The unusual name of Manasija Monastery, although it has been in use since long ago, perhaps even since the very founding of the monastery, still attracts attention today by its enigmatic and puzzling character, and it remains a subject of uncertainty and debate. There are several different explanations of the meaning and origin of this alternative, and today predominant, name of the monastery of Resava. Since Despot Stefan Lazarević himself, the founder of the monastery, was already in his lifetime called "a second Manasseh", researchers suppose that this epithet of the Holy Despot became the name of the monastery of Resava. There is, however, disagreement as to which Manasseh Despot Stefan received this epithet after - whether after Manasseh the son of Joseph, grandson of the Forefather Jacob, progenitor of the tribe of Manasseh, or after the Judean king Manasseh of the 7th century before Christ, or else after the famous medieval writer Constantine Manasses of the 12th century? The oldest known mention of the name Manasija for the monastery of Resava is attested in the first half of the 18th century; it is possible, however, that this name is considerably older.
It is not unusual for Serbian Orthodox monasteries to bear the names of the regions or rivers near which they stand, such as the monasteries of Studenica, Morača, Piva, Banjska, Temska, Mileševa, Crna Reka, Voljavča, Ravanica and others. The old name of the monastery of Resava - after the region or the river Resava - is not at all unusual in that sense. The monastery of Resava was known by that name during the first three centuries of its existence. The other name of this monastery, Manasija, came into use at the latest in the first half of the 18th century, judging by the testimonies at our disposal. The name "Manasija" is recorded as the name of the monastery of Resava in the Verković and Dečani Chronicles [SRL 74: 27–31; SSRL 594б, 594д], as well as in the Tronoša Chronicle [SL 98, OL 63], but there is no agreement regarding the dating of these manuscripts. The "Manasijci", that is, the monks of Manasija Monastery, are mentioned in a commemoration book from the monastery of Vrdnik, which again cannot be
dated [SP 138]. The name Manasija was found in a lost inscription from the altar apse of the monastery church from 1725 [SSZN 10234], and it is attested on the seal of Manasija Monastery, whose oldest surviving known impression is dated to June 1727. We also meet it in the notes of the exarch Maksim Radković from 1733 and of the exarch Jovan Mihailović from 1734 and 1735. The priest Dimitrije Nestorović served the whole winter in Manasija Monastery before 1733, Radković records [IMR 151]. The priest Dimitrije Nestorović of Trg learned his letters in Manasija Monastery [EB 105], and the spiritual father of the priest Pavle Jovanović, a native of Grabovac, was "(H)Adži Stefan of Manasija", Mihailović records [EB 112]. This name is also found in a copy of the book of the Miracles of the Most Holy Theotokos from March 1736 [SSZN 2674], in the contract for the building of the church of Kovilj from September 1741 [KONT 87], and so on. On the basis of the testimonies mentioned, we may suppose that the name "Manasija" displaced the earlier name of the monastery and became official, if not earlier, then certainly at the latest by 1727, the date of the monastery's seal; from the 18th century onward the monastery is ever more rarely called Resava. The name "Manasija" prevailed, and today it is in general use. It is interesting that the Turkish defter of Braničevo from 1467 records that the Resava monk Nikon enjoyed the revenues of the monastery of "Svetoduhna" - that is, the monastery of the Holy Spirit [BT 250–251]. Whether this name was also a name for the monastery of Resava is not clear. Apart from the Turkish census of 1467 mentioned above, the monastery of "Svetoduhna" is not known to be mentioned in any other historical sources. It is not mentioned in the Turkish censuses carried out in 1476/1477 and 1516, nor is it known to have been mentioned later. Whether the name of the monastery of Resava, that is, the name of the monastery of Manasija, lay hidden under the name "Svetoduhna" remains to be investigated. As for the name of Manasija Monastery itself, there are several explanations of the meaning and origin of this alternative, and today predominant, name of the monastery of Resava. The officer Jovan Mišković (1844–1908), in his description of the old towns from the end of the 19th