In the Sukovo Monastery, Saint Christopher is depicted with a donkey’s head, while the Virgin Mary has wings. In Visoki Dečani, the fresco of Christ’s Crucifixion features two unidentified flying objects. In the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Jesus is bald…
People have lived in the territory of today’s Serbia for dozens of centuries. Because of this, many secrets are still waiting to be discovered and explained. Some of these mysteries are hidden within the numerous monasteries scattered across the country. These are just a few of them…
The Winged Virgin Mary and the “Dog-Headed” Saint
The Monastery of the Holy Mother of God is popularly known as Sukovo. It is located below the hill Carev kamen, near Pirot. The secrets and legends surrounding its origins date back to Roman times, when this area was allegedly a sacred site. The present-day monastery conceals two extremely intriguing frescoes, unique in the Christian world.
It sounds unbelievable, but in Sukovo there is a fresco of a saint depicted with an animal’s head. It is Saint Christopher, and there are various legends explaining how he came to have, as some believe, a donkey’s head.
One legend says that he originated from a tribe of cannibals, the so-called “dog-headed people.” During a military campaign, the Roman army encountered these unusual people, captured a young man, and sent him to Rome. There, the young man became acquainted with Christianity and, upon baptism, received a new name — Christopher. Through his life and martyrdom, he earned the status of a saint. The fact that he was once a cannibal is likely the reason he was depicted in Sukovo with an animal’s head.
In the same monastery, another mystery is hidden — Sukovo is home to a Virgin Mary with wings.
The rules regarding who may be depicted with wings in Christian iconography are very strict — only archangels and Saint John the Baptist, as the one who announced the coming of Jesus Christ. This is why it is highly unusual that in this monastery there is a fresco in which the Virgin Mary also has wings.
Above the fresco, however, there is a faint inscription that may shed some light on this mystery. It reads: “May the Virgin Mary protect and guard us with her wings from all attacks of the evil one who seeks to shake us in our faith.”
This is not the only monastery in the Pirot region that hides mysteries.
The Bald Jesus
The Church of Saints Peter and Paul, near the village of Rsovci on Stara Planina, in a cave on the Kalik hill, is also known as the Cave Church. Inside it is a fresco of a bald Jesus, unique in Orthodox fresco painting.
There are no precise records of how this unusual fresco came to be, but it is assumed that it dates back to the time of Prince Lazar and that it was painted by hermits from Sinai who stayed in the cave. At that time, hermitages as places of worship were not subject to church canons regarding how saints should be depicted, so it is believed that the hermits themselves painted Jesus in the cave church and that the fresco was therefore not subject to later alterations or censorship. Still, why the guests from Sinai portrayed Jesus as bald remains a mystery.
Aliens from Visoki Dečani?!
Visoki Dečani in southern Serbia is an endowment of King Stefan Dečanski and Emperor Dušan. Construction was completed in 1335, and the frescoes around 1350. The monastery is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List along with three other Serbian Orthodox monasteries under the name “Medieval Monuments in Kosovo and Metohija.”
In the explanation provided by UNESCO in 2004, it is stated that the frescoes of Visoki Dečani are among the most valuable examples of the so-called “Palaeologan Renaissance” in Byzantine painting and a precious record of life in the 14th century. However, one of these frescoes has for decades been the subject of debate and dispute between those who believe it is definitive proof that extraterrestrials have already visited these lands and those who argue that it is “merely” artistic freedom.
Namely, there is the famous fresco of Christ’s Crucifixion with two “unidentified objects” in the left and right corners. These are two unusual tear-shaped objects with rays, inside which there are figures. The rays create an impression of movement, so those who believe in UFOs claim that these are extraterrestrial spacecraft.
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On the other hand, art historians point out that there is no mystery and that these are personifications of the sun and the moon.
According to them, the mystery originated from the Belgrade magazine Svet in 1964, which was the first to publish photographs of the “unidentified flying objects.” This somehow reached Swiss pseudo-scientist and publicist Erich von Däniken, who then spread the story worldwide.
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Source: Istorijski Zabavnik Foto: Wikimedia Creative Commons