Manasija Monastery: A History

Radković also recorded the names of the Resava monks of 1733, first among them the abbot Joasaf, a native of Bačka, who had taken monastic vows in Resava, who had been ordained to both orders by Bishop Stefan Ljubibratić of Kostajnica (1686–1737), and who had been appointed by a letter of installation (sinđelija) from Metropolitan Mojsije Petrović of Belgrade and Karlovci (1677– 1730) [IMR 167]. He also records the names of three "priests" from Herzegovina who had come over to Resava as monks of the monastery of Morača, namely the hieromonks Arsenije, Viktor and Dimitrije, as well as the hierodeacon Josif from Poreč, who had been tonsured in Resava, and the monk Mojsije from Buda, who had likewise been tonsured in Resava [IMR 167–168]. In his report, Danilo from Gornjak and Gerasim from Studenica are mentioned as the spiritual fathers of the Resava monks. According to Radković's list of the personal books of the Resava monks, who owned in their libraries the Holy Scriptures, psalters, prayer books, canon books, books of hours, euchologia, the commentary on the Gospel by Saint Ephrem the Syrian, etc. [IMR 167–168], it may be assumed that they were not unlearned. Radković also mentions in his report that the priest Dimitrije from Kamenovo, aged 25, had "studied letters" and completed his theological training in the monastery of Resava under the former (by then already deceased) abbot Josif and the then deputy Arsenije [IMR 148]. Of another priest, Dimitrije Nestorović, a native of Senjak in the Resava parish, aged 22, Radković records that he too had studied letters for 12 years under the late abbot Josif and the deputy Arsenije, and that after his ordination he had spent the whole winter in Manasija learning the priestly ministry [IMR 151]. Such notes have led some researchers to suppose that there was a theological school in the monastery of Resava at the beginning of the 18th century, which would not be impossible, but it is more reasonable to assume that in that period candidates for the priesthood in the monastery of Resava were prepared for pastoral service and acquired basic theological and liturgical training not by attending a theological school in the modern sense of the word, but through the mentoring work of the Resava spiritual fathers and through practice in the liturgical life of the monastery. Radković noted that the Church of the Holy Trinity had a lead roof, which had remained since the church was built, and that there was a bell in the church. An interesting detail found in his report is that the narthex was being restored, where formerly a "Turkish minaret" had stood [IMR 167].