Seven kilometers from Miločer towards Petrovac is monastery Reževići, near the Adriatic highway. It was named after a Paštrovići tribe, Reževići. The exact time of establishment of this important religious center is not known with absolute certainty, we can not ascertain who were his patrons. It is difficult to determine whether it is the place where in the past was some ancient temple according to one of the many legends of the Pastrovic.
The monastery has two churches. According to a local legend, the ‘Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God’ was built in the 1220s by Stefan Nemanjić (Stefan the First-Crowned), the first king of Serbia while the ‘Church of the Archdeacon Stefan’ was built by Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia in 1351. Archaeological research would certainly resolve a lot of unknown in the genesis of the monastery Reževići.
History
The monastery was a gathering place for the members of the Paštrovići tribe who traditionally held meetings there to make important decisions or to elect their chieftain. The last chieftain elected by the Paštrovići assembly held at this monastery was Stefan Štiljanović. Both churches and guesthouse were deserted for some time after they had been plundered and razed by the pirates of Ulcinj in the mid 15th century. In 1785, the monastery, its library and treasury were plundered by Mahmud Pasha Bushatli.
Legends
According to local legends, there was a column in front of a guesthouse on the road between Budva and Petrovac in the Kingdom of Serbia in which a wine vessel full of wine was kept for thirsty passersby. One legend says that Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse drank from this vessel during the First Crusade. According to another legend, Stefan the First-Crowned, the first king of Serbia, drank wine from this wine vessel during his visit to his cousin, Venetian Doge Dandolo.
Later, in 1223 or 1226, he allegedly built ‘The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God’ (Serbian: Црква Успења Пресвете Богородице) near the guesthouse. In 1351, a church dedicated to Saint Stephen—the ‘Church of the Archdeacon Stefan’ , was built next to The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God аgainst the order issued by Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia during his trip from Dubrovnik to Skadarsko Jezero.
The column with wine vessel kept full by the population of surrounding villages to show their hospitality and survived until the mid 19th century.
