On the Serbian Holy Mountain, in the Ov\u010dar-Kablar Gorge on the left bank of the Morava River, lies the great sanctuary of Jovanje Monastery. It is unknown who exactly built this monastery, but it is believed to have existed even before the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old church, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, was submerged in 1954 during the construction of the hydroelectric power plant and the Me\u0111uvr\u0161je Lake. The present-day Jovanje Monastery was built in 1957, after the lake was created, during the tenure of Bishop German. Architecturally, Jovanje Church is considered one of the most beautiful in the Serbian Holy Mountain. What makes this monastery particularly special is the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Quick to Hear,” which was brought by Archimandrite Seraphim of Russia in 1939.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is believed that this icon is a copy of the famous icon from Dochiariou Monastery on Mount Athos. It is known that Seraphim of Russia brought it to Serbia in 1923 when he himself arrived and that he never parted with it. When the old monastery was submerged, all the belongings and icons were taken to Nikolje Monastery. When Abbess Katarina returned to the new Jovanje Monastery, she took only this icon, a cow, and a sewing machine. The nuns had nothing else, but the Mother of God helped in the monastery’s reconstruction and protected them from everything,” said a longtime resident of Ov\u010dar Banja, who heard stories about Jovanje Monastery from his ancestors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n