Berkasovo Monastery

First mentions and the miraculous spring

Berkasovo Monastery was founded on a spring dedicated to Saint Petka, at the site of a more modest, wooden temple from 1867, which burned down at the beginning of the 20^th century. According to the folk tradition, the original place of worship was built to preserve the memory of the miraculous discovery of this spring, which happened at the beginning of the 19^th century. Namely, a deaf-mute shepherdess was grazing sheep here, during a long, already hopeless drought, when Saint Petka, the patron saint of her home, addressed her, advising her to bring her icon to the place of the mystical encounter. The frightened girl cried and prayed all day before the image of Saint Petka which laid on the dry, cracked earth, until she noticed that the ground was becoming wet. After lifting the icon from the ground, she realized that the power of speech had returned to her in a completely inexplicable way. This beautiful legend was used by the locals to explain the warmth of the religious feeling they had towards this spring.

The Temple

In the beginning of the 20^th century, the present chapel “on the water” was built on the grounds where the aforementioned temple burned down, with an iconostasis painted by a self-taught artist from Bačka Palanka. In 1998, it was restored by the brothers Boško and Branko Mitrović and consecrated by the Bishop of Srem Vasilije (Vadić). However, by June 2008, when the first nuns arrived here, the church was again damaged by humidity, while the house located in the immediate vicinity of this holy place collapsed on its own. During the administration of the Hegumen Anisija (Crcoroska), reconstruction of the prayer house was completed. So far, a tin roof has been installed, the church walls have been frescoed, and the old, damaged iconostasis has been removed and donated to the parish in Soto. The construction of the new partition was entrusted to the woodcarvers Dragan and Stevan Šaponja from Sombor.

Dormitory

Works on the monastery’s dormitory, built in 2003 on the site of an older demolished house, have also been completed. The roofing was finished before the nuns arrived and after foundation of the women’s monastery, dedicated to the Venerable Paraskeva of Trnovo, three monastic cells were made, insulation was installed, water supply was introduced and the floor was laid. While the rough construction work was going on, the nuns lived with a believing woman in Berkasovo. Electricity was introduced on the Annunciation in 2012. The dormitory now consists of monastic cells and a large, colorful dining room, with a living room and a kitchen, and due to the increased number of nuns, since June 2013, the construction of a new residential building has been started and successfully completed. With the help of local and provincial authorities, in the same year, the well of the was dug.