Novo Hopovo Monastery
First mentions and early history
Oral tradition has it that Saint Bishop Maksim also laid the foundation for the Novo Hopovo Monastery between 1496 and 1502. Namely, there is an interpretation of the Life of Saint Mother Angelina, written in the 18th century, according to which the first endowment of her son was not Staro Hopovo, as understood by Dušan K. Petrović, but a temple located on the site of today’s monastery dedicated to the Holy Father Nicholas. Recent reflections on the history of monasticism in Fruška gora place the rewriting of the “Hopovo Menology” from 1541, together with the walnut reliquary in which (in 1555) containted the incorruptible relics of Saint Theodore Tiron, in what would later become Novo Hopovo. On the other hand, M. Kosovac points out the inscription on a stone, found “during the construction of the new church”, which names the “brotherhood” and “good Christians” as its founders in 1490. This holy place was mentioned in the oldest Turkish census from 1546. Further information state that three decades later contributions were made by citizens Lacko, Marko, Joviša and Jovan Božanić from Gornji Kovin, from the island of Čepel, which were used to build the present church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra. Above the western church door, there is a hewn stone with their names engraved.
Temple and the dormitory
Judging by the stylistic characteristics of its architecture, it is obvious that this building is based on the traditions of the Moravian school, with its triconchal base and a twelve-sided dome, on a square tambour, decorated with free-standing colonnades and blind arcades. The altar apse, seen from the outside, is five-sided, and the apses of the diaconicon and prothesis were added to it, while the spacious narthex, vaulted with a semi-shaped vault, is rectangular in shape. Impressive architectural ideas about the Temple of St. Nicholas, as well as its magnificence, will later influence the builders of church buildings in Neradin, Irig, Privina Glava and Mala Remeta.
At the expense of Hieromonk Mitrofan, the altar and nave of the Novo Hopovo temple were most likely painted by artists from Mount Athos in 1608. They performed the Erminian sequence, made up of zones with the indispensable holiday cycle, depictions of Christ’s deeds and sufferings, as well as moments from the lives of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Great Martyr Ignatius, Prophet Daniel and Saint Great Martyr Demetrius.
The features a magnificent fresco of Christ Pantocrator, surrounded by angels; prophets are depicted on the tholobate and the Evangelists are on the pendentives. Walls of the Church of Saint Nicholas feature several Athos compositions faithfully copied by the unknown fresco painters, such as the Massacre of the Innocents, whose model can be seen in the Catholicon of the Lavra Monastery. The narthex of Novo Hopovo was painted in 1654, thanks to the contributions of the local family and Krunija Hadži Janjinica from Belgrade. Her painting consists of six zones with figures of archangels, holy warriors, Serbian rulers, holy archbishops, hermits and ascetics, scenes from the New Testament and depictions of the Mother of God’s akathist and apostolic sufferings.
The dormitory was renovated and even extended, between 1726 and 1758, mainly thanks to the material support of Nikifor (Stefanović), the bishop of Pakrac, but also contributions from members of the brotherhood. A two-story corridor was built, which connects the south and north sides of the complex, “so that the brothers” can “comfortably come to both the church and the refectory”. A fundamental restoration, which largely changed the church’s appearance, was carried out around 1750. Unfortunately, during the widening of the passage, which leads from the nave to the narthex, damage was caused to the entire surface of the frescoes. Between 1750 and 1760, the masters Wenzl Novak and Facel Nikolaus built a baroque bell tower with a chapel dedicated to the Holy Great Martyr Stefan next to the church, under the foundation of Sofronije (Jovanović), the bishop of Pakrac. The chapel was consecrated by Metropolitan Pavle (Nenadović).
The sumptuous, gilded iconostasis, carved by Paul and Anton Rezner in 1776, was painted by Teodor Dimitrijević Kračun. As there was a painting school in Novo Hopovo at the beginning of the 18th century, led by painters Arsenije and Nil, some experts believe that the previous iconostasis of the temple of Saint Nicholas is also their work. In 1751, Hristofor Žefarović made the engraving “The Crucifixion and Passion of Christ”, which shows the appearance of the monastery at that time, and it is assumed that the copper engraving depicting this place of worship was made by the Viennese engraver Jakob Schmutzer during the ceremonial welcome of Metropolitan Pavle in 1756.
