Church of St. Great Martyr Jovan Vladimir (Belgrade)

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The . Church of the Holy Great Martyr Vladimir Jovan ( Serbian : Црква Светог великомученика Јована Владимира / Crkva Svetog Jovana Vladimira velikomučenika; German also: Church of the Holy John Vladimir ) is a Serbian Orthodox church in the Serbian capital Belgrade . It is located in the Voždovac district . It was built from 1994 to 1998. The church belongs to the Archeparchy of Belgrade and Karlovci of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

location

The church is located in the east of the Voždovac district, in the south-eastern center of Belgrade, at the intersection of Ignjata Joba bb and Kružni put Padina streets , east of the central cemetery. Not far from the church is the Sestre Bukumirović kindergarten .

history

Building ground

Before the church in Voždovac was built, the district's faithful had to go to the Church of St. John the Baptist go to the Central Cemetery. Due to the expansion of the Voždovac district and the building of the urban settlements Braće Jerković and later also Medaković and Medaković II , it became necessary to build a new large church in the district. In addition, due to its location and size, the church in the central cemetery was not sufficient for the residents of the newly built urban settlements.

The clergy of the Church of St. John the Baptist at the central cemetery, especially the archpriest of the church Jovan Blagojević , succeeded in realizing the idea of ​​building a new, larger church in the Voždovac district in a relatively short time.

construction

In 1994 the construction of the Church of St. Grand Martyr Jovan Vladimir, after all technical and organizational plans were completed. According to the decision of the Serbian Patriarch Pavle , the church under construction was consecrated to St. Jovan Vladimir, the Great Martyr. Jovan Vladimir was the first king of Serbia . In addition, the church should be a memorial for all Serbs who died for the path of God's righteousness, from the beginning of Serbian history until today. It is the second church in Belgrade that received a building permit after World War II . The church was consecrated on May 31, 1998 after four years of construction.

His Beatitude the Serbian Patriarch Pavle (term 1990-2009)

Address to the patriarch at the consecration of the church crosses in 1994

His Beatitude the Serbian Patriarch Pavle said during the consecration of the church crosses on December 18, 1994, among other things: “Brothers and sisters, we have blessed the Holy Cross at this point where a church will be built to honor St. Jovan Vladimir is consecrated, who perished for justice and truth ... We all stand before the truth of God and God the All-Seeing and his righteousness, and it must always be important to us how God judges our actions, and not just our actions but also our words. Our Lord Jesus Christ also said that every person has to give an account of every word. In the course of the centuries our people have not only come into the terrible danger of being or not being on this path of God, but they have kept themselves through faith to this day ... This church, which was built with God's help and his blessing and with the diligence of all of us, should be a school for us in which we learn God's teaching so that this teaching is nourishment for our souls. And we should always keep in mind that man is a body, but not just a body, but also a soul; and that the soul is the master of the house and the body is only the apartment in which the soul lives. May God help us to finish the sacred work that we began with God's blessing, for the glory and glory of St. Jovan Vladimir. The honor and thanks belong to God at all times and in all eternity. Amen."

architecture

The church was designed by the architect Ljubica Bošnjak in the Serbian-Byzantine style . In accordance with church rules, she planned a church in the original, original Serbian church style, without copying any existing church. The church was planned as a trikonchos with a large central dome and two steeples . This solution was implemented in order to still have a clear view of the central dome as the most important part of the building with the erection of the church towers. In addition, the unhindered propagation of sound in all directions was guaranteed. Also the three domes, the main dome and the two domes on the church towers, have the symbolism of the Holy Trinity . In relation to all the principles of church building, a completely new structural solution has emerged, with no pillars inside the church, with a central dome resting on pilasters . The structural and functional structure of the church and its proportions and materials ensure good room acoustics . The clergy of the church, especially the archpriest Dragan Šovljanski, see it as part of their missionary work to also hold a discussion about the religious education of adults. Since the completion of the rectory in the churchyard in 2008, also a construction project by architect Ljubica Bošnjak, various missionary activities for adults and young people have taken place.

