Sv. Leontij, s. Vodoca, strumicko, Republika Makedonija

The monastery church dedicated to the saint Leontius is situated in the Vodoca village, near Strumica. The mountain surrounding intensifies its spiritual beauty and makes this church different in every season of the year.
	The monastery church St. Leontij, village of Vodoca

The only witnesses of its building and its duration throughout the centuries are the church itself and the few legends, that are told by the locals with a special warmness from one generation to another. So, there is one legend that speaks about the name of the village where the church is. It is connected to the time when the army of the Macedonian emperor Samoil was defeated by the Bysantian emperor Vasilij II, when 14 000 soldiers from Samuils order were blinded. Because of that Vodoca is named by the words "vadi - oci" (takes eyes out).

According to a Hylendar act, this monastery is considered a bishops residency in the Strumica region.

A part of the property of the church St.Leontius was brought to other churches or plundered during war times and forever banished in the neighbouring countries. The marble columns that contributed to the inner beauty can now be found in the church of the 15 Holy Martyrs of Tiberiopolis.

The research that were made on this sacred object confirm three phases of construction. The oldest part of the church is situated on the east side where are some remains of an altar apse that lead us to the 11th century. From here we can draw a conclusion that there was an ancient Byzantine basilica on this place in the past. After its ruining a cross shaped church was constructed on the same place where the beginnings of the middle age fresco painting can be seen. From the existing frescoes analogies can be made with the ones in the church St. Sofia, Ohrid, and at St.Vraci, Kostur, today Greece.

In the 12th century the church got its own overnight shelters when she received a shape of a large cross like church with decorated frescoes on the walls surface. and somewhere in the 14th a porch was raised .

The frescoes and the rest of the internal decoration are protected by law and today the church represents a pride among the other cultural monuments in Macedonia.

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