Poganovo Monastery


The Poganovo Monastery of St. John the Theologian is a Serbian Orthodox monastery situated in the gorges of the river Jerma, near the village Poganovo, municipality of Dimitrovgrad, Serbia.
The frescoes were made by masters from Northern Greece. Frescoes inscriptions are in Church Slavonic language.
Poganovo Monastery was protected by Serbia since 1949, and declared Monument of Culture of Great Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia.

History

Recently, two scholars have introduced Euthymia into the discussion regarding the patronage of the famous bilateral icon representing a vision of the prophets Ezekiel and Habakkuk on one side and the Mother of God with St. John the Theologian on the other. Formerly at the monastery of John the Theologian at Poganovo, Serbia, it is now kept in the National Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria. Babić and Subotić argue against earlier opinions based on a partly preserved inscription, in Greek, that the icon was a gift of the Empress Helena Dragaš, wife of Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. They suggest that the donor may be Helena/Euthymia, who as a wife of a Despot would have had, in the late period, the title of vasilissa.