Declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance
Built by the Despots of the House of Branković
This, male monastery, the most accessible in the whole region, is located 100 m from the road Irig – Novi Sad, on the southern slope of Mount Fruška.
Founder of the monastery was a Bishop Maksim (Branković). It was built since 1496 to 1502. The present church was built on the site of the previous one in 1576. Traveling to Constantinople around 1578, Stefan Gerlah recorded that Hopovo was the most important educational center of the Serbs on both sides of the Danube and Sava rivers. Impact of Athos painting can be seen from the fact that the entire compositions were copied from various monasteries of Mount Athos, such as the slaughter of Bethlehem’s children, whose original is located at the Minster of the Great Lavra monastery.
The most important sanctity of the monastery are the relics of St. Theodore Tyron. As he was a soldier Marmarit’s regiment in the Roman army he did not want to give up his Christian beliefs. Sentenced to death, he was thrown into the fire, where surrendered his soul to God as a martyr in 306.