Духовни живот и црквена умjетност Срба у Доњем Будачком на Кордуну
Religious life and ecclesiastical art of Serbs in Donji Budački in Kordun

Summary/Abstract: The construction of a Serbian Orthodox church in this place is related to the moving of Serbs into the area of Kordun, with the duty to defend the Austrian empire from the incursion of Turks. In Gornji and Donji Budački the first families arrived in 1685, and in 1701 in the area of Budački there were as many as around 1500 Serbs of Orthodox faith. It is common knowledge that Orthodox Christians start building churches immediately upon arrival in some new area, so it can be assumed that the church was built in the late 17th or early 18th century. According to one archive document dating from 1923, whose purpose was to give a description of the parish, the first church dedicated to Saint Michael and Gabriel had been made of wood and built in 1702. As that church had in time become dilapidated, a new one was erected in 1773. When in 1777, after the abolition of Kostajnica episcopate, the Holy Synod of the Metropolitanate of Karlovci divided the Eparchy of Karlovac into counties and protopresbyter parishes, Donji Budački became the seat of the protopresbyter Budaštanska parish that was later moved to Karlovac and called the Regency of Karlovac, which speaks volumes about the importance of this church. Little is known about the appearance of these sacral buildings, library and artistically craft ed artefacts that belonged to them. Everything that belonged to this church, all the instruments of divine service were destroyed in World War II along with the church itself, when it was set to fire and destroyed by the Ustashi in 1942. With the great efforts required under the regime of that time, the rebuilding took place as late as between 1961 and 1963, when the incomplete church was consecrated by bishop Simeon. Since then, the church has been dedicated to Saint apostles Peter and Paul. In the last war the church and parochial residence were burgled and devastated, but the church was one of the rare ones that still held divine service. Following the return of a small number of people and clergy in the late 1990’s, the renewal commenced. Upon declaring the former parish church to be a monastery on 23rd July, 2007, the reconstruction intensified and works on the monastery complex were put in operation. Apart from the reconstruction of existing objects and the building of the parochial residence, in 2010 a church was built within the complex that was dedicated to the Icon of the Holy Virgin Mary with Three Hands. Both churches in the monastery, as well as the spacious dining room, were depicted in the spirit of Serbian and Byzantine medieval painting, and new iconostases were made. In front of the church, there is a square, called Petropavlovski’s square, in whose centre a monument was placed with the bell dating from 1925, which used to hang in the church’s bell-tower. The steps leading up to the Church of St. Peter and Paul were made of stone (diela solea) of the mined church of St. Nicholas in Karlovac. With the blessing of bishop Gerasim, four bishops of Gornji Karlovac were buried within the monastery complex – Teofan Živković, Lukijan Mušicki, Evgenije Jovanović and Maksimilijan Hajdin. Nowadays, the monastery also comprises economy units such as hayloft s, warehouses, stables for the cattle, storehouses, barns, sheds, cellars, inn, as well as the residential area. The economy mainly represents plots of land that had been bought off and where, along with the existing objects, some new ones were built. They have been built and reconstructed since 2008, and their renovation and furnishing are still ongoing. People do their utmost to make the life in the monastery run smoothly and to make it self-sustaining. Moreover, a cheese-making facility is under construction, which is to serve not only for personal needs but also to bring additional income to the monastery. In order for the monastery to have a constant and uninterrupted supply of electrical power from renewable sources of energy, in 2015 another project started being implemented. Solar panels were installed, which generate power by absorbing sunlight. At present, these panels produce more power than is required to meet the needs of the monastery, so that this is another source of additional income. Finally, the monastery is a venue for holding lectures, promotions and various other cultural events organized by the monastery. In the last ten years since the foundation of this monastery, a lot has been done indeed, but most importantly a new religious centre has been created, which in these hard times represents a focal point for now sadly small number of Serbian Orthodox people from these parts.

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