Dragović Monastery

Monastery Dragović ( _sr. Манастир Драговић) is situated on a hill downstream the Cetina River not far from Vrlika, Dalmatia in the Republic of Croatia.

History

The monastery was founded by Serbian Orthodox peasants in Cetinska Krajina in 1395 close to the river of Cetina, close to Vrlika. Its protector was Moravian Prince Stefan Lazarević. Many times throughout its history it was raised and passed through hard times.

In 1480 the Ottoman Turks invaded the region, raided the monastery and expelled its residents. For full twenty years it was abandoned, until restored and renewed. Forced by the hard times of Ottoman-conquered western Balkans with lack of supplies, five monks left to Hungary and founded the Grabovać Monastery in 1555. In 1590, a year of famine, the monks abandoned Dragović and all spent the year in Grabovać. It was deserted again, for seventy years.

Bishop Nikodim Busović renewed the entire monastery in 1694. However only 4 years afterwards the Ottoman Turks made another breakthrough into the region and the monks found refuge on Venetian territory. The Venetian government secured them resting place in the village of Bribir with a good soil for a new monastery, where they built a small church. The Venetians also gifted the monks community 50 acres of land around Kistanje. In 1699, according to the Treaty of Karlowitz, the Ottomans lost most of Dalmatia, so the monks were free to return to Dragović. Bishop Nikodim died, and the church in Bribir was taken over by the Venetians for Roman Catholic services.

The grounds on which Dragović rested was highly unstable and this, together with increasing moist, convinced the monks to move the monastery to a better location. With Venetian permission, in 1777 Vikentije Stojisavljević began to build the new monastery in the Vinogradi. The monastery's reconstruction was very long and financially exhausting, until prior Jerotej Kovačević finally finished it and it was finally opened on 20 August 1867.

Recent History

In 1959, when the artificial lake for the hydroelectric power station at Peruča had been created by the Yugoslav Communists, the Dragović monastery was moved on a hill not far from the old fortress called Gradina. In the last decade of the 20th century during the Croatian war the monastery was devastated again.

Aware of the great significance this sanctuary has for the Orthodox Serbs, Bishop Fotije of Dalmatia gaves his blessing to Father Đorđe Knežević to begin the reconstruction of the monastery. On 15 September 2004 the Dragović monastery received a new brotherhood, and hieromonk Varsonufije Rašković was appointed as Father Superior. On the same day due to the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, the first Holy Hierarchal Liturgy was served in the reconstructed monastery’s church. On that occasion, a great number of pilgrims visited this holy place and in his sermon Bishop Fotije emphasized how grand importance this monastery has for Orthodox Serbs of the Cetinska Krajina region. In this way, the tradition of gathering of Orthodox Serbs in this monastery has been established again. This assembly occurs every year on Sunday before the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos.

Treasury

Monastery Dragović used to have a rich treasury, in which was kept a number of manuscripts from 16th-18th centuries, as well as very old books written in Greek, Latin, Italian, Russian, and Serbian.

There were also very rare antimens, among which was one made by Hristofor Zefarović dating from 1752. A great number of sacral objects mainly made in silver granulation and filigree from 18th century were also a part of this rich treasury.

In the monastery’s church, a part of Saint Gregory’s relics was kept - Saint Gregory was a Serbian enlighter and Archbishop who was a descendant of Saint Nemanjić family.

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