Crna Reka Monastery

The Crna Reka Monastery (Serbian: Манастир Црна река, romanized: Manastir Crna reka) is a monastic hermitage located in the mountains of southern Central Serbia, in Ribariće, situated in the gorge of the Crna Reka (Black River). The monastery is located in the village of Ribariće and belongs to the Eparchy of Raška and Prizren of the Serbian Orthodox Church. As a whole, it represents an immovable cultural property as a Monument of Culture of Great Importance.

Despite its exceptional beauty and significance, the Crna Reka Monastery was long almost unknown outside its immediate surroundings. Only recently, with the construction of a bridge on Gazivoda Lake near Ribariće and the repair of the approach road, the Crna Reka Monastery, as a rare jewel of Serbian medieval culture, is emerging from the relative anonymity in which it has existed for a full 700 years. The monastery is active, male, and cared for by monks.

In the monastery are the relics of Saint Peter of Koriša, one of the well-known Serbian ascetics from the 13th century. There is a cave in the monastery where the church is situated; in that cave, there is a stone depression where water collects drop by drop. The water is, as...