Albanian terrorists destroy the monastery of Leshok

Albanian terrorists destroy the monastery of Leshok

The church St.Atanasius within the Leshok monastery - after the detonation

August 21, 2001 - The Albanian terrorists at 03.10 Tuesday morning set mine and completely destroyed Lesok monastery. This is one of the most important cultural monuments from Byzantine era in Republic of Macedonia and in the world, announced the Media Center of the Coordinate Crisis Management Body.

The monastery complex in Lesok village dates back from the 14th century in is above the village. Within the complex there are three churches: "St. Bogorodica," "St. Atanasie," both from the 14th century and the newly built "St. Lazarus" Church.

The Tomb Plate of Macedonian Enlightener Kiril Pejcinovic in Leshok Monastery

The oldest information about it come from the first half of the 14th Century, 1326. The church is in the shape of a triconhos. There are three layers of frescoes on the walls from different periods. The bottom layer is from the time of the construction of the church, the second one is from the 17th century and the last layer is from 1879. The monastery's conchs were built with the coming of famous Macedonian educator Kiril Pejcinovic in 1818 who was buried in the yard of the monastery.

This vandal act of demolishing the cultural inheritance of Republic of Macedonia was confirmed by the Management Crisis Center within the Macedonian Defense Ministry.

The monastery of Leshok, the nucleus of the Macedonian language , occupied, - "St ATANASIE" - TESTIMONY OF THE MACEDONIAN RENAISSANCE

The church St. Atanasius in Leshok in the year 2000

In the monastery of Leshok, Kiril Pejchinovic wrote the first poem in popular Macedonian that was signed by its author, Epithaph, which was carved on his own tombstone. Pejchinovic’s Epithaph has the same significance for the Macedonians as Samoil’s tombstone.
All of these monuments are now captives of the vicious destroyers of Macedonian heritage.

The village of Leshok, with the monastery compound “St. Atanasij” and its numerous churches around it, all of them very significant for the Macedonian cultural history, has been thoroughly cleansed since yesterday from its Macedonian population. This was done by Albanian terrorists who thus create pure Albanian territories on Macedonian ethnical and cultural ground.

Leshok and the monastery “St. Atanasij” became most famous because of the personage and deeds of the Macedonian educator Kiril Peichinovic; because it keeps some of the oldest written monuments in popular Macedonian language; and because it was there that the Macedonian educational ideas first emerged. With its tradition, written documents and popular knowledge, Leshok is carves deeply into history, going back to the legendary Legen – a town mentioned in many folk songs. According to legend, Legen was below the Leshok monastery and existed until St. Clement and King Samoil’s times. According to historical findings, it had eight churches whose ruins were mentioned in several written documents.

Leshok is also related to the Polog written tradition, with preserved manuscripts dated back to the 14th century, such as The Apostle, copied by the monk Mihail from Leshnica in the second half of the 14th century. It was there that the idea to write in popular Macedonian language originated and was realized. It was implemented in a series of Damascus texts, copied in Leshok. The best known is the Tetovo Damaskin, a manuscript in popular Macedonian language, written towards the end of the 18th century and attached to a copy of the book The Miracles of the Holy Mother of God by Joakim Krchovski.

The Macedonian educator Kiril Pejchinovic also created his works in Leshok. They were written in popular Macedonian language and sponsored by the Slavic church. In the monastery “St. Atanasij”, Kiril Pejchinovic wrote the first poem signed by its author in popular Macedonian, Epithaph, which was carved on his own tombstone.

“Pejchinovic’s Epithaph has the same significance for the Macedonians as Samoil’s tombstone.” - says Professor Dimitar Pandev.

Kiril Pejchinovic was buried in “St. Atanasij”. He left about twenty old Macedonian manuscripts, most of them copied in the monastery.

The renovation of this monastery is also related to Kiril Pejchinovic, who was its first prior. During and after Pejchinovic’s time, several important church personages worked there: Silvester, the second prior, the monks Arsenij, Arizan, Metodij, Avram, Timotej and Serafim. They copied important church works and are very important for the Macedonian education and renaissance.

All of these monuments are now captives of the vicious destroyers of Macedonian creations. Dimitar Pandev says: “Poor Kiril Pejchinovic, who was at first buried in his grave in the wrong direction, and then reburied again; he is still defiant even in his grave!”

Before: The ancient Leshok monastery has recently been restored,
and now the albanian terrorists blew it up!

