... Josanica Church ...

The St Nikola church is Josanica Monastery church about ten kilometers from Jagodina to the West. According to it's style it's accepted that the year of construction is around 1371, although the exact time has never been officially established. The church has been almost completely destroyed a couple times in the past. In 1996 both monastery and the church were revitalized.
I've always wandered about the unusual small size of the church of Josanica Monastery. The poor conditions of people at the time was probably one of the main reasons for it. Recently, I've read a book of an extremely knowledgeable local area priest/historian/writer and his story inspired me for a  possible answer. At the time the whole Morava Valley and up to Danube river was covered with thick forests. Since the town of Jagodina was on the main road carrying caravans and armies from Istanbul, and there were many groups of local fighters hiding in the woods and attacking constantly against Turkish army , for ordinary civilians life was very unsafe and insecure. Especially for children who were under constant fear of being abducted and converted into the worst fighters against their own people and families. So, one night the majority of the town inhabitants would set for a ten kilometer migration to the West, under the nearest mountain. There, over time, they would build this church and monastery as a gravitating point. It had to be under the tree line so it remains safe and unnoticed. What amazes me as well is how much farer than today those ten kilometers were at that time! It was so far that it was enough to protect those people for decades and decades...