Iconostasis and paintings

The iconostasis of the church was installed in 2002. The iconostasis was made in the joinery of Dragan Petrović from Belgrade . The construction of the iconostasis is based on the model of the iconostasis of the Church of St. Andrew in the Greek city ​​of Patras . The main icon of the iconostasis shows Christ after his resurrection and is modeled on the iconostasis from the church of the Visoki Dečani monastery in Kosovo . The Royal Door (Carska dveri) is modeled on that of the Church of St. Vasilije Ostroški in Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos . Architect Ivan Rackov designed the iconostasis . The drawings for the iconostasis and the icons on it are from Slobodan Kajtez , professor at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Belgrade. The gilding work on the iconostasis was made by Biljana Dimitrijević and Draginja Lazarević. When attaching the icons to the iconostasis, the usual arrangement was observed. In the second row of the iconostasis the holy prophets and saints of the Serbian Orthodox Church are depicted.

Particularly beautiful wall paintings , completed in 2006, place the Church of St. Jovan Vladimir among the most beautiful churches in Belgrade . The artists Aleksandar Živanović, Darko Milojević, Miloš Rončević and Petar Vujović painted the frescoes of the church from April 2003 to March 2006 in collaboration with Dr. Dragan Vojvodić , Byzantinist and history professor at the Philosophical Faculty in Belgrade. Shortly before, this team of artists had also decorated the Church of St. John the Baptist in the central cemetery with wall paintings. The series of images "Loza svetih Srba" (Meeting of all holy Serbs) and "Nebeska Srbija" (Heavenly Serbia) are on the right in the narthex of the Church of St. Jovan Vladimir. The paintings aroused particularly great interest because they depict not only important personalities from ancient Serbian history but also contemporary personalities. Among the archbishops of “Heavenly Serbia” are Justin Popović , Nikodim Milaš, Petar II. Petrović-Njegoš , Patriarch German , while the famous Serbs are: Vuk Stefanović Karadžić , Peter I of Yugoslavia , Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac , Miloš Obilić , Nikola Tesla , Karađorđe , Desanka Maksimović and Milica Rakić , a three-year-old girl and St., who was tragically killed in the Kosovo war in 1999 during a NATO bombing . New martyr of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Saint Jovan Vladimir

Icon of St. Jovan Vladimir

Saint Jovan Vladimir is an important ecclesiastical and historical figure of the Serbs . However, his worship ( Slava ) is not sufficiently developed among the Serbs, probably because his relics did not remain in Serbia . The Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Wladislaw had lured Jovan Vladimir to Prespa in the region around Lake Prespa and beheaded him there. The bones were buried in a church; soon thereafter, chronicles report miracles at the saint's tomb. Later the body of the holy king was taken to Krajina by Lake Skadar , to the Church of the Immaculate Virgin of Krajina. In 1215 the relics were brought to Durrës in Albania under mysterious circumstances . The saint was made the patron saint of Durrës. In 1381 the relics were transferred to the monastery of St. John near Elbasan in central Albania. This monastery was built by St. King Jovan Vladimir erected in honor of All Saints Mother of God . The saint's relics are still in this monastery today. This event of the transfer of the bones of St. Jovan Vladimir is mentioned in Old Slavonic, Greek and Latin inscriptions in the Church of Our Lady in the Monastery of St. John. Here the saint is first called Jovan Vladimir (John Wladimir), probably because he died in a similar way to John the Baptist. Thus the cult of St. King of Serbia and Montenegro also went to Bulgaria , Albania , Macedonia and beyond. Great veneration in Serbia was given to St. King only granted it in 1861, when an attempt was made in the Book of Srbljak to preserve old Serbian traditions. The book Srbljak was of great importance for the Serbs and especially for their church during the centuries of belonging to the Ottoman Empire . In the liturgy for St. King Jovan Vladimir is said to have been a peacemaker, protector of the Slavs and Albanians , and that he was a Slav and Serb.

swell

Coordinates: 44 ° 46 ′ 14.6 "  N , 20 ° 30 ′ 5.1"  E