Pilgrimages

OZREN MONASTERY, IN SRPSKA, A MONUMENT OF FAITH AND PERSEVERANCE
A Mark of King Dragutin
According to a legend, it originates from the ”Northern Kingdom” of the Nemanjić dynasty, from the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century, but since then it has been demolished and rebuilt several times. It has been defended against many enemies over the centuries, visible and invisible. Today, it houses parts of the relics of Margaret of Antioch, Saint Nicholas, King Dragutin and Prince Lazar, Saint Flavio of Carthage... And the relics safeguard it. The Ozren Monastery, as immovable as the mountain after which it bears its name, has great importance for Orthodox Christians west of the Drina

Text and Photo: Ivana Stojanović Šešlak

Via the main road from Tuzla to Gračanica, we reach the town of Donja Orahovica, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and turn left. We cross the river Spreča. Soon we come across Petrovo, a place at the foot of the Ozren mountain, the former  village of Bosansko Petrovo, today a municipality in the Republic of Srpska. Passing through Petrovo, we come across an unmarked fork in the road. We pause. When we asked which way to go to the monastery, the local told us to go right and follow the road for about five kilometers, until we come across a bridge that diverges to the left. Fortunately, there is a signpost on the bridge. A noticeable stone plaque on the rock with the inscription ”Ozren, holy land of the Nemanjićs” directs us towards the monastery.
After driving a few kilometers along a narrow mountain road, we reach the monastery complex, surrounded by beautiful wooded slopes. It is dedicated to Saint Nicholas. The name of the monastery, derived from the mountain Ozren, is also mentioned in folk poetry. In a poem written by Vuk Karadžić, the Ozren church ”in the middle of the glorious Bosnia” is also mentioned.
A local woman, who regularly visits the monastery, tells us that it is a great shrine, highly respected by the people. Most people gather on the feast of Our Lady (August 28).
– Many people come – she says. – Even those who moved away come here for the holiday. In our area, they say: if you haven’t seen someone for years, come during Our Lady, you will surely meet them. For many, it is more important to come here on the feast of Our Lady than to travel to the seaside for an annual vacation.
Monk Sava welcomes us warmly in the monastery store. We also talk with Archimandrite Gavril Stevanović, the abbot of the monastery, who has been here since 2019.
– Saint Nicholas is the central holiday of this monastery. Since that holiday is celebrated in many places, few people come then – the abbot tells us. – Unlike on Saint Nicholas Day, during the holiday of Our Lady, there is a countless number of people. The police say that in two or three days about forty thousand people pass there. Before the war, up to a hundred thousand people were known to come. And when the relics of Prince Lazar were brought here, there were quite a lot of people.
The monastery of Ozren, the abbot tells us, has a special place in the hearts of the people of this region. For centuries, it was the center of spiritual life here. The abbot does not agree with the way of celebrating the holiday outside the monastery, but, he points out, it is important that the gathering and celebration of the people has been preserved until today.
– In our time, the celebration outside the monastery has taken on a fair-like quality. Tents, music, merry-go-rounds. However, through the church and national celebration, the people still gather around the monastery, many people enter the temple and pray to God, attend the liturgy. It must leave a good mark on a person.

CAMP AND OTHER APPEALS

People who know that the hand of St. Marina is in the Ozren monastery say that they can always tell exactly where it is by the smell.
– The Lord Himself calls people. The Lord did not allow this monastery to continue its existence in vain. It would have been demolished in the Second World War or in this last one. The monastery has its own mission and therefore continues to exist.
Even the communists did not succeed in suppressing the church-people assembly at the Ozren monastery, which is important both for the monastery and for the people of this region.
– In addition to the fair part of the celebration, there is another thread. Maybe once there was an expectation that the church would be marginalized and suppressed by the fair, but that did not happen – abbot Gavrilo continues. – It served as a reason for people to come to the monastery, enter the temple, and participate in religious services. If it had been a gathering of a purely spiritual and ecclesiastical nature, I believe that many traps would have been made to abolish it. This way, it was allowed. A lot of people come. The service must be held outside, since not everyone can fit into the church. Over time, the secular and spiritual way of celebration merged. We strive, for example through our Saint Sava camp, to additionally direct the celebration towards the spiritual and cultural. There are ideas that, in addition to worship services, there should also be lectures, an Orthodox film in the open air, choir performances, spiritual music and folklore. The aim is to emphasize the old spirit of celebration, our tradition and culture.
Priest Srđan Radmanović is the coordinator of the Saint Sava youth camp, which makes the Ozren monastery unique. He tells us:
– This is a project that the Diocese of Zvornik–Tuzla has been implementing since 2015. So far, six camps have been held (during the Covid-19 pandemic, we did not hold it). They were all in the monastery of Saint Nicholas. The idea came from the diocesan body in charge of the missionary activities of the church. The camp is multidisciplinary in nature. So far, the participants are children between the ages of thirteen and fifteen. It takes place during the summer holidays, in the second half of July and the first half of August. Children come from all our areas. Last year we hosted children from Croatia, Serbia, Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This year, we want it to be extended to other areas as well. In addition to the local community of the Municipality of Petrovo and government institutions, non-governmental organizations also provide support in the work of the camp. The impression is that we are achieving the goal, primarily that children from different backgrounds connect with each other, make new friends, build spiritually and develop new skills through various workshops.
Children who have been to the camp once want to come again, and the possibilities are limited. This indicates that there is a great need and that it must be taken care of.

