ON CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS

According to the lively folk tradition, which is also confirmed by Church historians

and chroniclers, the monastery Krka was built on the site where Apostle Paul preached

Christianity. A testimony to the apostolic times in Dalmatia are also the words written in the

New Testament (2 Tim 4:10). To these rugged regions, apostle Paul sent his pupil Titus who

was among the first bishops of the Church in Dalmatia in the period between the years of 55

and 61. When he left, Apostle Paul sent to Dalmatia another of his pupils, Hermas, who led

the Church until the year of 68. Bishop Hermas activities are also attested by his Service in

which he was said to be the brightest light of all Dalmatia where, like the radiant sun, he

sent out numerous rays, and by performing his holy service he brought human spirits out of

the dark and into the light.Apostle Paul used to visit Dalmatia while Hermes served here as

a bishop. In his epistle to the Romans, Apostle Paul wrote that from Jerusalem and as far

round Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ (Rom 15:19). There exist

preserved historical testimonies of historians and Church teachers, as well as a lively folk

tradition about Apostle Pauls preaching in Illyricum, that is, Dalmatia. Ancient chronicler

Matius, friar G. Vinjalic, and, later on, A. Fortis and C F Bianchi of Zadar said that, travelling

from the East to Rome, Apostle Paul took the road leading by the old Roman town of

Burnum, near todays town of Kistanje, and that he stopped by the river Titus (todays Krka)

where he preached about Christ. Later, on that place a monastery of St. Archangel Michael,

better known as the monastery Krka, was built.

This lively folk tradition and belief was written down in the XVII century by a famous

historian J. Matius who said that he knew of an old epitaph in the Slavic language engraved

in a board, which is being kept in the mentioned monastery and which attests to Apostle

Pauls visit to Dalmatia. Way back in the XVII century, friar Vinjalic of the monastery Visoko,

wrote an extremely extensive treatise on the historical events in Dalmatia saying: A

historical manuscript without the name of the author says that, in the monastery of St.

Archangel, where monks live today, the mentioned verses in the Slavic language in memory

of Apostle Pauls visit to that place are written down. Historians of the Christian church,

Fortis and Engel, also left written testimonies about Pauls preaching in Dalmatia. Writing

about the Church in Dalmatia in 1880, precozit Bianchi of Zadar said that until the ehd of

the XVIII century, in the church of monastery of St. Archangel Michael existed an ancient

picture of Apostle Paul, preaching the Gospel to the Dalmatians. This picture also had

appropriate inscriptions, and it showed the Dalmatians in their folk costumes.

Unfortunately, a large number of these testimonies have disappeared over the centuries or

have been destroyed by enemies. While Bishop Hermas was in Dalmatia, these regions were

visited by Evangelist Luke who preached Christs Gospel there. This is also confirmed by

Epiphanius in his Panarion (Medicine Box) (The History of Heresy). However, it is not

known for sure how long Apostle Luke stayed in Dalmatia.

After Titus and Hermas, Donatus is mentioned as the third bishop of the church in

Dalmatia which he led until the 107 yaer as an archbishop. Afterwards Christians

experienced a period of fierce persecutions by polytheists and hardships that did not cease

until 313, that is, until the Edict of Milan by which the emperor Constantine the Great

proclaimed freedom of the Christian religion.

Strong Christian foundations in Dalmatia were laid by the monkhood, especially with

the arrival of St. Hilarion in the mid IV century. Already in the the first half of the VI century,

at the time of Byzantine emperor Justinian (527-565), Dalmatia became part of the

Byzantine Empire. This contributed to the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith being established

in those regions and continually surviving, through enormous sufferings, until the present

day.

catacomb

Monastery Krka

Monastery Krka was founded in the 14th century and it is dedicated to St. Archangel

Michael. In 1345, this monastery was mentioned for the first time as the endowment of

princess Jelena Subic, the wife of prince of Skradin and Bribir. Under the main

monastery church, there are old Roman catacombs, which represent significant evidence

that St. Apostle Paul preached Christianity in this region.

The church of monastery Krka was built in several stages. The oldest part of the church

is priprata the entrance part.

Monastery Krka was devastated and burned during the wars between Turks and

Venetians.

After these wars, the monastery was renewed and the altar in a present-day form was

built in the eight decade of the 18th century. The iconostasis was made of composite

icons. Main icons are works of an unknown Venetio-Cretian artist; and the upper part of

the iconostasis consists of icons brought from Russia during the 17th century.

Monastery Krka has always been spiritual and educational centre of Dalmatian Diocese.

Throughout its long history, this monastery gave many archibishops and sheperds of the

Serbian Orthodox Church. In 1615, Theodore, Dabrobosnian Metropolitan, founded the

first organized theological school in the Serbian Church.

Except the main church, there is a small chapel of St, Sava, which was built by

Dalmatian Bishop Stefan Kneevi. In 1890, Bishop Stefan died and he was buried in this

chapel.

Besides that, monastery Krka has a very rich treasury and two libraries.

Also, in 2001 the reconstructed Semminary Holy Three Hierarchs, again started with its

work.

The architecture of monastery Krka

The monastery Krka complex consist of the monastery church, dinning-room,

refectories, the new building of the Seminary of the Holy Three Hieararchs and subsidiary

buildings.

Throughout its centuries-long history, the monastery church of St. Archangel Michael

has undergone considerable changes and adaptation. Essentially, the church is divided into

two parts: the eastern and western. The eastern part consists of the central part of the

church above which is a dome and a big altar space. The western part is quite narrow, it is

longer than the eastern one and aslant towards the southern side compared to the churchs

main foundation. This crooked central part is most probably the result of the architectural

adaptation of the church walls.

The north-eastern part of the church partly leans on a space in the rock on an early

Christian catacomb . The south-western part of the church partly leans on an old medieval

wall, most probably a remnant of the original church. Therefore, judging by the preserved

remnants, todays monastery church is the third one on the church site, which clearly shows

that is an extremely important worship place.

Essentially, the church of the monastery Krka shows certain similarity to cross-

shaped churches with domes that appeared in Serbian architecture at the end of the Middle

Ages.

The monastery Krka today

The renewal of spiritual life in monastery Krka, an ecclesiastical centre of the

Dalmatian Diocese began after 1995, the year in which Orthodox Serbs went through a

great tragedy and survived unremembered persecution as well as exodus from Dalmatia,

where they lived for centuries.

Gathering of Krkas brotherhood have begun in 1998, when hieromonk Gerasim

(Popovic) and monk Dositej (Jovic) returned to the monastery. In spite of very difficult

conditions, their arrival to the monastery managed to subsist and revive spiritual life in this

region.

Namely, the interior of this sanctuarly was completely devastated; its library and

archive thoroughly destroyed.

In 1999, by the election of new Bishop for Dalmatia, His Grace Fotije, the

reconstruction of the monastery was intensified and the brotherhood got their Abbot Fr.

Gerasim; who was, in 2004 elected Bishop for the Gonjokarlovacka Diocese. Afterwards,

archimandrite German (Bogojevic) took the duty of the abbot.

The great significance in the life of Krka monastery has the Seminary of the Holy

Three Hieararchs. To be more precise, in 2001 the Seminary restarted its work, meaning its

spiritual and educational mission, as in Dalmatia, so as in the whole Serbian Orthodox

Church.

Nowadays, the Seminary of the Holy Three Hieararchs attends about 50 boys, who

will, by Gods help, be new preachers of the Gospel of Christ; and together with monastery

Krka and their school, will be guardians of the Holy Orthodoxy in our

age.