The monastery of Sveto Preobrazenie - Holy Transformation

The monastery of Sveto Preobrazenie (Holy Transformation) is located about 25 km west of Prilep, just above the village of Zrze. It sits on a plateau from which you can see part of the Pelagonija valley. To the east and to the south of the monastery in the old days there used to be monastery cells, of which there are still some remnants. Next to the monastery that was built by the monk German in the year 1400, remnants from several churches were found: that of Sts. Constantine and Helen, St. Archangel, St. Atanas, etc. All this indicates that the monastery was a center of religious activities, where the churches had the role of monastery skits as those that were mainly on Mount Athos. An early-Christian-era basilica, dating from the 5^th or 6^th century, was also found near the monastery and a copper encolpion cross was discovered there. The Turkish outlaw leader Matlija took refuge in the monastery and conducted raids and robberies from here.