritual center of the Serbs in this region of Croatia ^[4] .

With the blessing of Patriarch Paisius Yanevets and Bishop of Dabro-Bosnian Theodore, in 1615 a seminary was established at the monastery ^[2] . After some time, she achieved significant results. She worked until 1647 , when monks were forced to flee to Zadar and Sremski Karlovci before the threat of a Turkish invasion. Three years later, the monks returned, but the seminary resumed work only in 1964 ^[1] .

After the war, the Theological Seminary was moved to the Republika Srpska , Foca . In 2001, she was returned to the monastery. Currently, about 50 students attend classes in it, and in 2015, the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Iriney visited the 400th anniversary of the seminary ^[5] .

The library of the Krka monastery has a large number of rare texts that serve as an important source for researchers on the history of Serbian literature. An inventory of the library was carried out by monks in the late 1950s. The most ancient manuscript stored in the monastery is the Mokpropozko Evangese, dated to the second half of the 13th century. Besides it, the library contains several dozens of manuscripts dating back to the 13th — 18th centuries. In the 18th century, the monastery received a large number of church books from the Russian Empire. During this period there were also books in Greek published in Venice. When, after World War II, Dalmatia became part of the SR of Croatia in the framework of Yugoslavia, the monastery’s library funds were replenished with Matitsa Srpska, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Serbian universities, etc. The funds of the Theological Seminary of the Monastery were added to Croatia ^[6] .

• Kashi Dushan. Srpski monastery at Hrvatskoj and Slavonij. - Beograd: Museums Srpske Orthodox Church, 1996.
• Radoslaw I. Chubrilo, Beљana R. Ivkoviћ, Dusan аковakoviћ, Adamov Јovan, Milan Ђ. Family and others. Srpska Kraјina. - Beograd: Matiћ, 2011. - 742 p.
• Branko Cholovi. Monastery Krk. - Zagreb: Srpsko kul'turno drustvo “Prosvet”, 2006. - 207 p. - ISBN 953-6627-83-3 .

• Monastery Krka (Serb.) . The appeal date is October 5, 2016.
• Krka (Serb.) . The appeal date is October 5, 2016.