LEGENDS, RECORDS, SUFFERING

According to a legend, the Ozren monastery was an endowment of King Dragutin Nemanjić. Passing through these regions in the second half of the 19th century, the Russian travel writer Alexander Gilferding pointed out that ”the Orthodox element has always been oppressed” here. It is a miracle that Orthodoxy managed to persevere in such conditions. The monasteries and the people themselves contributed the most to this. The people had faith, and the monasteries had perseverance. The Ozren monastery was also demolished or abandoned several times, but was also rebuilt. Gilferding also records how the monastery was created from the ruins ”through the efforts of the surrounding parish priests and peasants”.
Thus, many documents and archives were lost in the chaos and confusion. There is no precise information about the time of the first construction either. It is assumed that the present church was built in the 16th century. People believe that it was built on the foundations of an old church from the time of King Dragutin. As the ”King of Srem”, from 1284 until his death in 1316, he governed the areas of Usora and Soli, as the northeastern part of Bosnia was then called.
– Folk legend, in my opinion, is as valuable as what is written down – says abbot Gavrilo. – And who guarantees that modern history has not been altered and subsequently rewritten? Maybe some things from folk legends are even more accurate? Nobody invented those stories. Legends, the experiences of the church fathers and what is written stand side by side.
In the stone above the inner side of the monastery door, there is a carved inscription from 1587. It testifies that priest Jakov, from the tribe of Marić, installed the floor in the church. Later he became a monk and became an abbot. Known as Joachim, he led the monastery and brotherhood in difficult times for at least two decades. While he managed the monastery, the church was colorfully painted, during 1605 and 1606. It was painted by ”priest Strahinja of Budimlje”. It is known that the Ottoman authorities forbade the construction of new churches. Special and expensive permits were also required to restore the old ones.
During the First Serbian Uprising, the monastery was devastated again in Turkish retaliation and was abandoned. Almost forty years later, in 1842, permits were obtained from the Turks and monastic life was re-established here. The restoration was started by priest Marko Marjanović, together with the people and the clergy. The church was then given a new roof. The Kaludjerica fountain was built in 1849, thanks to priests Mijat and Ignat. The bell tower was added a little later, in 1879. So the temple was built little by little with the help of people and priests from the surrounding towns. In the 19th century, a monastery school worked at the monastery.

LET’S REMEMBER AND LEARN

In the First World War, the monastery was not damaged, but in the Second World War it was bombed several times. The then Ustasha authorities arrested abbot Gavrilo and hieromonk Seraphim. First, they were sent to prison in nearby Gračanica, and then they were taken to the Caprag camp. In the end, they were deported to Serbia. Hieromonk Serafim Ljubojević after the end of the Second World War managed to restore the monastery and re-establish monastic life. Even the communist post-war period did not pass without suffering. Bishop Nektarije Krulja of Zvornik–Tuzla was expelled from the monastery in 1953. Fortunately, the communist authorities abandoned their original intention to hang the bishop on a walnut tree in front of the monastery. (...)
And so, in conversation and reading, a monastery story full of suffering and exploits, perseverance and faith of the Orthodox in central and eastern Bosnia is woven before us...
– Let’s remember and learn – says abbot Gavrilo to the readers of the National Review. – Times are hard, very hard, but let’s turn to each other. We hear the most about wars, floods, earthquakes... Let’s make an effort from the core of our being, soul and body, to hear and understand each other. Today’s man needs it the most. The Lord will accept it as a sacrifice. Our relationship to our neighbors, is our relationship to God, to salvation.

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Times
– In the past, special clothes were worn when coming to church, folk songs were sung here and people socialized. It was like that before the Second World War, and a little after. People were more intimate. Then modern technology came, a great and constant connection was made possible, but people are becoming more and more alienated and distant. We do not want to abolish anything here and impose decrees, but we want to restore the values of our people and our community, our traditions and culture.

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Suffering of the monks
In the monastery of Ozren, there is a legend about the suffering of twenty monks in the 17th century, who were beheaded by the Turks.
– I heard about the legend of the red soil from older people – says abbot Gavrilo. –  The monks were beheaded in that place, that is a fact...

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Relics
The incorruptible right hand of St. Marina, popularly known as Fiery Mary, is preserved in the Ozren monastery. There are particles of the relics of King Dragutin (the founder of the monastery), Saint Lazar of Kosovo, Saint Nicholas and Saint Flavio of Carthage. The monastery is also known for the spring of healing water Kaludjerica. Since 2003, the Ozren monastery has been on the list of national monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.