Hegumen Mardarije

Hegumen Mardarije (Serbian Cyrillic: Игумен Мардарије; fl. 1543–45) was a Serbian Orthodox monk and one of the first printers of Serbian language books.

Hegumen Mardarije
Born
Died
Bogovađa monastery
NationalityRum Millet (Ottoman Empire)
Occupation(s)monk, printer and editor
Known forbeing one of the first printer of srbulje (books on Serbian language)

Mardarije received his education in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity of Pljevlja. To save its liturgical books and other valuables, he moved to Banja Monastery and became its hegumen. In 1543, he and two monks from Mileševa monastery travelled to Venice to buy the printing press and bring it to Mileševa to establish the Mileševa printing house.

Early life

He was a Serb from Podrinje,[1] who descended from Vraneši, Sokolac, Sanjak of Bosnia, Ottoman Empire (modern day Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Mardarije was educated in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity of Pljevlja. When he learned that the Ottomans were going to destroy Ljuboviđa Church in Pavino Polje, he took liturgical books and other valuables and transported them to Banja Monastery using six loaded horses.[2]

Mileševa printing house

In 1543, Mardarije was a hegumen of the Banja Monastery near Priboj when Todor Ljubavić, a monk in Mileševa and son of Božidar Ljubavić, was sent to Venice to join his brother, Đurađ, and to buy a printing press for the monastery. Todor was accompanied by the Mileševa monk Sava and by Mardarije. At that time, Banja Monastery was a seat of the metropolitan bishop while Mileševa was the richest monastery of Dabar eparchy. That is why those two monasteries were given the task to finance and organize establishing of the printing house in Mileševa and why Mardarije travelled to Venice together with monks from Mileševa.[3] The Mileševa printing house was operational in period 1544–1557.[4] Three books were printed in it, Psalter (Псалтир, 1544), Breviary (Требник, 1545) and another Psalter (1557).[5][6] Psalter of 1544 was edited and prepared by Mardarije and Teodor Ljubavić, based on 1519–20 Psalter of Božidar Vuković.[7][8]

In 1545, Mardarije went to Bogovađa near Lajkovac and rebuilt it. An engraved plate commemorates this rebuilding and mentions Mardarije and Vraneši as his fatherland.[9]

Misidentification with hegumen Mardarije

In many earlier sources, Hegumen Mardarije, who was hegumen of the Banja Monastery, is misidentified with Hieromonk Mardarije who was also a printer, but in Mrkšina crkva printing house and Belgrade printing house. Taking into consideration that Mardarije of Mrkšina crkva never mentioned in his books his much higher position of the hegumen of Banja Monastery, it was concluded that Hegumen Mardarije and Hieromonk Mardarije were two different people.[10][11]

See also

References

  1. Samardžić, Radovan (1993). Istorija srpskog naroda: pt. 1–2. Srbi pod tudinskom vlashdu 1537–1699. Srpska knjiiževna zadruga. p. 125.
  2. Ristivojčević, Milan. "Памбуковица – Мркшина црква: Исповест, памћење и нада". eparhijavaljevska.rs/. Eparchy of Valjevo. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  3. Biblioteka, Matica srpska (Novi Sad, Serbia). (1994). Godïsnjak Biblioteke Matice srpske. p. 29.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Aćimović, Dragoljub; Đorđević, Milivoje (1987). Štamparstvo u Užičkom kraju, 1537–1987: povodom 450 godina Rujanske štamparije. Dimitrije Tucović. p. 277.
  5. Ćirilske rukopisne knjige Biblioteke Matice srpske: Psaltir Gavrila Trojičanina iz 1643. godine. Biblioteka Matice srpske. 1992. p. 8.
  6. Šafárik, Pavel Jozef; Boškov, Živojin (1963). P.J. Šafarik, 1795–1861: zbornik članaka povodom 100-godišnjice smrti. Matica srpska. p. 51.
  7. Biblioteka, Matica Srpska (Novi Sad) (1995). Godǐsnjak Biblioteke Matice srpske za ... Biblioteka Matice srpske. p. 30.
  8. Bibliotekar. Društvo bibliotekara N.R. Srbije. 1974. p. 1220. ...Псалтир из 1544. и Молитвеник из 1545. штампани у Милешеви,...
  9. Recherches sur l'art. Matica. 1991. p. 206.
  10. Plavšić, Lazar (1959). Srpske štamparije: od kraja XV do sredine XIX veka. Udruženje grafičkih preduzeća Jugoslavije. p. 115.
  11. Recherches sur l'art. Matica. 1991. p. 205.

Sources

Further reading

  • Pavle Ivić; Mitar Pešikan (1995). "Serbian Printing". The History of Serbian Culture. Project Rastko.
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