The Chapel of Saint Despot Stefan Lazarević
In the monastic lodging of Manasija Monastery is the first church dedicated to Saint Despot Stefan the Tall. Nine meters long and four meters wide, the Chapel of the Holy Despot, with its sanctuary and nave, has a spacious vestibule that may be regarded as a narthex. Every wall of the chapel is adorned with frescoes in the old medieval style: these frescoes are the work of the academic painter and fresco painter Dragomir Jašović (1937–2022). In the period 1980–1981 he painted this chapel, adding it to his body of work of 27 painted churches and monasteries throughout Serbia, Greece and Western Europe, along with 52 copies of endangered frescoes from Kosovo and Metohija, which are now kept in the National Museum in Belgrade.
The Chapel of Saint Despot Stefan holds an icon of the Holy Despot, which, on the occasion of the commemoration of six centuries of Manasija Monastery, was presented to the monastery by Abbess Jelena with the sisterhood of Žiča Monastery. This precious icon, handmade and hand-painted, is adorned with gilding and filigree details. The iconostasis of walnut wood, carved and magnificent, which separates the nave from the sanctuary, is the work of the master joiner Karlo Guljaš and his son Karlo from Despotovac.
The floor of the church is paved with stone slabs, while two chandeliers cast a soft light over the frescoed walls. The space in front of the entrance to the chapel is also painted, and one of the frescoes immortalizes the Resava School, with monks diligently writing out books. Among them is Despot Stefan, absorbed in the writing of the Homily on Love.
The works on the chapel located in the Manasija monastic lodging were completed on July 15, 1981, and the solemn consecration of the chapel was performed on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, August 19/6 of the same year. The Chapel of Saint Despot Stefan was consecrated by Bishop Hrizostom of Braničevo, concelebrating with Hieromonk Atanasije Jevtić (1938– 2021), Archpriest Petar Belić (1942–2013), Protodeacon Momir Lečić (1936–2021) and priests from the surrounding places. Before underfloor heating was installed in the Church of the Holy Trinity, it was in this very chapel that the Holy Liturgy was served during the cold winter days, and so for decades the Chapel of Saint Despot Stefan gathered the faithful people.
The Manasija Chapel of Saint Despot Stefan seems to have heralded a whole wave of building churches dedicated to this pious Serbian ruler. After this chapel, throughout the Serbian lands the faithful people began to raise churches dedicated precisely to the pious Holy Despot: besides the Church of Saint Despot Stefan built in Despotovac - the small town that received its name from the Holy Despot - there are the Church of Saint Despot Stefan and Venerable Evgenija Lazarević in Koprivna near Modriča, consecrated in 2009, and the hospital Church of Saint Despot Stefan in Smederevska Palanka, consecrated in 2013; in Belosavci near Topola the Church of Saint Despot Stefan Lazarević was built from the last decade of the 20th century and its first services were sung in 2017; there are also the Church of Saint Despot Stefan Lazarević on Avala, raised in 2017, the Church of Saint Despot Stefan in Babe near Sopot, raised in 2018, the Memorial Church of Saint Stefan the Tall on Mačkov Kamen, raised in 2018, and in the last few years the Church of Saint Despot Stefan in Bukovica near Ivanjica has been built, as well as the Church of Saint Despot Stefan in Banatski Despotovac near Zrenjanin, and the Church of Saint Stefan the Despot and Venerable Evgenija - Efrosinija in the Mostar neighborhood of Ortiješ, and the log church of Saint Stefan the Despot in Leštane...