Moštanica Monastery
Description
Moštanica Monastery is one of the most beautiful monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the wooded foothills of Mount Kozara by the Moštanica stream, 12 km south of Kozarska Dubica. The exact date of its founding is not known, but tradition points to a history of at least five centuries. The first written mention dates from 1579. The church dedicated to Saint Archangel Michael is a monumental building: 23.4 meters long, 10.5 meters wide and 13.5 meters high, built of carefully cut stone, with a triconch plan and a single dome on free-standing pillars.
The entrance portal is unusually located on the south wall of the narthex. The church has been restored nine times. The monastery preserves the wax used to seal Christ's tomb, a stone from Christ's tomb, and a slipper from the relics of Saint Basil of Ostrog. An asphalt road leads to the monastery, and on August 19 the Feast of the Transfiguration is marked with Veče ojkače.
Relics and pilgrimage
Moštanica Monastery is home to exceptionally rare relics: the wax with which, according to tradition, Christ's tomb in Jerusalem was sealed, a stone from that same tomb, and the slipper from the relics of Saint Basil of Ostrog.
These relics make Moštanica a pilgrimage destination unlike many others in Bosnia and Herzegovina, attracting believers and visitors who come not only for the church but also for a spiritual encounter with objects that carry deep sacred meaning.
Saint Deacon Avakum and the tradition of ojkanje
At the end of the 18th century, Saint Deacon Avakum was born near Moštanica, where he also became a monk. After the Hadži-Prodan Uprising in 1814, he was captured and taken to Belgrade, where the Turks offered him freedom if he converted to Islam. Avakum refused and sang loudly on the way to the place of execution.
That act of heroic faith lives on in the monastery tradition today: every year on August 19, for the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Veče ojkače is held at the monastery — a competition in traditional ojkanje, one of the hallmarks of the Potkozarje culture. Since 2006, the patron saint day of the Kozarska Dubica municipality has been Avakum's Day — December 30.
