Drive from Petrovac to Ostrog via Sozina and Ždrebaonik

Simeon Popović founded Dajbabe Monastery in 1897, dedicating its church to the Dormition of the Mother of God. Before that, he had spent six years as a monk at Ostrog. At Dajbabe, he enlarged a natural cave and adapted it for use as a church.

The main cave chamber has side passages fitted out as chapels. The irregular rock also determined the arrangement of the wall paintings. Simeon painted the interior himself, placing saints, prophets and hermits on the available surfaces. In the vaults, he painted medallions of Christ and the Mother of God.

The most prominent part of the exterior is the porch with two bell towers, added in 1908. The main part of the church inside the rock is revealed only after you pass through it. The church also holds Simeon’s relics, which were placed in a reliquary in 1996.

Construction of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ began in 1993, and it was consecrated in October 2013. Two bell towers rise beside the main entrance and hold 17 bells. Their ground floors contain separate chapels dedicated to Saint Simeon the Myrrh-Streaming and Saint John Vladimir. Saint Simeon’s chapel also contains the baptistery.

The cathedral is decorated with carved stone, mosaics and marble. Examining the entrance and walls reveals the carved stonework, while frescoes on a gold background dominate the interior.

The iconostasis was modelled on that of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem. A crypt lies beneath the main worship space. The cathedral remains a place of regular worship and pilgrimage.

Ždrebaonik stands in Sekulići, on the left bank of the Zeta near Danilovgrad. Its Church of Saint Michael the Archangel holds the relics of Saint Arsenius of Srem, the second Serbian archbishop and successor to Saint Sava. His reliquary stands beside the church’s southern wall and is the focus of veneration.

The present church was built in 1818. The origins of an earlier monastery are associated with traditions for which no written record of its founding survives. The bell tower was added in 1926.

Inside, a notable feature is the iconostasis made by the Đinovski brothers in the early 20th century. This altar screen is built in masonry, with vine decoration modelled in plaster. Its construction differs from iconostases decorated with woodcarving. A community of nuns has lived at Ždrebaonik since 1991.

The Ostrog caves were used by monks and hermits before Saint Basil arrived in the 17th century. As Metropolitan of Herzegovina, Basil established a monastery here and gathered a brotherhood. A surviving letter of endowment from 1666 records his gift of land to Ostrog. He spent the last years of his life at the monastery and died in 1671.

The Church of the Presentation of the Mother of God now holds his relics. The exact date of the church’s origins is unknown. Believers venerate him as a wonderworker, and accounts of healing are part of the tradition surrounding him.

The Church of the Holy Cross stands on the higher level. A surviving inscription links its construction in 1665 with the hieromonk Isaija and Saint Basil’s blessing. Its frescoes date from 1667, when the painter Radul adapted his compositions to the irregular rock.

Both cave churches survived the fire of 1923, while the outer part of the complex was rebuilt by 1926. The Ostrog grapevine grows beside the terraces, in a place that monastic tradition associates with Basil’s cell and death. From this part of the complex, the view opens over the Bjelopavlićka Plain and the Zeta Valley.

Lower Ostrog developed on a plateau beneath the cave monastery to serve the community at Upper Ostrog. A village and a village church had stood here. After Saint Basil acquired the land for the monastery, he built a granary and a house for younger monks and novices beside the church.

The Church of the Holy Trinity is a stone church with a tall bell tower adjoining its front. An arched passage runs through the ground floor of the tower. Inside, the church has a vaulted main space decorated with wall paintings, including scenes of healing that church tradition associates with Saint Basil.

On the rock above the courtyard stands the Church of Saint Stanko the New Martyr, consecrated in 2004. It holds his relics, the preserved hands that were previously kept at Upper Ostrog. Church tradition remembers him as a young shepherd killed under Ottoman rule.