Praskvica, whose original foundations date back to 1050, four summers before the split of Christianity, also has a secret that is not widely known. And an unusual path built by an even more unusual monk and still used today. And the unusual true story of Yegor Stroganov. The story tells that at the end of the 18th century, an unusual traveler got off a foreign ship at the Budva pier. A one-armed, dark-haired and extremely serious traveler with a sharp gaze and a spiky mustache headed towards the Praskvica monastery.
Apparently, he had heard of this temple before, and this pleased him very much. He told the temporary abbot Sava Ljubiši that he was Russian, that he had come via Budva, and that he wanted to stay there, work in the monastery and only peace. “I took a vow,” he told the old abbot, “to remain silent for the rest of my life.”
Abbot Sava, who spoke Russian fluently and served as a priest at the court of Empress Catherine II for seven and a half years, was not confused. He “read” that the stranger was of noble origin, that he had accumulated great troubles. The Russian ordered to allocate a special room (room) to the stranger and to respect the vow of silence. The task that the hermit set for himself was immediately accepted, and he decided to connect the sea to the village of Čelobrda, the most beautiful viewpoint on the southern coast
Every morning he went to work with a piece of bread and a gourd. He cleared, broke and built among the forest and the angry stones. In one hand he had the hammer of Constantinople and an iron will. Behind him was a beautiful stone-stepped path. He rested in his room only on Sundays and religious holidays.
On the eve of summer, while he was clearing and laying an unusual Russian path, a young monk visited the monastery. The bald, smiling monk immediately accepted the offer to stand behind the choir. The previously unheard songs amazed the brothers, and the old abbot was also delighted.
In the Kiev Lavra, the slender boy, who was given the monastic name Elisej after his hair was cut, was considered the firstborn. That evening, a one-armed Russian joined him in the conversation in the monastery dining room.
A beautiful face, fluent in Russian, and a bright forehead caused wrinkles on his face. On the other hand, when he saw the old man’s face, the young monk’s eyes lit up, and few people noticed this. The young man looked at the old man who had long since emerged from the small entrance to his cell, even after a few days.
It lasted exactly four years. Elisha learned Serbian, became more and more popular, and wanted to be ordained a hieromonk by the abbot, the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral in Cetinje. The latter stubbornly refused, saying that he had not yet prayed for the atonement of sins that no one knew about. One day Elisha suddenly shaved in bed. He began to dry up, the herbs that the priests and monks brought did not work. When he asked the monks to light a candle and bring old Yegor to his cell, he had already turned yellow as a candle. And he told them to leave him alone.
When the old builder sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at Elisha’s tired face, full of tears, he was startled. He recognized the look. Then Eliseus took off his black monk’s hat with his tired hand, his brown hair was loose under it. And a large mole appeared on his left temple. Then Yegor Stroganov cried and squeezed the life-giving monk with one hand. In fact, it was his daughter Ekaterina. At noon, the young monk took his last breath. The monks had been running away for a long time when they discovered a beautiful girl in his image. She was buried the same day, and the Praskvica monks swore to keep the secret.
Yegor continued to build his way without speaking. For another year or two, he cleared the land and built lower walls. In 1908, after ten years of work, an extraordinary Russian was laying the last slab on the top of the Čelobrda hill. Then he lay down in the room and never came out again. One morning they found him dead. He was buried right next to the foundations of the St. Nicholas church.
Yegor Stroganov did not take the great secret to the grave. Tired, with a premonition of the end, he confessed to the monk who was looking after Elisha, that is, to Ekaterina. As he said, he was a high-ranking officer of the Russian Empire; he was happy with his service and especially with his beautiful and intelligent daughter Ekaterina. But as often happens, luck gave way to misfortune.
At the officers’ ball, Ekaterina looked at the handsome captain. Ekaterina and the captain’s love, which she looked at differently, flared up. She loved and wanted adventure. This hurt her very much, but Father Yegor no less.
She challenged her son-in-law to a duel without warning. The captain fired first and severely wounded Stroganov in the arm and groin. But Yegor’s right hand did not waver: he hit the captain right in the heart. The man, who had been treated for a long time, had his left hand cut off.
After leaving the hospital, he faced a new problem: his daughter was not at home. For seven years he looked for her from monastery to monastery. It was no use. Then in St. Petersburg he boarded a ship that would take him to Budva…
The monastery contains priceless spiritual treasures: the golden cross of Emperor Dušan brought for safekeeping from Visoki Dečani, the chalice of Russian Emperor Paul, the deed of donation of Russian Empress Catherine, the 1600 manuscript Bible by Gavrilo Cetinjec, a gift from Bishop Danilo, the Balšin “hundred judges” stone, where the Paštrović tribal council was held, priceless frescoes and icons, and about 5,000 books.
Praskvica monastery is located on the hill above Milocer and not far from the famous St. Stephen. According to tradition, it was founded in 1050, but the first reliable data about it dates back to 1307, when the Serbian king Milutin visited Kotor. The monastery got its name from a nearby spring that smelled of peaches and which the people of this region called “praske”. The earliest written record mentioning the Praskvica monastery dates back to 1413 and relates to donations to the monastery by Balsa III, ruler of Zeta. The main monastery church of St. Nicholas dates back to the 15th century, evidence of which we have in this scroll. In the 19th century, a larger building was built on its ruins, with remains of frescoes from the old church. The second monastery building is located on a hill and is dedicated to St. Trinity and dates from the 17th century. Its greatest artistic values are the fresco painting by the zoographic painter Radul and the gilded iconostasis by Dimitrije Dasjak from the 17th century. The monastery also includes bedrooms and a former school where Pastrovici monks taught children to read and write. The church was significantly damaged in the earthquake of 1979, but it was restored and many relics, icons, old manuscripts and other documents are kept in it. Also in this monastery you can find the silver-bound manuscript Bible, which, according to legend, Bishop Danilo gave to the Pastrovici people. Another thing that may be interesting for visitors is the large stone table called “On the Shore”, where the Great Pastrovici court held its sessions.