Rakovac Monastery

Rakovac Monastery belongs to the Eparchy of Srem of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Its church is dedicated to the holy healers Cosmas and Damian. It is one of the sixteen historic monasteries of Fruška Gora and has been protected since 1990 as a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance. Today it is a men’s monastery: its abbot is Hieromonk Evgenije (Pilipović) (radiossr.net, 2023, Wikipedia). From 1990 to 2020 it was a convent, led by Hegumeness Gavrila (Bedov).

The long story of the monastery, from the founding legend of Raka and the deer to the destruction of 1943 and the rebuilding after 1990, is told on the history page.

Visiting

• Opening hours: 7:00 to 19:30 in summer, 7:00 to 17:00 in winter (Novi Sad Tourist Organisation).
• Services: Divine Liturgy on weekdays and Saturdays at 7:00, on Sundays and feast days at 8:00, Vespers every day at 16:00. Details: service times.
• Dress and behaviour: this is a working monastery, not a museum. Modest dress is expected, with shoulders and knees covered. Many Orthodox monasteries also ask women to wear a skirt and a headscarf in church. Keep phones silent, and ask before photographing the monks or the church interior.
• Getting there: by car along Manastirska street from Novi Rakovac, or by GSP Novi Sad bus: line 77 and the line 78 runs marked SR (through Stari Rakovac) stop at the monastery. See the timetable.

What to look for

• The baroque bell tower, added to the west front of the church in 1735.
• The iconostasis, with icons painted by Vasa Ostojić in 1763.
• The icon of the Mother of God known as Rakovačka Odigitrija, returned to the monastery from Zagreb in 2007.
• The chapel of St Basil, which keeps particles of relics of St Petka (Paraskeva).
• The small cemetery chapel of the Protection of the Mother of God from 1751.

Badnji dan at the monastery

On the evening of 6 January, Badnji dan, the eve of Orthodox Christmas, the badnjak burns in front of the monastery: a bonfire of young oak branches, an old Serbian Christmas custom. The Serbian Orthodox Church keeps the Julian calendar, so its Christmas Eve falls on 6 January. People from the village come with their children and gather around the fire.

Cheese and milk from the monastery farm

The monks also keep the monastery’s farm: they make a matured hard cheese and a young white cheese and sell fresh milk. Cheese has to be ordered ahead by phone or Viber, and the hard cheese can take weeks. Phones, waiting times and where to collect: Cheese and milk from Rakovac Monastery. Buying here is a simple way to support the monastery.

A film location

The forests and old walls around Rakovac look good on camera, and film crews have noticed.

• “Služba” (2024). This 30-minute short film by writer-director Andrej Šepetkovski, starring Vesna Trivalić, was shot at Rakovac Monastery. The director said the monastery could convincingly play the 1960s. The film premiered in Belgrade in April 2024.
• “Robin Hood” (MGM+, 2025). The ten-part series with Sean Bean as the Sheriff of Nottingham was filmed in Serbia, and Fruška Gora National Park stood in for Sherwood Forest. Residents of Rakovac saw the crew at work at Rakovac Monastery itself, with equipment set up in the grounds and floodlights burning at night. Filming of season two was scheduled to start on 15 June 2026, again with forest scenes on Fruška Gora.
• Spring 2026. Residents saw a period film set about 50–100 m from the monastery, with a military tent, trucks from the Second World War era, a pair of horses with a cart, and camera equipment. The production has not been identified yet.