PART OF THE MONOGRAPH “GOJKO JAKOVLEVSKI” BY SLAVE KATIN
The oldest religious object in Zubovce is the church of “St. Mary” or as the people call it “Holy Blessed Mary”, “Holy Fiery Mary” and “Holy Marena”. There is no original re cord of when and who erected this Ortho dox temple. In Zubovce and beyond it is one of the few, if not the only religious temple built when Macedonia was under the rule of Turkish Empire. Namely, one can enter the church using the stairs down to the ground, which was one of the basic requirements for the construction of the church prescribed by the Ottoman authorities at the time.
There is no precise data on the exact date and year the church “St. Mary” was built. Sev eral different years are mentioned. Above the front door, on a small marble plate, it is written that the religious temple was built in 1857. Inside, on the wall, opposite to the iconostasis, is placed a marble plate on which it is inscribed that it was built in 1851 and renewed in 1990, at the initiative of the local population and with the funds of the brothers Goyko and Mane Yakovleski from Zubovce.
The church has two auxiliary facilities for summer and winter gatherings of the believers. The population celebrates the vil lage Saint’s day of St. Marena (fiery Mary) in the summer facility (ayat) by breaking a fes tive cake and choosing godfathers between the two feasts of St. Marena; the consecra tion of the Christmas tree is celebrated in the winter facility (ayat) with appetizers and warm brandy.
For Christianity in Zubovce it is impor tant to note that in the past as well as sev eral years ago there was a group wedding of eight couples from the village, performed by His Beatitude Stefan, the Head of the MOC, together with the Metropolitans Cyril and Gorazd and about twenty priests.
The church of “St. Nicholas” is also an im portant religious object for Zubovce and the inhabitants of Zubovce. It serves as a chapel and is located in the middle of the village, where the village cemetery is located. And there is no record when this church was built. It is known that the temple was built upon the initiative of the local population and it is assumed that it was built as a chap el in the early years of the nineteenth cen tury.
The church also has an auxiliary room where the memorial and requiem services for the dead are performed.
God’s Temple “St. Apostle Thomas” is an other precious Christian religious temple and third church in Zubovce that is unique in Macedonia. The project, with special at tention, was made by the famous architect Stefan Matevski from Zubovce, and the con struction work was performed by the con struction company headed by the master Milko Risteski from the village of Duv. It is the only church where the iconostasis was made by the donor himself – academician Tome Serafimovski, whose roots and last resting place are in Zubovce.
This religious temple is named after the Holy Apostle Thomas, and as a holy day, on the calendar of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, it is celebrated on October 19th. The holidays and the happiest moments in hu man life: the baptism of newborns and the marriage of young married couples are cele brated in this temple.
On July 30, 2004, the day when the in habitants of Zubovce celebrated the village Saint’s day of St. Marena, was laid the cor nerstone of God’s temple “St. Thomas the Apostle” and consecrated by His Beatitude HB Stephen. While laying the cornerstone of this temple, a book of impressions has been opened which is kept in the church of “St. Mary”.
In the Book of Impressions, the then bishop of the diocese of Polog and Kumano vo, Metropolitan Cyril, among other things, wrote: “I am proud to be an archbishop of a centuries-long blessed people. A people ca pable of creating permanent epochal works like brilliant stones around our common church and nationwide Macedonian day.”
The chapel “Holy Mother of God and the Savior Jesus Christ” is dedicated to the memory and rest of the souls of the ance stories of Goyko Yakovleski, Alias Goyko Delchev Rafkin – Goce of Macedonia. Name ly, he is the builder of this chapel dedicated to his great-grandmother Yonka (Yovanka), grandfather Petko and his parents Delche and Rafka.
This chapel confirms that donation to religious objects does not represent owner ship over God’s temple, but a prayer for the donor’s salvation and the donation of the do nor signifies homage, not possession. This chapel confirmed that the old donor’s prin ciple of donations should not be forgotten, denoting the deep respect and prayers of the devotees to the ancient Macedonian shrines and the homage of the sacred traditions of the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric.
To be continue
By SLAVE KATIN
