Church of St. Sava (Batković)

The church of St. Sava. ( Serbian - Cyrillic Црква Светог Саве , Crkva Svetog Save ) in the Opština (municipality) Bijeljina gehörendem village Batkovic is a Serbian Orthodox parish church in the northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina .

The church, built from 1984 to 1988, is dedicated to the Serbian national saint, the first Serbian archbishop and the illuminator of the Serbian people, Saint Sava of Serbia . It is the parish church of the parishes Batković I and Batković II , in the deanery Bijeljina of the eparchy Zvornik - Tuzla of the Serbian Orthodox Church .

location

The Church of St. Sava is located in the center of the village of Batković, which has around 3,500 inhabitants. Batković is located in the flat plain of the Semberija , north of the municipality capital Bijeljina, not far from the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the neighboring country of Serbia to the east.

The municipality of Bijeljina is located in the Republika Srpska , one of two entities in the country, with a predominantly Serbian population.

The church is surrounded by the fenced churchyard, with the old rectory with dimensions 9 × 9 m from 1972, last renovated in 2013, and the new rectory Svetosavski parohijski dom , with dimensions 19 × 8 m, which has been built since 2000 and a small chapel, which was built in 2007, with the dimensions 4 × 3 m for lighting candles.

Not far from the church is the village elementary school and the soccer field. Batković also has a Serbian Orthodox cemetery where the parish branch church is located. The oldest tombs in the cemetery date from the 19th century, but dates on the tombs are difficult to read. There is also a Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Mala Obarska .

The Church of St. Mark was built from 2012 to 2015 and is dedicated to the Holy Apostle and Evangelist , Mark .

History and architecture

The parish Batković I has existed since 1840, at that time without its own church. In front of today's church there was a church of St. Sava, built between 1911 and 1912, in the same place in the village. This church was consecrated on September 21, 1912 by the then Metropolitan of the Zvornik-Tuzla Ilarion (Radonić) eparchy.

In 1983, this church had to be demolished due to its dilapidation and shortly afterwards in the next year the construction of the current church began with the same patronage .

The construction of the church began on November 10, 1984, the foundations had previously been inaugurated on June 3 of the same year by the then Eparchen of the Eparchy Vasilije (Kačavenda).

In 1988, a four-year construction period, the church was completed. And on October 9, 1988 the Church of St. Sava was inaugurated by Episkop Vasilije (Kačavenda) with the help of the then Eparchen of the Eparchy of Dalmatia , Nikolaj (Mrđa) and the Eparch of the Eparchy of Banja Luka , Jefrem (Milutinović).

The single-nave church with dimensions of 20 × 10 m was built in the Serbian-Byzantine style , with an altar - apse in the east and a small church tower in the west with a multi-tiered onion dome . The church was built from small bricks, the roof is also covered with bricks. Except for the steeple which was covered with copper plates . The church has three church bells.

The facade of the church is kept simple. Entrances to the church are on the west, south and north sides. The church was rebuilt based on the model of the old St. Sava Church.

The church is currently being painted with Byzantine frescoes by Vojkan Mitrić from the village of Janja near Šipovo . The iconostasis and icons were moved from the old St. Sava Church to the new St. Sava Church. The author of the iconostasis and icons is still unknown today.

Priest of the parish Batković I

The first priest mentioned in 1840 was Vaso Jovanović, who also founded the parish. The first parish registers have existed since 1850. After him, until 1944, Cvijetin Šović, who also had the old church of St. Sava built, was the parish priest, after Father Šović came to the parish from 1945 to 1964, Boriša Starović. In the churchyard there is the grave of Father Šović and a monument dedicated to him, which his children had built.

From 1964 to 1965 the parish did not have its own priest, but administratively, the priest of the parish of Crnjelovo , Žarko Tomić, took over the parish. Ivan Neđić was a priest from 1965 to 2003. The present church was built during the tenure of priest Neđić. And since 2004, Milijan Stankić, a priest of the Church.

In 1992 the neighboring village of Ostojićevo and the hamlets : Marići, Klis and Gajići, which belong to the village of Batković, were removed from the parish and the Batković II parish was founded, but the St. Sava Church has remained the parish church of this second Batković parish.

swell

• Article about the church on the website of the Bijeljina deanery , (Serbian, with pictures)
• Article about the parish on the website of the Zvornik-Tuzla Eparchy , (Serbian)

Coordinates: 44 ° 49 ′ 53.4 ″  N , 19 ° 12 ′ 44.5 ″  E