Old St. Nicholas Church, Javorani, Serbian Orthodox wooden church in Javorani, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Old St. Nicholas Church in Javorani is a Serbian Orthodox wooden church with a rectangular foundation and no apse at the altar site. It is 9.46 metres long, 4.92 metres wide and 5.50 metres high, built of oak. The stone-paved floor and the gallery above the narthex are visible inside, and the interior has no ceiling.
The church was built in 1756 and is connected to the story of monk Neophyte from Gomionica Monastery, whose fate under Ottoman rule is recorded in a prayer book kept within it. This document preserves information about his execution in Banja Luka during that period.
The church keeps a prayer book recording monk Neophyte of Gomionica Monastery, hanged by the Ottoman administration in Banja Luka on a defamation charge. Icons from 1757 and 1758 bear inscriptions naming the Javorani church, and one of Saint Nicholas notes it was brought by hieromonk Nikodim Gomioničanin from Kostajnica in 1787.
The church stands on Cvišić hill in Javorani, in the municipality of Kneževo, and is reached by road from the village; the last stretch is on foot. The oak walls, floor slabs and the gallery above the narthex are original or restored timber, so entry is best arranged with the local parish. The building was reconstructed in 2003–2004 by the Republic Institute for Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage of Republika Srpska.
Local legend tells of the church moving itself from Grabež to Cvisic hill in a single night, powered by divine will. Another story speaks of a clever trick involving an oxhide, suggesting how the community may have solved an obstacle during its history.
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