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Manasija Monastery: A History

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The agile and enterprising Archimandrite Evgenije Simeonović,102 during his administration of Manasija (1854–1861), did much for the beauty and good order of the church and secured fitting conditions for the liturgical and prayer life of the Manasija community: he furnished the church with vessels, vestments, all the liturgical books, choir stands, gilded hierarchal and princely thrones, an ambo, polyeleos chandeliers...103 He also restored the monastic lodging, adorned it with icons, portraits of rulers and metropolitans, maps, pictures and other furnishings, and fitted it out with the necessary furniture; he repaired and put into working order the monastery watermill, planted a vineyard, and bought for the monastery shares in further watermills on the Resava, land and arable fields... From archival material we learn that he intended to restore the magnificent monastery refectory, as well as the Despot's Tower. In a report of January 26, 1856, Simeonović states that he "summoned the skilled master Jovan Krieger and charged him to draw up both a plan according to which the said refectory could most suitably be restored, and an estimate of the cost that would have to be spent for that purpose. Both the plan and the cost estimate are ready, and I submit both in 3 enclosures... According to this plan the cost estimate amounts to 10,265 flor[ins]. in silver, and that without the masonry, carpentry and joinery materials."104 In the same year, on February 20, Simeonović sent the Consistory in Belgrade a report in which he says that "the largest tower on the north side of the town of Manasija, the so-called Despot's Tower, stands worse and worse with every year."105 Work on repairing the refectory and the tower, however, was not carried out during the 19th century. Simeonović succeeded in doing something else, of which he was proud - namely, in 1859 he "had the monastery of Manasija with its church, town and surrounding area, as well as with the image of Stefan the Tall, drawn and skillfully lithographed, and in this way placed this wondrous monument of our pious forebears, as a splendid and magnificent antiquity, into the hands of his people."106 The drawing of Manasija Monastery with the town and the image of Saint Despot Stefan was made by the painter Stevan Todorović (1832–1925) on Simeonović's commission in 1858, and the lithograph was printed in Vienna in 1859.107

  1. Evgenije Simeonović was born in 1815 in Bela Crkva, and at baptism received the name Evtimije. He attended primary school in his birthplace, completed the gymnasium in Sremski Karlovci, studied philosophy and law in Pest and theology in Vršac. He came to Serbia in 1839. His wide-ranging education is illustrated by the fact that in that year his translation of a poem by the Austrian poet Aloys (Aloysius) Blumauer (1755–1798) appeared - cf. [Aloys Blumauer], "The Rouged Rose (from Blumauer)" („Наруменисана ружа (изъ Блумауера)"), [translated by] E[vtimije]. S[imeonović]., Serbskij narodnij list, year IV, no. 29 (July 20, 1839): 221. From 1839 to 1841 Simeonović was professor of theology in Belgrade, and then worked as registrar in the Prince's chancellery. He was tonsured a monk on St. Demetrius' Day (Mitrovdan) 1841 and returned to his duties as professor of theology. In the same year he was ordained hierodeacon; he became archdeacon in 1844, was ordained hieromonk in 1845, promoted to sinđel in 1850 and protosyncellus in 1853, and in 1854 he became archimandrite of Manasija Monastery. He continued to perform the duties of professor of theology as well: Archimandrite Evgenije of Manasija taught pastoral and dogmatic theology, as well as liturgics, at the Belgrade Seminary. As a scholar, he was one of the few Serbian clerics to attain the title of academician. He was an honorary member of the Society of Serbian Letters from 1848. He was named a regular member of the Serbian Learned Society - Section for the Moral, Linguistic and Literary Sciences - in 1864. After the death of Bishop Gerasim of Timok, likewise a former abbot of Manasija, he was elected and on September 26, 1865, consecrated Bishop of Timok, with his see in Negotin. He spent almost fifteen full years on the episcopal throne, serving as Bishop of Timok until his passing into the bosom of Abraham in 1880. Besides the article and the book on the history of Manasija Monastery that he wrote as archimandrite of Manasija (cf. S. A. [= Evgenije Simeonović], "Description of Manasija Monastery" („Описъ манастира Манасiе"), Srbskij letopis, year XXXVII, vol. 108 (1864): 51–59; I. E. [= Evgenije Simeonović], Description of Manasija Monastery (Описъ монастыра Манасiе) (Belgrade: State Printing House, 1866)), as Bishop of Timok he published several homilies (cf. [Evgenije Simeonović], The Address with Which Bishop Evgenije of Negotin Greeted the Serbian Prince Mihailo M. Obrenović III on His Return from Constantinople, upon His Arrival at the Border of Serbia in the Village of Radujevac, on April 3, 1867 (Рѣчь, коіомъ є княза србскогъ Михаила М. Обреновића III. у повратку изъ Цариграда... поздравіо епископъ неготинскій Евгеній) (Belgrade: Pečatnja A. Andrića, 1867); [Evgenije Simeonović], The Address with Which Bishop Evgenije of Negotin Greeted the Serbian Prince Milan M. Obrenović IV on His Return from Livadia, upon His Arrival at the Border of Serbia in the Village of Radujevac, October 18, 1871 (Рѣч коiом є епископъ неготинскій Евгенiй поздравiо княза србскогъ Милана М. Обреновића IV у повратку изъ Ливадіє). (Belgrade: State Printing House, 1871)). He was remembered for his meticulousness and learning, for the solemn manner in which he served the Holy Liturgy, and also as a highly deserving abbot of Manasija. Cf. Nikić, Žujović and Radojčić-Kostić, Materials for a Biographical Dictionary of the Members of the Society of Serbian Letters, the Serbian Learned Society and the Serbian Royal Academy, 1841–1947, 295–296; cf. also Bishop Sava [Vuković] of Šumadija, Serbian Hierarchs: From the Ninth to the Twentieth Century, 182.
  2. Cf. I. E. [= Evgenije Simeonović], Description of Manasija Monastery, 19–20.
  3. Cited from Tomić and Nikolić, Manasija: History - Wall Painting, 41.
  4. Cited from Tomić and Nikolić, Manasija: History - Wall Painting, 41.
  5. Cf. I. E. [= Evgenije Simeonović], Description of Manasija Monastery, 21.
  6. A reproduction of this lithograph was published in Tomić and Nikolić, Manasija: History - Wall Painting, 11, fig. 4; for a detail showing the appearance of the monastery fortification according to this lithograph, see Simić and Vukadinović, The Fortification of the Monastery of Resava, 33, fig. 6; see also Vera Ristić, "Stevan Todorović's Lithograph 'Manasija'" („Литографија 'Манасија' Стевана Тодоровића"), Zbornik Narodnog muzeja / Recueil du Musée national, vol. VII (1970): 343–347.