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St Nicholas Orthodox Church
There is a high probability that Ruma had a church since the old days, for the three priests were mentioned among the population of Ruma in 1566. The church must have been a forerunner of the present-day St Nicholas Church since they both celebrated the same St Patron’s Day, likewise the village itself. Stojan Orlovic, a priest from Ruma, was mentioned for the first time in 1731. Two years later a source mentioned that Ruma had had a church before, which was paved again at the time, while the believers made the churchyard. In the middle of the 18th century the church was called St Nicholas Church, whose name probably originated from the old days. It was mentioned as a wooden church with a churchyard and an enclosed cemetery. The present-day church was constructed in 1758. The Ascension of Our Lord Orthodox Church
Due to the fact that at the very beginning of the existence of New Ruma its Orthodox inhabitants used Old Ruma’s church, it became too crowded. That is why parallel to the construction of St Nicholas Church of solid material – which was completed in 1758 – the construction of another church in New Ruma was started. It was meant for the fulfilling of the spiritual needs of the Orthodox inhabitants of Ruma. There were some problems at the beginning, since an old and abandoned Orthodox cemetery had been chosen as the construction site, for which the county judge thought to be too close to the Catholic Church. The Empress Maria Theresa of Austria herself got involved in the dispute and arbitrated that the construction of the second Orthodox Church in Ruma, The Ascension of Our Lord Church, was to be continued at the exact same location where it stands today. The church was completed in 1861. The iconostasis was done by the famous painter Stefan Tenecki. The Ascension of the Holly Cross Roman Catholic Church
At the end of the 18th century there was also a Roman–Catholic Church in Ruma, at the same location where it is today. However, it was made of wood and it was not big enough to hold all the believers. It had no tower or ornaments; it was quite simple and modest, therefore it was more like a barn than a church. The parson’s house, made of adobe and reed, smaller than the rest of the houses in the village was next to the church. That is why in 1813 the new church, the Ascension of the Holly Cross was constructed and it was able to hold up to 2000 believers. Next to it was the pastor’s house for the pastor. The church is a single –naved classical structure, oriented to the north-south direction. The conception of the Ascension of the Holly Cross at the high altar was done by Vinsen Dojcer. The frescoes of Our Blessed Lady Immaculate and St. Ivan Nepomuk were painted by the unknown author, while Konstantin Pantelic was hired to paint the fresco of St. Wendelin and the Hungarian painter Peskija did the fresco of the Annunciation. The Descension of the Holy Spirit Orthodox Church (All Saints Church or Greek Church)
The third Ruma’s Orthodox Church, All Saints Church, was mentioned for the first time by the end of the 18th century, but at the time it was in a ruinous condition and collapse- prone being built from softwood planks. It is not known where its exact location was, but it is definitely not the location of the present-day church. Namely, during the 80s of the 18th century, a large number of Orthodox merchants bought houses in the center of the town. Many of them were of Greek and Vlach origin of Orthodox faith. Previously mentioned old church, as well as the two new ones, was too far away from their homes, therefore they complained to the Metropolitan telling him that it was too difficult for them to reach the church during winter and that their houses stayed empty and often got broken into during a liturgy. The Metropolitan and the County of Srem in general issued the permit to start the construction of the third Orthodox Church in the center of Ruma. However, certain problems occurred even though the construction material was nearly provided. At first Austro-Turkish War, then the nearby plague, administrative drawbacks…Then the comments were made that the church was to be too close to the Catholic Church and that it was not being constructed by the Serbs, but by a small number of Greek merchants. This was followed by a petition signed by 114 notable residents of Ruma, among whom Atanasije Stojkovic, already a doctor of physics at the time, Jovan Pantelic, a painter and others. All of this significantly postponed the construction of the third Orthodox Church in Ruma. It was only in the middle of the 19th century that the roof construction was completed. The church was restored in 1905, when it was also sanctified. Since then it is called the Descension of the Holy Spirit Church. There is an iconostasis, whose project was done by a Viennese architect Herman Bole and it was painted by the famous painter Uros Predic. |
