St.Mother of God in Lešok

The Poloshka valley was the center of church activities in the Tetovo area. An important monastery complex existed in Dolni Polog near the village of Leshok. It highlights the old monastery of St. Athanasius of Alexandria and the church of St. Mother of God.

The Church of the Holy Virgin is mentioned for the first time in the charter of King Stefan Dečanski in 1326. when he presented it to the church of St. Bogoroditsa Levishka in Prizren. From there, it is assumed that the Church of the Holy Virgin is older than the stated date.
The foundation of the Church of the Holy Virgin is in the form of a trikonchos. On the outside, the shells are three-sided. On the west side it is extended by a narthex that is wider than the base of the nave. It was built with chipped limestone and partially decorated with brick, which captured the traditional Byzantine masonry. The church is without cupola despite the triconchos base where the lateral conchs have the function of choir stalls.

The Church of the Holy Virgin has undergone at least three renovations. For their more precise dating, the preserved inscriptions in the church itself help us – the one from the painting from the 17th century and the inscription that comes from the restoration in 1879.

The first major reconstruction took place in the 17th century and the trikonchos without the western annex belongs to it. The inscription testifying to the restoration has been preserved thanks to the transcription made in 1850 by the monk Gedeon Jurisic. In the reconstruction of the 19th century, when the western annex was added, the inscription was largely destroyed.

From the inscription, we learn that the church was built from the ground up by Bishop Nicanor, later Metropolitan of Skopje, in the period from June 10 to September 12, 1641. A few years later, from March 1 to April 20, 1646, the church was painted by Greek painters for the sum of 95 ducats, which actually represents the second layer of painting after the one older than 1326.

The inscription, still visible today under the painting from the 19th century, started from the south side through the west wall and all the way to the shell of the north wall. In the reconstruction that took place in the 19th century, the western wall was demolished in order to obtain a larger space for the needs of the faithful. Thanks to the transcription by the monk Gedeon Jurisic in 1850, it is possible to reconstruct the destroyed inscription from the western wall of the nave.

During the extension in 1879, the new painting of the narthex and the complete repainting of the triconchos by painters Mihail Gyurchynov and Panta from Galicnik took place. Mihail and Pane come from the Gjurchinov Negriev family, where everyone in the family was engaged in painting. Their origins trace back to the Frchovski family, from which most of the most important painting families from Galicnik came. Mihail Gjurchynov is also the author of the icons for the new iconostasis, where he also left a record of his work. Of the original iconostasis from the 17th century, only the original plate has been preserved, which has been partially copied.

The 17th century painting, although copied, is largely recognizable thanks to the poor technological preparation of the 19th century painter. Namely, the painter Mihail painted directly on the painting from the 17th century without applying a new base for painting. It contributed today, in part, to being able to identify the original painting from the 17th century in the higher zones without special opening of probes. It is assumed that the painter Michael largely adhered to the original iconographic scheme that was set in the 17th century and tried to directly copy the already existing scenes.

The painting in the nave, on the south and north sides is distributed in 5 zones, while the vault is centrally oriented with waist-length figures of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ Emmanuel, the prophets and God the Father – Sabaoth (in the altar). In the five zones of the nave there is an impressive number of individual scenes: starting from the gallery of standing figures of saints and holy warriors, then a frieze of waist-length saints in medallions, scenes from the cycle of Christ’s sufferings, the Great Feasts and Christ’s miracles, and of course it is worth highlight a rare cycle of the Mother of God akathist that deserves special attention.

The cycle of the Akathist in the post-Byzantine period has been identified in a limited number in Macedonia (St. Nicholas – Slepce, Pologski Monastery, St. Archangels – Kucheviste, St. Nicholas – Toplicki Monastery, Slimnički Monastery). By presenting another such example from the church of St. Bogoroditsa-Leshok Monastery will be added, as an iconographic and at the same time artistic representation of this rare cycle in Macedonia.

With the arrival of Hieromonk Kiril Pejčinović in 1818, from Hilandar in Sveta Gora to the church of St. Mother of God, the monk’s life also revives. The famous Macedonian educator, Kiril Pejčinović, was especially engaged in collecting old books in order to establish a monastery library that served to spread literacy in the Pologsk region. Pejčinović himself appears as the author of several books with church content (Ogledalo, Slovo na šečite, Consolation to sinners) written in the vernacular, comprehensible to the population, thus contributing to the further adoption and development of the Macedonian vernacular in written form in the subsequent period .