Pesterna crkva Sv. Erazmo, kraj Ohrid, Republika Makedonija

In the Middle Ages the cult of St. Erasmus – the bishop and preacher of Antiochia, acquired wide proportions in many countries in the west particularly in Italy, France, even in Spain. In the countries of the Macedonian cultural sphere, concurring to the earlier results his cult spread roots only in the Ohrid area where it has been kept for a long chronological span, longer than any other saint in the Macedonian area.

The cave church St. Erazmo - 13th century,

The Macedonian Slavs celebrated him ever since the times of St. Clement and his school, excepting his formerly established cult, even since the time of the before-Slavic Ohrid, Lihnidos. A belief is related to the name of St. Erasmus, a claim that he was the first preacher of Christianity in this city where he baptised them by thousands in the ‘White Lake’.

Ohrid was the most important source of his cult in the medial and late Middle Ages. In the medieval Ohrid a cave church has been consecrated to St. Erasmus. It is positioned near the lake, it could even be said in the ‘entrails’ of the erected gabavski hill where cultural discoveries have been detected dating, even, from the ages before Christianity. A monument like this is the still enigmatic fortress with gigantic ramparts from the times of the Macedonian kings.

At about two hundred /200/ m. south-east of the monastic complex, an old Christian basilica has been discovered, dating from the 3^rd or 4^th century, likewise consecrated to St. Erasmus.

The fresco-paintings in the cave church have been preserved in three painting phases. In the oldest phase the image of St. Erasmus has been identified, originating from the 13^th century.

The greatest attention in this cave church should be granted to the portraits of St. Erasmus and the image of the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II Paleologus.

The isolation of this cave church on this coast of the Ohrid Lake, particularly the narrowness of the utilised areas and some other elements indicate that only individual hermits, or a small monastic brotherhood lived in the small rooms/shelters, (konak)/ near the cave.

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