Srbija - nacionalna revija - broj 55 - engleski - niska rezolucija

P I L G R I M A G E S
Hieromonk
Stefan serving
Sunday liturgy in
Slanci monastery
After a long time, father Andrej says, the
brotherhood of the monastery managed
to recover their estate. With the support
of the City of Belgrade, they created an
urban plan for the reconstruction of the
monastery. The monastery redeemed
from farmers their former lands and it
now owns ten hectares of land. Today in
its estate, in addition to the Church of St.
Stefan and the dormitory, there are two
outer dining rooms that can accommodate
hundreds of people.
– When I came here, in 1992, the then
abbot of Hilandar father Mitrofan was
very active and visited Slanci regularly.
Thanks to him, redemption of the land and
restoration of the monastery began. Father
Mitrofan then passed away, and there was
that terrible fire in Hilandar, so that now
we don’t have such a big support as before.
THE VINES THAT BEARS FAITH
The discussion about Hilandar brings
back from memory the story of the golden
age of Serbian medieval state, the story of
great kings and emperors of the sacrosanct
Nemanjić dynasty. Interestingly, the abbot
says, almost nothing remained of the courts
these powerful ruler s, of everything they
had built for their glory and comfort. Only
pale and faint traces, everything was swallowed
by time. And what they built for the
glory of God is today is pride, pivot and sacred
center of our nation. From Studenica
and Žiča through the Patriarchate of Peć,
Gračanica, Banjska, Virgin Ljeviška, Visoki
Dečani, to Hilandar.
Abbot Andrej reminds us about the miraculous
vines of St. Simeon Mirotocivi,
one of the great miracles of Hilandar and
blessings given to Serbian people.
– We know, before the transfer of his
relics from Hilandar to Serbia, Saint Simeon
appeared to be one monk and said: “I
am to go to Serbia, but a vines will grow
from my grave. While it is green and fertile,
the grace of God will rest on people”.
Indeed, vines grew from the stone, which
has been bearing fruit for eight hundred
years. Every autumn, the grapes are
picked. It is not particularly cared about,
just dried and given to couples who do
not have children. There are numerous
cases of people who had children thanks
to the miraculous vines of St. Simeon
Mirotocivi. I personally witnessed that
seven or eight families who came to us
were blessed with children thanks to the
vines of St Simeon – Father Andrej speaks
with joy. – There is a well-known medieval
example when a Turk came asking
the Hilandar brotherhood asking for help,
because he had no children. When he had
a son, he returned to Hilandar and donated
large estates to the monastery. Today,
30 SRBIJA • BROJ 55 • 2016.