Ostrog monastery is an orthodox monastery. It is situated in the mountains, at the foot of the Ostroga arch, 15 km from the town of Danilovgrad, between the towns of Podgorica and Niksic, 900 meters above the sea level. The monastery was built in the XVII century, and it is famous for storing the relics of its founder, a miracle worker Vasiliy Ostrozhskiy. Not only Orthodox Christians, but also members of other faith, make pilgrimages to the shrine; as people believe that anyone who turns to the relics of the saint in faith can get help. The monastery is famous for the stories of St Basil's healing of the sick, and this enchanting place still attracts tourists and visitors, who are never indifferent to it.
The miracles of Ostrog monastery
Many stories, legends and descriptions have been written about the miracles performed by St Basil.
For example, there is a story how, during the Second World War, a bomb fell into the monastery building. It hit a stone wall and damaged the doors of the Church of the Life-Giving and Honest Cross, but surprisingly, it did not explode. As it fell, it split into two pieces. It is believed that St Basil prevented the projectile from exploding. That shell is now kept in the Upper Monastery.
In 1957 a seriously ill woman came to the Monastery. She was literally brought in: due to her illness she could hardly move around, so her husband and brother-in-law helped her. When they arrived at the monastery, they asked for a prayer for the woman's health. After the prayer, the woman stayed by the shrine of the relics and fell asleep for two hours. After sleeping, on the way home, the patient felt much better. Over the next few days, Lena (that was her name) made a full recovery, which she wrote in a letter to the clergy of the monastery.
In 1929 Radomir from Hradec village became very ill and was unable to speak. He tried everything he could to cure himself, but nothing worked. Radomir came to Ostrog: a monk read a prayer and Radomir stayed for a short sleep after the prayer. On awakening, he felt completely healthy: nothing hurt, and Radomir regained the power of speech! Since then, Radomir came to Ostrog every year to thank St Basil.
There are much more legends of miracles happening in Ostrog. To the present day, pilgrims still come to the monastery to receive an answer to their requests.
History
The monastery became very famous in the last decades of XVII century, as the fame of St Basil’s life and work, who lived in the Ostrog monastery, stretched far beyond the borders of Montenegro.
At the beginning of XVII century St Basil moved to Niksic. He discovered a place where there had once been a church. He liked the place and established his monastery there.
The name of the monastery comes from the name of the mountain, though, sometimes it is called Podostrog. The monastery is divided into the Upper and Lower Monastery. The Upper Monastery is situated in a rock and consists of two small churches, also Upper and Lower. The Upper Church was erected in 1665 by hieromonk Isaiah. The exact date of the founding of the lower church has not been revealed yet. According to a legend, this church was erected by hermits who used to live on this place before St. Basil, but another legend says that this church was built by St. Basil. The relics of the miracle worker are kept here. To commemorate himself and his parents, a monk Mikhailo Vasoevich attached a vestibule to the church in 1776.
In 1923, the cells of Upper Monastery got burnt in a big fire, and they were rebuilt again in 1926, it was under the leadership of Archimandrite Leontiy Mitrovic. The archimandrite oversaw the building of the hotel for visiting pilgrims.
The area where the Lower Monastery is located once was called Kosjeradici. Before the monastery, there was a village and a small church in that place. Metropolitan Vasily bought the area, erected a barn and a youth house, and later, the territory became the Lower Monastery. The church you can see now was built in 1824 under the permission from Metropolitan Peter II.