American Serb History 101

 While searching for information on Zica Monastery which recently celebrated the end of its 800th Anniversary with a concert given by the Kosovo Serbian Men's Choir of Eastern Ohio, I found this website with beautiful photos of the outside of our most important Serbian monasteries:

Photos of important Serbian Monasteries 

 The site starts with the Patriarchate in Belgrade, then moves back to Pec (1345), then lists St. Sava as the Head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and all names of the Patriarchs of Serbia that followed, along with the dates they served.  Afterwards, photos of these monasteries followed:

Zica, Studenica, Gracanica, Visoki Decani, Manasija, Sopocani, Mileseva, Ravanica, Ljubostinja and finally, with the most Holy of all Serbian monasteries, Hilandar.  The piece ends with the importance of celebrating our Slava, and a great kolach!  Good job!

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    However, no one can surpass the Serbian Unity Congress BLAGO Treasures documentation of all of our Serbian Monasteries because so much time was spent on EACH monastery, documenting each fresco and the importance of each to Christianity.  The Serbian Unity Congress does so many things well, but the BLAGO FUND Archive has always been one of my favorites.  To see more, click on the website below here:

The monasteries detailed here are:  Decani, Pillars of St. George, St. Peter's Church, Sopacani, Gracanica, Ravanica, Mileseva, Manasija, and Studenica.

Blago Fund Archives of the Monasteries 

 Be sure to check out the Blago Crew At Work section.  Also, Serbs throughout the world should know that the Serbian Unity Congress recently donated slides and DVDs on Serbia's monasteries to Princeton and Harvard Universities.  This is the 10th year of their lasting labor of love.  Congratulations to Nenad Vukicevic and his talented, dedicated team! To give you an example, there are 3 churches that make up the Patriarchate of Pec.  The small Church of St. Nicholas ALONE has 253 detailed fresco photographs, as well as two virtual reality movies. 

Our Kosovo Monasteries have to be guarded....

Monastery at PEC.  Patriarchate, 2006

God bless our Nuns who guard our Monasteries.

Inside courtyard at the Monastery at Pec.

Troops who guard the Pec Monastery.

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 Monk calling all to Vespers at Decani Monastery

Decani Monastery Complex

Troops guarding Decani Monastery

New friends we met nearby!

"Djudjevi Stupovi" above Novi Pazar.  They're trying to raise funds to REBUILD the two  twin towers.  Perhaps you've seen some of the YouTUBE videos to raise money for the Towers.

Shown here is the model of the church the way it USED to be with the TOWERS, and daj Boze, will be once again. Click photo to enlarge.

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Happy 800th Anniversary to  Monastery ZICA! 1208-2008