MONASTERY POKAJNICA – HIDDEN SECRET ABOUT THE MURDER OF LEADER KARAĐORĐE

When he raised the First Serbian Uprising in the village of Radovanjski Lug, back in 1804, in order to fight against the Turkish government, the Serbian leader Karadjordje Petrovic certainly had no idea that 13 years later his life would end near that place.

The grateful Serbian people built a small church in that village, near Velika Plana, in memory of the Serbian leader. There is a belief that this is where the place where the decapitated body of the Serbian leader was buried is located.

And only a few kilometers away from that church in Radovanjski lug, there is one, even more famous.

Repentance for murder

Although it has not been officially proven, there are data that Karadjordje’s murder was directly ordered by Prince Milos Obrenovic. Nikola Novaković is mentioned as the perpetrator of the murder of the Serbian leader. He received the order to do that from Vujica Vulićević, who was a prominent participant in the First Serbian Uprising. He was also the godfather of the Serbian leader.

Along with Karadjordje, Novakovic also killed Naum Kanar, the leader’s clerk. In order for Prince Milos to prove that the leader of the First Serbian Uprising was indeed killed, Porti had to have the leader’s head taken away. That is why Novakovic cut off his head, but he did not stop there. They say that he even took off his suit, with all the medals, which were previously given to him by the Russian Tsar Alexander I. On that occasion, he also took the saddlebags of the famous Serbian military leader, in which there were about 4,000 ducats at that time. Then he handed over all those things to the one from whom he received the next one to commit this murder, Karadjordje’s godfather, Vujica Vulicevic.

But what many may not know is that Vujica bitterly repented after that act. You can even find information somewhere that he “went crazy”. He sat all night near the place where his godfather was killed, on his orders. And the next day he realized that he could only ease his soul a little, if he expressed his repentance in a certain way.

Church dedicated to the Holy Father Nikolaj Miriklijski

Although it was also called the Church of the Great Plains, because of its location, today it is, popularly speaking, the monastery of Repentance. On the so-called throne icon, on which Saint George is represented, it is clearly stated that the monastery was built by Lord Vujica in memory of 1818.

And the story says that, after a sleepless night, Vujica decided to build a church. He received permission from Prince Miloš to use the ducats that were in Karadjordje’s saddlebag, and it is assumed that both Prince and Princess Ljubica added as much money as was needed to build the church.

Formerly male, and since 1992 female, the monastery of Repentance is dedicated to the Transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas of Myrikli, which is the glory of our people known as Summer St. Nicholas.

It is interesting to mention that the blessed Father Tadej was the elder of this monastery in a certain period.

Since 1979, the Pokajnica Monastery has been on the list of protected cultural assets of exceptional importance to the Republic of Serbia.