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Manasija Monastery: A History

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However, it is not clear whether the monastery church was ever converted into a mosque, or was only used as an auxiliary and utility building, of which there are several traces in the sources. Be that as it may, the past of the Resava monastery has not been researched and is poorly known. One also finds claims in the literature that the original stone narthex was destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder that the Austrian army stored in it at some point between 1718 and 1730.28 According to the inscriptions on two stone slabs (which are today located on the western façade of the narthex, in the upper zone), the restoration of the narthex was completed on October 2, 1735, in the time of Metropolitan Vićentije Jovanović of Belgrade and Karlovci (1689–1737); the founders (ktitors) of the restored narthex were Oberkapitän Kosta Dimitrijević and Jovan and Janićije Kostadinović [SSZN 2642]. The abbots of the monastery of Resava, Josif and Joasaf, whom the exarch Maksim Radković mentions, took part as delegates in the work of the Serbian Church and national assemblies held in Sremski Karlovci.29 Abbot Josif with the brethren took part in the work of the unofficial Church and national assembly held in 1727; the letter which the assembly sent to Metropolitan Mojsije Petrović on June 25, 1727, preserved in the Archive of SASA in Sremski Karlovci, also bears the impression of the seal of Manasija Monastery,30 which is today kept in the National Museum in Belgrade.31 Abbot Joasaf was the representative of the monastery of Resava at the assembly held in 1731,32 while the monastery's delegate to the assembly held, likewise in Sremski Karlovci, in 1735 was the Resava deputy, the hieromonk Arsenije.33 This same hieromonk Arsenije had previously been elected as one of the delegates of the clergy and people of central Serbia, at the Church and national assembly held on July 15, 1735, in the monastery of Rukumija.34

  1. Cf. S. A. [= Evgenije Simeonović], "Description of Manasija Monastery" („Описъ манастира Манасiе"), Srbskij letopis, year XXXVII, vol.,
  2. See Isidora Točanac, Serbian National and Church Assemblies (1718–1735) (Српски народно-црквени сабори (1718–1735)). Institute of History, Special Editions, vol. 54 (Belgrade: Institute of History, 2008), 262–263.
  3. proceedings from this conference, which in itself already constitutes a library of its own.
  4. It appears that this seal from Manasija Monastery was kept for some time in the monastery of Bođani, to which it may have come with the Manasija brotherhood in the first half of the 18th century, and from which it was brought back to Manasija Monastery at the end of the 19th century; today it is in the National Museum in Belgrade. Cf. Jerinić, "The Seal of Manasija Monastery in the Collection of the National Museum in Belgrade," 270–271. Cf. also L[azar]. Bogdanović, "Various Seals in the Monasteries of Ravanica and Manasija in Serbia" („Разни печати у манастирима Раваници и Манасији у Србији"), Srpski Sion: Official Journal of the Orthodox Serbian Holy Synod of Bishops of the Metropolitanate of Karlovci for Spiritual, Church and Hierarchical Matters, year XVI, no. 14 (Monday, July 31, 1906): 399–401: 400.
  5. Točanac, Serbian National and Church Assemblies (1718–1735), 262.
  6. Točanac, Serbian National and Church Assemblies (1718–1735), 42, 256.
  7. Cf. Nebojša Đokić and Olivera Dumić, "The Churches of Sibnica" („Сибничке цркве"), Kalenić: Publication of the Eparchy of Šumadija, year XXXIII, no. 2 (212) (2014): 39–43: 40 (citing M. Popović - Mihailo Popović, The Historical Role of the Serbian Church in Preserving Nationhood and Creating the State (Историјска улога Српске Цркве у чувању народности и стварању државе) (Belgrade: [s. n.]., 1933)); cf. also Točanac, Serbian National and Church Assemblies (1718–1735), 52.