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RMANJ MONASTERY
This monastery is situated in Martin Brod and dedicated to St Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia. Built in 1443, the monastery was founded by Katarina Branković the daughter of George Branković and the wife of Urlih II of Celje. In manuscripts and old documents, the monastery is called: Hrman, Ayerman, Chermlja, Szermil, Hermanya and Herman.
In the 17th century the monastery was the spiritual and administrative centre and also residence of the Metropolitans of Dabro-Bosnia. The most eminent of these was Metropolitan Theodore, who was appointed Exarch of all Dalmatia. In 1615 Metropolitan Theodore founded the Three Holy Hierarchs Seminary. This monastery had an icon-painting workshop and many church books were copied there. The monasteries has a sad history of devastation and rebuilding. The Turks laid the monastery waste several times and it long lay in ruins. The monks, who fled to Austro-Hungary, founded Lepavina Monastery and restored Marcha Monastery. On Great Thursday 1944 the monastery was bombarded by the Germans and completely destroyed. All the medieval frescoes were lost in the horrific destruction. The monastery lay in ruins for thirty years. In 1974 Bishop Stephan of Dalmatia started rebuilding and his successor, Bishop Nicholas of Dabro-Bosnia, continued the work. The first monk arrived in 1994. In the last civil war the monastery was attacked by Croat forces. The restoration of the monastery has been under way since 1998; in 2003 a new monastic house was built. The brotherhood has two hieromonks: Abbot Archimandrite Seraphim (Kužić), Igumen Sergius (Karanović)
Visit the Monastery web site http://www.manastir-rmanj.com/
KLISINA MONASTERY
Klisina Monastery is situated in the village of Nistavci on the Prijedor-Sanski Most Road near Prijedor. The monastery is built in a medieval monastic enclosure, but the original monastery was destroyed during the Turkish occupation, some time after 1463. According to some, the monastery was destroyed even earlier by the Hungarians, since at the beginning of 13th century Pope Innocent III had ordered the King of Hungary to destroy all Orthodox monasteries in Bosnia and kill the monks. Popular tradition revered the memory of the destroyed monastery, which had been dedicated to the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple and called the monastic enclosure 'Klisina'. The word 'Klisina' comes from the Greek 'Ekklesia', which means 'Church'. Traditionally, every year people would come on that Feast and the Feast of the Holy Great-Martyr Marina.
The foundations of the old monastery church were found when the present church was built. The last church was burnt down in 1942 by the local Muslim Fascist Ustashe. That same night in 1942 faithful Serbs from the area around the monastery took the church bell and hid it in the River Sana to wait for better times. After the Second World War, the faithful took the bell out of river and built a wooden bell-tower.
Thanks to God, this bell still calls people to prayer. Even though it is damaged, it is a witness to the medieval monastery. In 1993, when the new church was consecrated, people decided to build a monastic house so that Klisina could become a monastery again. In July 1994 Bishop Chrysostom blessed the new foundations and the house was completed in 1997. On the 1 January 1998, Bishop Chrysostom blessed the Brotherhood of St Marina in Klisina Monastery.
On 29 October 2002, the first monk was tonsured and given the new monastic name Basil, after the Wonderworker St Basil of Ostrog. Now there are six members of St Marina’s Brotherhood, the Igumen Hieromonk Basil (Rožić), Hieromonk Benjamin (Kovačić), Hierodeacon Theophilos (Đuričić) and three novices Zoran (Višić), Darko (Ivaniš) and Branko (Bojanić).
VESELIN (VESELINYE) MONASTERY
The monastery is situated in the village of Vrba-kamen near Glamoc and is dedicated to the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist. The new monastery church was built on the foundations of the old one, which was falling into ruin and was demolished, with the blessing of Bishop Stephen (Boca) of Dalmatia. In 1970 Veselin Naerlovic and his wife Pola started building a new church and a parish house, completing them in 1975. As a founder and great benefactor, in 1984 Veselin Naerlovic expressed the wish that the parish church become a monastery. On St Thomas Sunday 1985, Veselin Monastery was opened by Bishop Stephen.
