PLACE: Kozarska Dubica SLAVAS: St.Archangel Gavrilo CHURCH FAIRS: Transfiguration PRIOR: Monk Vasilije TYPICON:on Sundays and holidays Liturgy, Morning Service,Vesper Service, Breviary

   Mostanica is one of the biggest and oldest monasteries in Orthodox Banjaluka eparchy and it is set about 12 km far from Kozarska Dubica, situated in a beautiful wooded region on the Kozara mountain hillsides.
    There are few recorded traditions which tell us about the origin of monastery Mostanica. One of them says that Mostanica is St Sava's pious endowment. This tradition fits right into Pan-Serbian St Sava tradition and there are no sources where it could be confirmed.According to other legend Mostanica was built in 1113 at the site where St Teodor Tiron was killed. The older monastery describers supported this dating by stating about the church key where the year 1111 was engraved.
    There is a tradition which says that monastery Mostanica was built by Hasan-pasha Predojevic who also rebuilt monastery Rmanj as a seat for his brother monk Gavrilo Predojevic and this tradition can be connected to past events from this region and Turkish conquest further on the west during the 16th century.
    The first written mentioning about monastery Mostanica is entry from 1579 in Otacnik which is now in Hilandar. It is said there that the book was written in this year in the St Archangel Mihailo temple in a monastery called Mostanica during the time of prior monk Grigorije.
    Mostanica has been restorated for 9 times in the period from the middle of the 14th to the middle of the 20th century. Since Mostanica was damaged by German bombing during the Second World War the last restoration was done immediately after this war.
    The dimensions of the church are 23,4x10,5 m and the cupola is 13,5 m high.The older explorers left the fact about the last trace of Mostanica painting which was put in the niche on the west part of the facade- the pink hilt of St Archangel Mihajlo sword whom the Mostanca's church was dedicated.
    Monastery Mostanica is a cultural monument which belongs to the highest level of the Serbian architecture under the wing of Serbian Orthodox church with its 500-year-old history as well with its bold, elegant and rich architecture. The history of this monument follows the same stages as the rest of the Orthodox monasteries in this area. The position on the always turbulent border between Turkish and Austrian Empire brought about the constant sufferings and frequent migrations of the monks followed by returnings and restorations.
    Monastery Mostanica has been registered as a 2nd category cultural monument in 1952 and it is under the protection of the Bosnia and Herzegovina law about cultural , historical and natural legacy.
    St Teodor (Sladic) was from the village Kuruzari under the mountain Kozara. There is a lack of facts about the life of this Serbian martyr. According to tradition, he was caught with 150 other people from Krajina and they were tortured and killed. He was burned in 1788 near Mostanica monastery. His hand and fingers were only saved of his relics. His hand was in monastery Komogovina (north-west from Kostajnica) in 1876, and before the World War II it was moved to Kostajnica church. After the war his hand was in Karlovac Cathedral and in 1957 it was moved to monastery Komogovina again where it is now.
    Saint martyr deakon Avakum from Knespolje was admitted to a monastic order in monastery Mostanica.