Pilgrimage to Visoki DečaniNovember 2009

We left Cetinje at 6am

Previous picture was not taken at 6:00am.

(It was dark, but not as dark as this slide either.)

Our First Stop

This cathedral in Montengro deserves its own presentation...

some other time. :-)

The cathedral served as our "park and ride" from which we

then carpooled to...

Our Second Stop

Berane Monastery

A monastery where we stopped for breakfast.

Main Church of St. George

If you have never visited a monastery; you should.

Warning: you may want to stay.

Two Panteleimons

From Berane, we drove to the border.

Cetinje is about a five hour drive from Dečani.

At the border, the Italians (NATO) were pleasant.

They discouraged pictures though.

The Italians (NATO) provided a pre- arranged military escort to the

monastery.

Dečani Monastery

The monastery is situated in an area that can be hostile towards

Christians and Orthodox in particular.

Thus, the military escort.

Inside the grounds

When I saw the church I thought, "How tall it is!"

I didn't realize that "Visoki" in Serbian means "High" or "Tall"

Visoki Dečani

Before the evening service, a novice was given the blessing to wear the mantia (aka cassock)

p.s. "Novice" in Serbian, literally means "one being tested".

Anyone recognize the new novice?

Hint: I met him in Australia.

Alexander and I …

or (grammatically speaking) “Alexander and me”

After Vigil and food (of course!) it was time for bed...

I say “of course” as monks (especially Serbian one’s) are

known for their hospitality.

Bedtime?

No, I didn't sleep with the animals.

Dečani supports itself with animals, (cheeses, eggs) a

garden, bees, and more.

The next day…

... we all celebrated the Monastery Slava (feast day).

After the service, I got to practice my Serbian.

The Church is more than 36 meters long, 24 meters wide and

29 meters high.

I spoke with people from all over the world.

Some I already knew, but never expected to see.

Each picture is a story

More info and photos at: http://www.kosovo.net/main.html

The End