
|
"St. Stephen -
Armour" - "Sveti Stefan - Pancir"
|
Cave
churches appeared in 9th century or earlier. The
paintings date mainly from 13th and 14th century, and
they are closely connected with the Christian
learning - isihasm. That was the attribute of the
overall life in Macedonia a long time ago. Here, in
all the different caves, many hermits lived and
practiced mysticism, miracles and prophecy.
Especially in the vicinity of Lake Ohrid cave
churches sprouted. That was where the isihastits
lived and worked. We
shall mention just a few of them: the recently
discovered cave church St. Nikola, near the camp
Ljubanista, about a hundred metres north of the
village Trpejca. A fresco with the image of St.
Nikola can be found on one of the rocks; in the
tourist camp Gradiste, in a rock, remains from a
monastic order can be encountered; about a hundred
metres northwards is the cave church Holy Mother -
Pestanska; close to the resort "Orce
Nikolov" is the cave church St. Stefan; about a
hundred metres westwards from this church, in a rock,
remains from a painting can be seen; the cave church
dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin, in the
rocks beneath the church St. Jovan Bogoslov - Kaneo
in Ohrid, on the beach Labino, in small cave where
water springs, remains from a painting can be found;
to the north, about two hundred metres away, in the
depths, people used to light candles from time to
time. According to the stories of the older fishermen
from Kaneo, when they went fishing they used to say
that they were going to through nets at St. Spas. In
addition, at the beginning of the beach Grasnica a
bigger cave was found with painting remains; the
church St. Erazmo is located about two kilometres
west from Ohrid; only about a hundred metres
westwards is a monk dwelling with an inscribed
crucifix in the inside; the cave church Dormition of
the Mother of God in Kalista; about a hundred metres
to the south is the cave church St. Atanasie; and
last but not least, St. Archangel Michael near the
village Radozda etc.
|