Destroying the Leshok Monastery terrorists desecrated the Christian Gate

Skopje, August 21 (MIA) – The Macedonian Ministry of Interior announced that Tuesday morning at 03.10h, members of the so-called NLA destroyed with dynamite the entry gate, central cupola and iconostasis of the Lesok Monastery. This vandalistic act, carried out only few days before the great religious holiday Virgin Mary, not only harms the soul of every orthodox Macedonian but also confirms the anti-historic mentality of the Albanian terrorists who still live as savages who do not recognize anything as secret, the announcement reads. Destroying the Lesok Monastery, the terrorists desecrated the Christian gate placed in Macedonia 2000 years ago by Apostles Paul. The Ministry of Interior is doing everything in its power to discover and arrest the people responsible of this criminal act against the humanity.

Albanian terrorists' bombs blast the Leshok Monastery

The Albanian terrorists destroyed completely the church St. Athanasius, within the complex of Leshok monastery in the Tetovo village of Leshok. Destroyed are the monastery building, the valuable icons and frescoes and the wood-carved altar.
The monastery has been occupied for several months now, and it is believed that it was selected because it is one of the pillars of the Macedonian orthodox Christian religion and it is the location of the tomb of Kiril Pejcinovik, a 19th century educator and enlightener.
The site was visited by the team of the Macedonian Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments and an OSCE team of observers.
The Minister of Culture of Republic of Macedonia in her statement sharply condemned the act of violence against the culture of Macedonia and the cultural treasure of the global civilization, comparing it only to the destruction of the Buddha monuments in Afghanistan

OBSE : Condemnation about destruction of Lesok Monastery

Skopje, August 21 (MIA) - OSCE mission in the Republic of Macedonia condemned the destruction of the Lesok monastery in today's announcement. "It seems that the destruction is an intentional act of violence against a religious and cultural monument, which has a huge significance for the country and the whole region. This attack cannot be justified for any military reason and is a huge violation of the international law. This act of violence has a clear goal of undermining the implementation of the Framework Agreement. OSCE mission in Skopje expresses the hope that the investigation of the Macedonian authorities can solve this case", announcement states. Despite the graveness of the incident, OSCE mission in Skopje calls upon all responsible citizens of the country, of all religions, to restrain from acts that would bring to further escalation, in order for the implementation of the Framework Agreement to continue.

Open letter from the Macedonian Minister of Culture to the Diplomats in Macedonia , the Ministers of Culture of All European countries , UNESKO and the Council of Europe

A letter to your conscience

Dear Madam/Sir,

Today, 21.08.2001 by the mining of the Leshok monastery the conscience of Europe and the entire humanity was detonated. The Leshok monastery is important for many reasons, but it is most notable because, through the work of Kiril Pejcinovik, it brought the light of enlightening and the modern European spirit in Macedonia. It is impossible to understand how today, precisely in the region from where the europeization of Macedonia started in the 18th century, destruction happens that would agree with the Barbarians from the darkest days of the history of the world. It is impossible for a country that in the course of its history preserved monuments of cultures of numerous civilizations, i.e., a country wise to know how to respect the cultural values of everybody who lived here, to understand that, now and here, blasted is the monastery that was a symbol of the europeization in these areas - the destruction of this symbol seems to, for a moment, disconnect the European values in the very heart of the European civilization.

Allow me to feel free to remind you that in the 21st century there are no “ours” and “yours” monuments of culture. Today, they are the property of the entire human civilization and they deserve to be treated as such. We were all appalled by the destruction of the giant Buddha statues by the Talebans in Afghanistan, we condemned it jointly. Today we are facing another test, today a symbol of the European civilization is destroyed and the least Europe should do is to condemn this ghastly act. I appeal to you and your conscience to devote all your authority and influence to not tolerate future desecration of the barbaric gangs over something that they, most probably, do not belong to, judging by their methods. Be aware that the destruction of the monuments of culture does not represent an attack on a specific nation; it is an attack on the all-embracing conscience of the humankind. The guilt before the future generations will be shared, but names of individuals will be indicated. Do not let your name to be one among them.

Ganka Samoilovska Cvetanova
Minister of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia

Related info

The church of Holy Mother of God in Leshok

The exact time of construction of the church of the Holy Mother of God is unknown. The oldest information about it is from the first half of the 14th Century, 1326, but it is believed that it was built before the 14th Century.

The church is in the shape of a triconhos, with three-sided conches on the outside and a narthex that was added later. There are three layers of frescoes on the walls from different periods. The bottom layer is from the time of the construction of the church, the second one is from the 17th century and the last layer is from 1879. The last fresco-painter of the church is the painter from Galicnik, Mihail Gjurcinov, who is also the author of several icons from its iconostasis.

back to myMacedonia.net back to history