Kičevo Monastery

The Monastery of Immaculate Mother of God is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery situated near the city of Kicevo, North Macedonia. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

It was founded before the middle of the 16th century and in the 1570s a stone church was built on the site of the present church. In 1843, the monastery was burnt down by Albanians from Debar, but the church remained standing. The church was demolished by order of Hegumen Hadji Teodosius to build a new church and other monastery facilities. The icons of the present church were made between 1848 and 1880, many of them were created by the painter Ditscho Zograf.

In 1924 Dositej, later the first Archbishop of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, became a monk in this monastery. The monastery is also famous for the legend of the 'flying icon' that was moved three times to another monastery and, allegedly, miraculously returned by itself to the original place, guided by a ray of light. The feast of the monastery is Mala Bogorodica, (Birthday of Virgin Mary on September 21).

Address
Kičevo, North Macedonia

Established
16th century