Dositej’s fountain
During the 16th century, Novo Hopovo was counted among the most important spiritual and educational seats of the Serbian Church, which is why some historians called the entire diocese “Hopovo diocese”. It was used for two whole centuries (16th and 17th) as the second metropolitan residence. During his trip to Constantinople from 1573 to 1578, a “Protestant predictor” and emissary of Habsburg Emperor Maximilian II, that the future Belgrade priests acquired their knowledge here. In Novo Hopovo, the monk Jefrem from Sveta Gora copied the canons in 1618, and in 1630 the goldsmith Neško Prolimleković forged a “Gospel”. In 1675, at the request of teacher Jevrem Šišatovčanin, a service to Saint Stefan Štiljanović was written in this monastic community.
From July 1757 to November 2, 1760, Dositej (Dimitrije) Obradović was a member of the monastic brotherhood of Novo Hopovo. He started his schooling in the rich monastery library, under the supervision of Hegumen Teodor (Milutinović) and he was ordained a monk in the temple of St. Nicholas and later promoted to the rank of hierodeacon. Shortly after the death of Hegumen Teodor, this monk with an adventurous and curious spirit acquired “a red caftan and peasant pants and shoes” in Irig and then left his spiritual community. His stay in Novo Hopovo is also evidenced by the name of the spring in the northern quarter – “Dositej’s Fountain”.
Treasury of the Monastery
During the 19th century, the construction activity of the monastery administration subsided to a considerable extent, which cannot be said for the intellectual creativity of this monastic family. In 1847, Hegumen Irinej (Radić) wrote “A short history of the cenobitic Hopovo Monastery”, stating that sixty-four manuscript books are kept in the local library. Furthermore, from 1815 to 1819, and then from 1893 to 1899, a monastic school was founded here. Novo Hopovo, under the tutelage of Archimandrite Dr. Augustin (Bošnjaković), entered the 20th century with an estate of 1,633 cadastral acres, a library of 739 titles (among which there were fifteen handwritten books in Old Serbian (srbulje), from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries) and an impressive archive, properly maintained since 1699. Among the treasury items were also a five-bread communion tray from 1663, a throne cross from 1654, a silver gift box from 1777, silver-bound “Gospels” from 1609, 1735 and 1753, a silver candlestick, a gift from Metropolitan Jovan (Đorđević) of Karlovci from 1771 and a silver candlestick with an engraving that reads: “A gift from Baron Andrej of Šjagunj, former young mong of Hopovo, later Bishop of Arad, 1854”.
Today, after a comprehensive renovation, the famous Hopovo library which contains many old and rare books has been reassembled. This room also contains a gallery of portraits of Orthodox hierarchs, the “scarf” of Countess Jelačić and the valuable composition “Saint Stefan Štiljanović distributes grain to the starving people”, created by Arsa Teodorović for the dining hall of the Šišatovac monastery in 1821.
Sufferings and renewals
In the 17th century, monks from Novo Hopovo collected alms around Russia, and in 1641, they even received a letter from Emperor Mikhail Romanov that allowed them to return to his lands every seven or eight years. The monastery suffered major damage during the Ottoman–Habsburg wars. The Turkish army burned it down in 1688, disregarding the three protective firmans that the precautious guardians issued by the Sublime Porte. During those unfortunate years, the sanctuary was deserted several times, being abandoned by its inhabitants saving their bare lives, but also the priceless relics. Only one year after the aforementioned destruction, a long process of reconstruction began, although the monks were forced to flee the monastery again during the Migration under Patriarch Arsenije III, as well as before the defeated Ottoman army, in 1716.
After 1918, Hopovo became a “shelter for the feeding and education of war orphans” and until 1920 its material management was entrusted to Hegumen Pantelejmon (Lazić). By the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church from 1920, Hopovo became a women’s monastery and nuns who arrived in these parts after the October Revolution found peace and refuge in it. “Without any material management”, the monastery was left to the Hegumeness Ekaterina (Countess Evgenia Borisovna Yefimovska) and her sisterhood of seventy-eight nuns from Lesna. In the following years, the monastic family generally about a hundred people who sought salvation under the spiritual tutelage of archpriest Aleksej (Neljubov) and Hieromonk Nikandar after Aleksej’s death in 1937. From 1930 until the destruction of Novo Hopovo, Abbot Pajsije (Pavlović) performed the duties of the head of the monastery.
