Pesteren hram Vovedenie na Bogorodica vo hram, Kaneo, Ohrid, Republika Makedonija

The cave church dedicated to the Holy Virgin has been located south from the main church St. John the Theologian, in a natural rocky ambience on the north slopes to the lake. It is sheltered from every side with high cliffs, with only a tiny entry between two rocks from the lake. In this relatively broad space on the south side, there are recesses for monastic life. And in the middle part to the west, there is a wall – in the direction east west, and it is linked to the rock on the west side whereas on the east there are remnants of an entrance to the temple and the monastic habitat.

The cave church Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, 14th century, Kaneo

The composition the Presentation of the Holy Virgin in the Temple has been preserved in this cave church. When she was three /3/, in one day of the year there was a solemn entrance to the Jerusalem Temple. Young girls with lit candles were walking ahead, and behind them were the parents Joachim and Anna who led the young Virgin Mary by the hand.

Their relatives and friends were around them and many foreigners who were interested in the ceremony. The great archpriest Zachary – the father of St. John the Baptist, went out at the temple’s gate to meet them, saluting the arrival of the Holy Virgin singing praising songs. The young Virgin Mary remained in the temple until she was twelve, when the time came for her to depart it and to marry as all the other girls did.

Regardless the damages on the frescos, the preserved images of the young girls, the drapes on some figures, the ornaments on the vestment of the archpriest Zachary as well as the preserved architectural decoration in the background show us that the fresco painter worked in the spirit of the classicists painting comprehension of the Paleologus style. This is why we can deduce that the cave temple Presentation of the Holy Virgin in the Temple in the locality Caneo was constructed for the needs of the monks at the end of the !4^th century.

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