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Neobi~ni ~uvari Hristovog groba UNUSUAL GUARDIANS OF CHRIST’S GRAVE

Č uvari Hristovog groba u Crkvi Svetog groba u Jerusa- limu nisu neobična pojava, pogotovo kada se imaju u vidu vekovni sukobi među predstavnicima triju veli- kih monoteističkih religija, koje tradicionalno polažu pra- va na taj drevni grad. Međutim, kada se Čuvari Hristovog groba pojave mnogo stotina kilometara severnije, u selu Vrlika u Dalmaciji, a pritom ih i pisani izvori i usmeno pre- danje prepoznaju kao tradiciju dugu najmanje četiri ve- ka, onda se postavi sijaset pitanja i nedoumica. Pravoslav- ni Srbi iz Vrlike, odnosno Vrličke Krajine – potez između Dinare i Svilaje, nadomak Knina, obučeni u raskošnu ode- ću i naoružani tradicionalnim kuburama, jataganima i re- plikama drvenih pušaka, pristupaju još od 1395. godine na Veliki petak takozvanoj plaštanici – izuzetno finom koma- du najčešće svilene tkanine na kojoj je u tehnici veza sa- obražen Hrist u grobu. Najpoznatija takva plaštanica, ko- ja čini ključni deo uskršnjeg bogosluženja, svakako je ona kralja Milutina Nemanjića (1282–1321), nastala krajem 13,

odnosno početkom 14. veka, koja se danas čuva u Muze- ju Srpske pravoslavne crkve u Beogradu. Međutim, vrlički momci su svoju plaštanicu čuvali vekovima tokom Uskr- sa u Crkvi Svetog Nikole u Vrlici, a da bi nakon egzodusa Srba iz Hrvatske, 1995. godine, tu nesvakidašnju tradiciju preneli u Batajnicu kod Beograda. Istraživači ovog jedin- stvenog oblika nematerijalnog kulturnog nasleđa pretpo- stavljaju da je neki ugledni srednjovekovni hodočasnik iz Jerusalima doneo priču o tamošnjim čuvarima Hristovog groba, pa da je prihvaćena među ondašnjim Srbima, a da bi napredovanjem Osmanlija i nastankom Vojne granice u 16. veku, na čijem prostoru se našla i Vrlika, zapravo dobila poseban smisao u kontekstu odbrane hrišćanstva pred na- predujućim islamom. Sveti grob u Jerusalimu, tačnije Cr- kvu Svetog groba, čuvaju već vekovima dve muslimanske porodice, od kojih jedna ima zadatak da okrene nekoliko stotina godina star ključ, a druga da otvori vrata hiljadama hodočasnika koji ovamo hrle svakog Uskrsa.

T he guardians of Christ’s tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Je- rusalem are not an unusual phenomenon, especially when one consid- ers the centuries of conict between representatives of the three great monotheistic religions that traditionally claim rights to this ancient city. Howev- er, when the Guardians of Christ’s tomb appear hundreds of kilometres to the north, in the Dalmatian town of Vrlika, and when written sources and oral tra- dition recognises them as a tradition dating back at least four centuries, then countless questions and perplexities arise. Orthodox Serbs from Vrlika, or the Vrlička Frontier – extending between Dinara and Sinj near Knin, dressed in lav- ish clothing and armed with traditional relocks, yataghan knives and replicas of wooden ries, have been appearing on Good Friday since 1395 with a so- called Epitaphios – an exceptionally ne piece of cloth, most commonly silk, on which a weaving technique has been used to embroider the image of Christ in the tomb. The most famous such epitaphios, which forms a key part of the East- er worship, is certainly that of king Milutin Nemanjić (1282-1321), created at the end of the 13 th century or the beginning of the 14 th , which is today preserved at the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade. However, the young man from Vrlika guarded their epitaphios for centuries dur- ing Easter in the Church of St Nicholas in Vrlika, only for the exodus of Serbs from Croatia in 1995 to result in this unusual tradition being transferred to the town of Batajnica near Belgrade. Researchers of this unique form of intangible cul- tural heritage assume that some prominent medieval pilgrim brought back from Jerusalem a story about the guardians of the Christ’s tomb there, which led to it being accepted among the Serbs of the time, and with the advancement of the Ottomans and the emergence of the Military Frontier in the 16 th century, within which Vrlika found itself, the tradi- tion actually gained special meaning in the context of the defence of Christianity against advancing Islam. The Holy Tomb in Jerusa- lem has been guarded by two Muslim families for centuries, one of which is tasked with turning a key that’s several hundred years old, while the other is to open the doors to the thousands of pilgrims.

HRISTOV GROB / THE TOMB OF CHRIST

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