When I was with my family in Montenegro, on our way back, we stopped by to visit a beautiful rock-built monastery called Ostrog.
While in an amazing monastery we took the opportunity to baptize my younger sister, it was an incredible feeling, that divine energy was all around us.
About the monastery
Ostrog is a monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church located along a vertical rock, high in Ostroška greda, fifteen kilometers from Niksic. It is dedicated to St. Basil Ostroshko.
It is a favorite place of pilgrimage for Orthodox believers, but also for members of other confessions, Catholic and Muslim, because it is believed that praying before the holy relics is healing and miraculous.
The Ostrog monastery complex consists of two parts. Larger is the Lower Monastery, located around the Holy Trinity Church, built in 1824, around which most of the monastery buildings, including the konak. The upper or "White" is embedded in the rock, leading to it by a narrow three-kilometer trail. It is made up of two small cave churches, one of which is dedicated to the Holy Cross and decorated with frescoes, made in the 17th century by Serbian painter Jovan and Radul, depicting St. Sava and St. Basil of Ostrog and scenes from the life of Christ and the great holidays.
The second church is dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin and contains in one coffin the relics of Saint Basil Ostroski, who in the 17th century founded a monastery in the place of lonely expatriates in which Saint Isaiah of Onoghus was erected.
Vasily was Bishop of Zahum-Herzegovina from 1639 to 1671 and came to Ostrog with monks from the Tvrdoš Monastery in Herzegovina, which was destroyed by the Turks.
The monastery got its present appearance between 1923 and 1926, after reconstruction after a fire that destroyed most of the Ostrog monastery complex.
When the Zahumsko-Raska Diocese was created in 1878, the Ostrog Monastery was designated as its temporary center, until the bishop's residence in Nikšić was established. The monastery remained part of the Zahumsko-Raska Diocese until 1931, when this diocese was abolished and annexed to the Montenegrin-Littoral Metropolis, which is still part of it.
Ostrog Monastery is one of the most visited in the Balkans. It is said: Jerusalem is far away, women cannot reach Hilandar, and Ostrog is accessible to all.
About christening
The Holy Secret of Baptism is the first Holy Secret. Holy Mysteries are actions performed by the priest, where the invisible grace of God is obtained in a visible way. It is in the first place among the Holy Mysteries because by this act of new birth, the newly baptized becomes a member of the Church, enters the Church of Christ. Baptism is the beginning of spiritual life, spiritual birth for eternity. Baptism is done only once - just as we are physically born once, so are we born spiritually. Baptism is a condition of our salvation. Orthodox faith is not obtained through inheritance, but is entered into by baptism. He who is not baptized cannot be worthy to receive the rest of the Holy Secrets.