By: Sonja Perić, senior curator
The holy church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Ivkovački Prnjavor, on the day of its feast, the September 21 in 2024, was bathed in light, joy and love of the faithful who gathered for the Holy Liturgy on occasion for the consecration of the newly renovated church.
His Eminence Jovan, Archbishop of Kragujevac and Metropolitan of Šumadija, visited the shrine and on this glorious day performed a great consecration of the church together with the clergy and numerous faithful attendants. After the solemn procession around the church, Archbishop Jovan has enshrined the relics of the Holy Great Martyr Prince Lazar of Kosovo and of the Holy Martyrs of Surdulica in the holy altar. Afterwards, the Holy Archbishopric Liturgy was served during which Archbishop Jovan thanked God and all contributors for their efforts that this sanctuary , protected by the state as the monument of culture, was firstly researched by archaeologists and then thoroughly restored. After the Eucharistic celebration and consecration of the feast gifts, all the contributors were awarded by the Most Reverend Archbishop with the Archbishop’s Grammar.
The Regional Museum of the city of Jagodina was honored with the Archbishop’s award for generously contributing the restoration and protection of the church through archaeological research led by Smiljana Dodić, the archaeologist and museum councilor of the Regional Museum Jagodina, who has been warmly cherished by the parishioners, grateful to her for the successful organization of the whole research process. At the invitation and initiative of Father Miloš Todorović, the parish priest of village Loćika, Smiljana Dodić gathered her team and spent the whole autumn in the Županjevacka river gorge with supreme dedication, love for work, and affection for this holy place, fulfilling the archaeological research and contributing to the unification of the parishioners at the Monastery Ivković. The Grammar was received by Dušan Marković, acting director of the Museum, from the hands of His Eminence, the Archbishop Jovan.
In order to illustrate history of the church and provide results of the research, an exhibition about the archaeological research of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Monastery Ivković, in the village Ivkovački Prnjavor near Jagodina, was organized on this festive day in the parish house, and was authored by Smiljana Dodić. The exhibition was visited by the clergy and the Metropolitan Jovan who expressed sincere interest in all the discovered items and their context, and during the day it was also seen by the parishioners, proud to be able to pray in the seven-century-old temple, which, according to tradition, was built by Prince Lazar and bestowed to Ivko, his beekeeper.
The table of love for all the faithful was prepared by Father Miloš Todorović, the parish priest of Loćika, along with his parishioners. On this occasion the priest was promoted to the protovicar rank and although a young priest, he was honored for all the effort he put into the restoration of the church, parish house, and gathering of parishioners around this sanctuary.
The Feast of the Virgin in Ivkovački Prnjavor and the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin will always be a day of gathering filled with joy, harmony and spiritual humility, while the ties between this church, its parishioners and the Regional Museum Jagodina also will be evermore cherished.
