| Beograde |
Belgrade on the Danube and Sava rivers is both the land and naval crossroads of Eastern and Western Europe and the Gateway to Asia Minor and the Near East and the North Sea - Atlantic - Black Sea shipping route. It is arguably one of the oldest cities on the European continent, and perhaps in the world. Its tumultuous and volatile history reaches back some 7000 years to the Paleolithic. Its stragegic and relatively defensible position has been coveted and conquered by many cultures. Thracian, Cimmerian, Scythian and Celts all flourished here. The Roman IV Flavian legion captured it in 86 A.D naming it Singidunum incorporating it into the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire. Circa 630 the Byzantines were routed (not for the first, nor the last time) by the Avars who burned down Singidunum which became known as Beligrad, White Town in Slavic probably due to its walls of white limestone. Being a choice piece of territory led to a litany of conquerors often back and forth between : Ostrogoths, Gepids, Sarmatians, Avars (Mongols), Byzantines, Sarmatians, Gepids, Goths, Bulgars, Huns, Macedonians, Slavs, Hungarians, and Franks. It was under nominal Byzantine control when the Crusaders passed through in 1096. The constant destruction by, literally hundreds, of invading armies have left few churches and other buildings in Belgrade.
fourth century celtic fortification. Its crumbling walls and some few towers still encompass much of historical Belgrade. St. Petka (Paraskeva) Chapel was built over a healing spring just outside the fortress walls and attracts many Pilgrims for the spring's medicinal properties. St. Paraskeva
D. into a wealthy, noble, and pious Christian family in the town of Epivat/Epibata, Anatolia, on the shores of the Marmara Sea. She is the patron saint of such trades as spinning, sewing, weaving, and knitting supposedly because of her habit from the age of ten of dressing the poor in her clothing often exchanging her finery for their rags. Her piety and charity brought such ire from her parents that she ran away to Byznatium. She continued on the run from her parents traveling from Jerusalem and the Jordanian desert to Belgrade, preaching and living the ascetic life the while. She returned, an old woman, to Epibata where she died and was buried in an unmarked grave. She appeared in a vision to a monk who disinterred her remains. For a time her body reposed in a no longer extant church in Belgrade on the site of the present Rustica Chapel. Many people were healed of various diseases and the blind received their sight. There are four distinct Saints named Paraskeva. The one venerated by the Serbs as St. Petka is the latest in time. Her Feast Day is October 14. St. Jovan Vladimir
Prince of Duklja. Caught up in territorial disputes between Byzantium and Bulgaria, he was imprisoned by the first Bulgarian Emperor, Tsar Samuil. This spawned a Tale worthy of the finest French Troubadors. Samuil's daughter fell in love with the dashing captive Jovan and petitioned her Father to marry Jovan. Samuil obliged her and restored Jovan to his Principality. territorial dispute between Bulgaria and Byzantium. Shortly after his death was recognized as a martyr and saint, with a cult that persists to this day. This canonizing of the deceased ruler opened the way for the later Holy Nemanjić dynasty in Serbia. St.Stefan Nemanja
Day February 26 . Born 1109, Ribnica in Doclea or Zeta Died 13 February 1199, Hilandar monastery, Mount Athos. He was a Prince of Serbia and founded several monasteries. In a political dispute with his brother Princes he was imprisoned in a cave. It is said that St. George himself freed him. His body which gave off "a sweet smell, like violets" and later his tomb reportedly seeped Holy Oil responsible for many miraculous cures. Thence his epithet "the Myrrh-flowing". St. Demetrius the Megalomartyr His forte seems to be intercessory, in the main driving away marauders and leading Christian armies to victory. He is one of the so-called "Military Martyrs." He is the Patron of Belgrade, and Thessalonika as well as of Crusaders as is St. George with whom he is often associated. They are commonly depicted in military attire with St. George on a white horse and St. Demetrius on a red or dark horse. |
| Crusade to Jerusalem Nov 3-5, 2007 |
| Hosted by the Canton of Mathom Trove |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
The church on Sveta Ružica in the Kalemegdan Fortress is one of the holiest places in Belgrade holding the body of St. Paraskeva. |
| died ca. 306. Feastday October 8 (Western) October 26 (Eastern). He later appeared in Voragine's immensely popular "Golden Legends", compilation of the lives of Saints. His cult was and still is pervasive in and around Belgrade with many churches dedicated to him - none of which still stand. His origins are obscure. Probably his parents were of Senatorial rank in Dalmatia/Croatia/Serbia. He has been depicted as a soldier and/or a Deacon. Most likely he was martyred by the Emperor Diocletian ca. 306 in Dalmatia by being repeatedly pierced by spears for spreading Christianity and refusing to abjure his faith. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |