Ritešić, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, April 4, 2018
Photo: www.stinnocentchurch.com “We have been building the first monastery complex in honor of St. Matrona of Moscow in the Balkans for several years already. The church building is already built—we just have to find artists who can do the icons,” said Friendship Society head Zoran Gajić.
Construction on the monastery complex of St. Matrona of Moscow has been underway since 2009. The project received the blessing of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and has been met with a positive response in broad public circles. The church is designed in the neo-Russian style with five domes.
According to Gajić, there are also plans to build a Russian ethno-village with a cultural center near the monastery. “There will be days of Russian culture, academic conferences, and also the reception of tourists and pilgrims,” he added.
In addition to the religious sites, the project includes a hospital, a recreation-hotel center with traditional dwellings of Orthodox people, and cultural and tourist centers. The streets will be named for famous Serbian and Russian figures, squares will be decorated with memorials to great people who have made a great contribution throughout history to the protection and preservation of Orthodoxy, and the Russian and Serbian people.
The main goal of the project is to promote the idea of the unity of all Orthodox peoples, and the Russian language, culture and literature, to organize pilgrimages in Orthodox countries, and later the creation of a confederation of societies of Serbian-Russian friendship in the Balkans.
A monument to Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II was opened and consecrated as part of the complex in September.
Construction on a Russian-Serbian church has also begun in the city of Banja Luka in Republika Srpska, which will be executed in the Russian ecclesiastical architectural style. According to Bishop Ephraim of Banja Luka, the foundation of the new church is planned to be consecrated on July 17, 2018, the centenary of the martyrdom of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II and his family.
