The Church of Saint Jovan Vladimir is the third largest Orthodox Christian temple in the world, just behind the Temple of Christ the Savior in Moscow and the Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade.
The temple is located in the very heart of the city, just next to the main highway. At the temple’s current location, there stood a concrete cross up until 1979, where night services were held, and it was only in 2006 that the temple’s construction was started. After 10 years of construction, the temple was finally completed in 2016, being consecrated on the 25th september of the same year, on the 100th anniversary of Jovan Vladimir’s death.
The temple can hold services for up to 1200 people. Its interior was painted in the traditional fresco technique. Lime was used as a mortar during construction, and was painted over. The older the lime, the better, and the lime used in the temple is 40 years-old. On lime of such great quality, frescos don’t fade, with its period of maturation being up to 200 years. The temple holds 11 bells, with the heaviest of them weighing 800kg.
The cult of Saint Jovan Vladimir has lasted for almost 1000 years, and his Cross is kept safe by the Andrović brotherhood of Bar. The Cross is taken out only once a year, on the Day of the Mother of God, when it is taken to mount Rumija just outside Bar, to a place where a church once stood. Orthodox Christians, as well as Catholics and Muslims, all go to the mountain peek together, carrying rocks, as there is a belief that the church will rebuild itself if enough rocks are taken to the site. The men of the Andrović family carry the reliquiary with cross, on the only day when it sees the light of day.
The Andrović family is the keeper of the relic, which makes people call them ,,knights“ of the Honest Cross. The tradition has been carried from one generation to another, and the cult of Saint Jovan Vladimir is considered a non-physical cultural value in the country.
The origin and age of the cross can’t be traced precisely. It is known, however, that the cross was sent to Vladimir by Macedonian Emperor Vladislav as a token of promise that he wouldn’t kill him if he were to come to the then-capital of Macedonia, Prespa.
In the Andrović brotherhood, only three most senior men know where the cross is kept. In the past 9 centuries, the Andrović family let the Muslim Perocević family keep the cross, because the Turks attempted to steal it to no avail. Tradition dictates that the most senior of all male family members, as well as two others, can know where the cross is kept, so as to prevent the cross from being lost if something were to happen to the most senior of them. So far, no member of the brotherhood has attempted to steal the cross, nor did anyone reveal its hiding place. The Cross of Saint Vladimir serves as a medium of tension relief between countries nd peoples.
Author of the text:
Marijana Niković licensed tourist guide for Montenegro.
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