There are numerous confirmations that the monastery of the Protection of the Holy Mother of God in Lesje was a significant spiritual and cultural centre and a monastery with numerous flock in the second half of the 14^th century A.D., in close relations with the Holy Mount Atos. We have no knowledge when the monastery was plundered and desolated. In any case, it lay in ruins for a long time; it was covered with earth and grass and was overgrown with weeds. There was no one who would know its location any longer. It existed only in the old official documents of the monarchs, historical manuscripts and popular tradition. However, as is often the case in other monasteries, the sanctuary was not destroyed. Prayers to the Holy Mother of God, to whom this holy place is dedicated, led to its miraculous discovery and unearthing in 1923.

The restoration of the monastery and its spiritual life started in August of 2004, when, with the blessing of the Bishop of Branicevo dr Ignatije (Midic), prior Jovan Ravanicki was appointed the head of the monastery who instituted the flock of nuns. The first religious service after several centuries of absence of the monastic chanting was the full-night wake on the eve of the patron-saint celebration of the monastery − the Holiday of the Protection of the Holy Mother of God in 2004, which was held in an improvized chapel in the cloister. In the beginning, all monastic services were held in this chapel. The first service in the newly built church, held on the Good Friday of 2005, was ''The Tears of Mother of God'', and the first Holy Liturgies were the ones held on the Holy Saturday and Easter. The Temple was consecrated by His Grace the Bishop of Branicevo Ignatije on the Holiday of the Protection in 2005. Today, the sanctuary has been resurecting with God's help, donations of the pious people, the efforts of the administrator reverend prior Jovan and his sisterhood, as well as their other spiritual children.

Monastery address : Manastir Pokrova Presvete Bogorodice u Lešju, 35255 Paraćin, Serbia

telephones: +38135540363; +381645401154; +381644039475