This time our path of joy leads us to Skadarsko lake, to visit and feel life of the beautiful monastery called Beška.
“Oh the monastery Beška,
Lifted up by the daughter of Lazar,
In difficult times.
You went through hardships,
Your foundations nature began to crumble.
Yet they did not allow, the hands of God,
To bring down such a shrine.
But the Lord sent his servant,
to remove sorrow from it,
to restore it to its old glory,
because it is an earthly paradise.”
(Part of a poem, which is dedicated to mother Fotina and the sisterhood of the Beška monastery)
We enjoyed our sail by the boat to the monastery.
When we stepped on the island, we were amazed by its beauty, especially the beauty and grace of the sanctuaries. It looked unreal. We immediately felt the air of another life, another world. The spiritual world that awakens in the pilgrim. The grace that was fulfilling this place caught our attention and allowed us to feel what it is that we run for every day, passing by what we actually need.
After many years, the monastery has been rebuilt and is now filled with nuns, as it befits this sanctuary. We were pleasantly welcomed by the abbess of this monastery called Fotina. Every night, after the prayers, we curiously asked questions about the monastery. We couldn’t avoid the deep conversations about our religion. For all these questions, we would get the answers very patiently and filled with love by the nuns.
The mornings would begin in the church of saint Đorđe, we would start off our days fulfilled by the prayers and love of this sanctuary.
The half-ruined and damaged sanctuary has been restored by the God’s mercy and hands of his servants. The abbess showed us the pictures that gave us a clear sight of the whole process that was happening while restoring it. All with help of father Nikolaj and brotherhood of Orthodox youth lead by the elder Milo, but especially the nuns who were the ones that worked the most, investing their lives and immense effort. There’s another church located on this island which also radiates beautiful spirituality and reminds us of the time of saint Jelena Balšić who was the creator of this sanctuary.
Every day we would work a little, to truthfully feel the life of our dear nuns. We didn’t lack anything, thanks to them. We spent the days of our stay with prayers and work, and we already can’t wait to visit this place again. We hope that we can get the same sense of more and more sanctuaries in other places the same way that we did in monastery Beška.
We enjoyed the sunset from the lookout. From that place we watched other monasteries that were located in the area of Skadarsko lake and one of them is called Moračnik to whom we will dedicate one of our next stories.
Life on the island is not easy, nothing is close at hand. Every thing that is brought to this monastery travels a tough road, one bottle of water travels 5 times through different hands. Imagine the problem of transporting the building material, wood and other heavy things. But on the contrary side to all these difficulties, there comes the beauty that doesn’t allow your heart to separate from this place. Peace, birds, waves of the lake, song to God and the church bells give away the secret that sanctuaries on this Earth, are really from the heavenly world.
We asked the sisterhood for a group photo.
The monastery Beška is similar to the pearl mentioned by the holy evangelist Matthew in the Gospel:
“Yet the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant man looking for good pearls. So, when he found one precious pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.”
