The Monastery of St. Jovan Bigorski is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery in the western part of Macedonia, near the road that connects the towns of Debar and Gostivar.
The monastery church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. One of its most valuable treasures is the iconostasis, which was created by Petre Filipov-Garkata from the nearby village of Gari and is considered one of the most beautiful examples of wood-carved iconostases.
According to the chronicle of 1833, the monastery was built in 1020 by the clergyman John of Debar. The Ottomans destroyed the monastery in the 16th century, but it was restored in 1743 by the monk Ilarion, who also built a series of cells for monks.
Holy relics
The monastery has a large collection of holy relics, including St. John the Baptist, Clement of Ohrid, Lazarus of Bethany, St. Stephen, St. Nicholas, St. Barbara, Paraskevi of Rome, Tryphon, Respicius and Nympha, as well as part of the Holy Cross.
Another valuable monastery treasure is an icon from the year 1020 with alleged miraculous healing powers.
