Frescoes of Sts. Peter and Paul Monastery in Herzegovina

In rocky Herzegovina, not far from the city of Trebinje, there sits the Monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul. Church Tradition preserves testimony that the apostles Paul and Titus passed through the area and preached on their way to Dalmatia. In the mountains, not far from the monastery is St. Paul’s cave, where the apostle stayed. The churches of the monastery date back to ancient times, as evidenced by the architectural excavations and scholarly research conducted there.

The larger Basilica of the Apostle Peter was restored back in 1906 by the efforts of the hieromartyr Metropolitan Peter Zimonjic, who suffered from the Croatian Ustaše in 1941. The smaller church is dedicated to the apostle Paul. It was in a dilapidated state for centuries but was fully restored in 2007. In fact, it was built over the existing basilica, on a triconch1 plan. The remains of the ancient basilica and baptistery are carefully preserved within it. It is now an active church where the Divine Liturgy is again celebrated. In its original fresco iconography, the events of the apostolic age and the history of the Serbian Church are intertwined.

Photos and text by Hieromonk Ignaty (Shestakov), translated by Jesse Dominick