Already at the beginning of the Second World War, this Orthodox sanctuary was thoroughly looted. Unlike the fate of the inhabitants of other monasteries, the Russian nuns were not expelled, and neither were the civilians who lived in the “Orphanage”. However, one of our most important cultural monuments was burned by the partisans on Maundy Thursday in 1943. The priest of the gathered sisterhood, Hieromonk Nikandar, wrote the following testimony about past times on the last pages of “Octoechos”:
“On April 9/12 1943, at midnight on Maundy Thursday, the partisans came for the third time, looted and burned the Hopovo monastery. All the nuns moved to Irig and settled in private houses, they gave us the Dormition Church where we immediately started worshiping.
On April 30 of this year, the Germans transported us to Belgrade against our wishes, where we bear the common hardships of the war. Miraculously saved by God’s grace every day serving all the rules and the Holy Liturgy. We hear that Hopovo is completely destroyed.”
Indeed, after this suffering, the monastery almost ceased to exist. The bell tower was detonated, destroying by its fall the vault of the narthex and the dome, while the altar apse was broken through by explosives. The floors of the western and southern wings, the entire eastern dormitory, as well as the “Orphanage” were demolished. While this diabolical savagery was taking place, two nuns, Teodora and Dorotea, took advantage of the general commotion and secretly entered the open temple, where they found the unruly liberators tearing apart the priceless iconostasis of Kračun with axes. They wrapped the relics of Saint Theodore Tiron in a sheet and then took them to the economic building near the monastery pond. Later, in the greatest secrecy, Archpriest Gojko Mihajlović transported them in an oxcart to the Irig temple of Saint Theodore Tiron.
With shorter interruptions, Novo Hopovo was restored between 1949 and 1960 and from 1950 it was entrusted to the Jazak nuns. Hieromonk Samuilo (Radošević) performed the duties of the hegumen until 1968, when the administration was taken over by Hegumeness Katarina (Jovanović) and nuns Marija (Dinjaški) and Jelena (Đaković), who brought the relics of the Saints Miracle Workers and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian to the temple. From 1974, Mother Superior Marija (Dinjaški) took care of Hopov. The nuns withdrew to the Grgeteg monastery in 1984, and the hegumenship was further entrusted to Archimandrite Ilarion (Mišić). In the same year, the relics of St. Theodore Tiron were returned to their centuries-old resting place. In 2001, Archimandrite Ilarion went to the The Holy Trinity Monastery in Pljevlja, taking with him the relics of the Holy Healers Cosmas and Damian. Until 2002, this sanctuary was under the administration of Hieromonk Sava (Jovančević), when he was succeeded by his colleague from Grgeteg, Monk Isaija. Finally, in 2005, Novo Hopovo was declared a men’s monastery by the decree of the Bishop of Srem, Mr. Vasilij, and Protosyncellus Pavle (Jović) was appointed as the hegumen.
Thus, the fatal war wounds were slowly recuperating. The roof was covered with tiles, the dormitory was erected and painted by 1989, the new bell tower was built in 2000 and three years later drainage around the temple was done and all the windows in the residential buildings were replaced. In 1986, the Bishop of Srem, Mr. Vasilije, consecrated the chapel of Saint Archdeacon Stefan, built on the first floor of the south side of the residence. The monastery pond, excavated in 1759, which is located half a kilometer southeast of the monastery complex, was also restored. In preparation for the solemn commemoration of seventeen centuries since the martyrdom of Saint Theodore Tyrone and the preservation of his relics (2006), the brotherhood renovated the facade of the southern and eastern wings of the dormitory, the hallways on the ground floor and on the first floor, as well as the large refectory. A spacious parking lot and an asphalt road to the monastery were built.
The old monastic cemetery is located on the slope near the monastery and some of notable people buried in the churchyard include: Russian Hegumeness Ekaterina (Jefimovska), 1925, Hegumen Irinej (Radić), 1849, Archimandrite Sevastijan (Ilić), 1863, Ober-kapetan Adam Monasterlija, 1716, and Rista Savić from Trebinje, 1786. Unfortunately, monks were often buried under wooden crosses, which rotted over time.
Larger councils are held here on March 2, Theodore’s Saturday, on the feasts of the Transfer of the relics of the Holy Archdeacon and First Martyr Stephen, August 2, Saint Father Nicholas on December 19 and every first Saturday of Great Lent.
