LEŠOK MONASTERY

This Orthodox monastery dedicated to Saint Athanasius of Alexandria (Лешочки Манастир/Lešočki Manastir, Manastiri i Leshkës) is a symbol of Macedonian identity. The faithful come here to pay their respects at the tomb of Kiril Pejčinoviḱ (c. 1771-1845), a Bulgarian monk from Tearce canonized by the Macedonian Orthodox Church in 2022. Enjoying a beautiful setting, with the Šar Mountains in the background, the complex was founded in the ^14th century by Serbian prince and saint Lazar Hrebeljanović (1329-1389). Destroyed by the Ottomans after the Austrian incursion into Polog around 1683-1699, it was restored by Kiril Pejčinoviḱ, who was higoumène (abbot) of the monastery from 1818. A great literary and religious figure, Pejčinoviḱ is both considered the creator of the modern Bulgarian language and one of the earliest contributors to the Macedonian language. On the heights of the complex remain the ruins of the old ^14th-century Church of St. Athanasius. To the south-east of the courtyard stands the 19th-century Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Dating from the ^19th century, it is very simple in form and features frescoes from the ^14th, ^17th and ^19th centuries. Finally, the new Church of St. Athanasius, completed in 1936, is massive and of a style that is, to say the least, haphazard. Badly damaged during the 2001 civil war, it was rebuilt with European funding in 2007. Various ^{twentieth-century} buildings recall the monastery's use as an orphanage and as an annex to the Tetovo hospital specializing in the treatment of lung diseases.