Refurbishment of Moracnik Monastery

With the blessings of The Archbishop of Cetinje, His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral, and His Grace Bishop Irinej of Australia and New Zealand, the faithful of the Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church in Perth, inspired by the Branislav Grbovic family and led by the Very Rev. Dr. Milorad Soaktar, have initiated a fund-raising campaign to refurbish Moracnik Monastery in Montenegro.

The Monastery of Morachnik is situated on Skadar Lake's Island of the same name within the Zeta Mount Athos-Zetska Sveta Gora. The complex is located on the protruding cape on the southeastern side, laid almost on the very waterfront.

For the first time it was mentioned in 1417 in the parchment of Balsa III who was its patron. This synodic church is dedicated to Three-handed Theotokos-Trojerucica of Chilandar Monastery of Mount Athos. A stone wall encircles the monastic complex consisting of this church dedicated to the Virgin, a residential building, a refectory and a tower. In the western portion of the wall there is a gate leading to the lake and probably to the original wharf.

Judging by the remains on the second floor, the tower used to be cross-vaulted. It was built in a rather regular manner, in rows, of rough-hewn and hewn stone in mortar. The entrance might have been in the ground or first floor where there is only one narrow opening, while on the second floor there are the remains of bigger windows. A well-preserved building also constructed of stone connects the church and the tower.

The tower in Morachnik is a unique example of a preserved object of such type within a monastery complex.

After three centuries of abandonment, Monk Grigorije was the first one to arrive and assume residence in 1993, and in 1997 the refurbishment of monasteries at the Zetska Sveta Gora commenced. Today, ten of these monasteries are undergoing rebuilding endeavours.

These monasteries represent true cultural and religious pearls of our patrimonial heritage and deserve all attention and support after the decades of unspeakable negligence.
We are grateful to Protosingelos Fr. Jovan (Culibrk) the Abbot of Morachnik Monastery for providing us with details concerning this project.

The amount of $2,962 AUD has been sent to Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church for the refurbishment of the Morachnik Monastery. Previously in December 2008 a donation of $4,000 AUD was sent. This is the second time that Church of Holy Trinity in Perth is supporting this cause.

Thanks to all those who provided their generous support, including: families of Zeljko Ivaneza, Milan Saicic, Zoran Ruzic, family Koljibabic, John Perica, Milos Subotic, Svetlana Milankovic, Bojana Tasovac, Zivka Marinkovic, Mihajlo Milic, Jovan Taran, Goran Banovic and numerous anonymous donors.
Special thanks go to our brothers and sisters from Greek community - families Fermanis, Atanasies and Kakulas - for their significant contributions and continuous support to Serbian community.
Those wanting to continue supporting this project can make their contributions directly through the Serbian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity of Perth by following the instructions provided at www.churchholytrinity.com

Source: www.soc.org.au