During the Civil War in Bosnia in 1995/96, and again in 1998 and 1999, the Monastery was seriously damaged by Croats. Within the monastery there is also a Founder's Chapel and a Chapel of Remembrance with the remains of the New Martyrs, killed by the Ustase (the Croat Nazis) from 1941-1945 in Koricma pit and other pits around Glamoc. This Chapel of Remembrance has not yet been completed. Before the war in Bosnia this was a Convent with six nuns. Now there is only Superior of the monastery Hieromonk, Abbot Sabbas (Lazinica). Interestingly, Veselin Monastery is just a few metres from the foundations of an early 4th century Basilica.
GLOGOVAC MONASTERY
This idyllic monastery is situated on the plateau of Janj in the village of Babici near Šipovo. The monastery is dedicated to the Holy Great-Martyr George. Like other churches and monasteries, it was destroyed just after the Turkish Occupation. Left in ruins, a new monastery church was built between 1867-1869 during the rule of Omer-Pasha Latas. Bishop Dionysius (Milijević consecrated the church in 1869.
On 14 October 1944, the Feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God, the monastery church was burned down by the Ustashe (Croat Nazis). During the 1960s Bishop Andrei (Frušić) of Banja Luka and Bishop Basil (Kostić) of Žiča consecrated and rebuilt the church.
From the outset, Glogovac Monastery has been the spiritual centre of Janj. Such was its importance that after the Second World War the Communist regime tried to close the monastery by force. However, since the revival of the Bihać and Petrovac Diocese in 1991, much has changed. Notably, since then, every All Saints Sunday there is a big fair, called 'Janski Sabor' ('The Gathering of Janj').
Today the church is in good condition and a new monastic house. Becuse of lack of monks the monastery is in form of a Klisina monastery Skete, now there is a novice Nebojša Bunijevac.
NEW TRESKAVAC MONASTERY
In the Diocese of Bihać and Petrovac monastery Treskavac is riseing from the ashes. History of this holy place had been completely forgotten and for many years remain unknow. Led by love of reading Bishop Chrysostom of Bihać and Petrovac found an article in Patriarchal Library in Belgrade "Description of the village Rastoka" the magazine of Dabar-Bosnia from 1888 by Hajji Mile Popadić the parish priest of Ključ ..
Folk tale a few hundred years old remained of the rich Pilipović family. Namely, named after the Pilip from Glamoč who with his family had converted to Islam, the family split and few of them came to live in the Ključ area and build their houses out of material of the monastery, which are called the Rastočki Odžaci, today it looks like a coastal town. This popular story come near the truth, proving that something had to be in the vicinity destroyed for the building material. In the fall 2007 Bishop decided to restore this sacred place and reported to the Holy Synod of the SOC that corresponds to finally approve the decision of His Eminnence Bishop Chrysostom of Bihać and Petrovac which established the Monastery of Holy Archangel Michael in Treskavac.
In November 2007, Bishop Chrysostom decide to appoint the monk Barnabas Damjanovic for superior of the monastery Treskavac, who was brother of the Monastery Klisina and the Secretary of the Diocese of Bihać Petrovac. By this appointment monk Barnabas became the first monk of Treskavac Monastery. In early February the concrete actions for createing the conditions for life in the monastery began. Two military containers converted for housing are brought to the manastic enclosure. On the sixth Sunday after the Feast of Holy Pascha - Sunday of the Blind Man, the first Divine Liturgy was served.
For the Feast of the Holy Archangels in 2008 created are the conditions for the first Hierarchal Liturgy for St. Archangel Michael and the heavenly powers as the patron of the brotherhood. Since then all services are on the regular basis in this brotherhood. The monastery is restoring slowly but surely. The intensity of restoration is conditioned by external factors and we hope in the Lord that the time will come when we will celebrate His name in the restored Treskavac monastery. Father Barnabas (Damjanović) is now living in the monastery and he is building is a small auxiliary building which will provide four monastic cells.
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