On this occasion Sopoćani, the churches of Belgrade, the Cathedral Church in Mostar - from which bells weighing over 4 tons were taken down - and the Orthodox churches in Šabac, the Bay of Kotor, Dubrovnik... were all left without bells and without their sheet-metal roofs. The whirlwind of war carried away many bells, some of which had adorned churches and monasteries for centuries - even those which by some miracle had been preserved through the period of Turkish rule. Thus, along with other afflicted churches and monasteries, Manasija too most likely lost its bells once again during the First World War: pending more thorough research, it is not clear what exactly the circumstances in the monastery were during the devastation of the war. The Manasija bells for the most part disappeared - all trace was lost of the bells procured by Abbot Isaija, as well as of the bells donated to the monastery by Prince Miloš and King Aleksandar Obrenović. Once again, for who knows how many times, the monastery's possessions were plundered and lost.
Upon liberation, after the First World War, the monastic brotherhood once again undertook the restoration of Manasija Monastery. The third decade of the 20th century brought Manasija a bell of royal dignity. In 1925 King Aleksandar I Karađorđević (1888–1934) donated to Manasija Monastery a new bell, cast in a bell foundry in the small town of Vittorio Veneto in Italy. Impressed upon it is the donor's message:
“Aleksandar, King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, gives this bell to Manasija Monastery, December 25, 1924.”
The great bell that the monastery received from the king was installed in the fortress tower that stands on the northern side of the entrance to the Manasija courtyard.
The bell tower of Manasija Monastery is today located in the same tower, which has in the meantime been partly restored. Along with the bell given to Manasija Monastery by King Aleksandar I, there are three more bells in this tower, the largest of which is the newest - a gift of the brotherhood of Tuman to Manasija Monastery. The bell that the monks of Tuman Monastery donated to the Manasija community, that is, to the endowment of Holy Despot Stefan, weighs over 1,800 kilograms.
Although over the centuries it has passed through various trials and plunderings, has been destroyed and has changed its form and position, the bell tower of Manasija Monastery remains a symbol of unbroken continuity. Its bells are witnesses of time, bearers of memory and a voice of spirituality that awakens and admonishes from on high.
Bibliography
Materials and Sources
Abbreviations
For the abbreviations, see Abbreviations at the bottom of the page presenting the brief history of Manasija Monastery.
Selected bibliography, arranged chronologically
I. E. [= Evgenije Simeonović], A Description of Manasija Monastery (Описъ монастыра Манасiе) (Belgrade: State Printing House, 1866), 16.
Iosif Veselić, A Description of the Monasteries in Serbia. Part 1. By Iosif Veselić, Professor (Описъ монастира у Србіи. Часть 1. Одъ Іосифа Веселића професора) (Belgrade: A. Andrić Printing House, 1867), 61.
Gustav Rasch, Der Leuchtthurm des Ostens: Serbien und die Serben (Prag: Dr. F. Skrejšovský, 1873), 308–309. URI: https://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/details:bsb11159423.
“News from Home and Abroad” („Вести из места и са стране“), Zastava: Organ of the Serbian People's Radical Party (Застава: орган Српске народне радикалне странке), year XXXIII, no. 23 [national no. 7] (Friday, February 13, 1898): 4.
“Manasija Monastery” („Манастир Манасија“), Serbian Zion: A Weekly for the Ecclesiastical-Educational and Autonomous Needs of the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Karlovci (Српски Сион: недељни лист за црквено-просветне и автономне потребе Српске православне Митрополије карловачке), year VIII, no. 23 (Sunday, June 7, 1898): 365.
“A Celebration at Manasija Mon[astery]” („Светковина у ман[астиру]. Манасији“), Serbian Zion: A Weekly for the Ecclesiastical-Educational and Autonomous Needs of the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Karlovci (Српски Сион: недељни лист за црквено-просветне и автономне потребе Српске православне Митрополије карловачке), year VIII, no. 41 (Sunday, October 11, 1898): 664.
Petar Pekić, The Fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the Rise of the Successor States (Propast Austro-Ugarske monarhije i postanak nasljednih država) (Subotica: Globus, 1937), 110.
Danilo Kecić, “The Requisition of Bells of Serbian Orthodox Churches of the Eparchy of Timișoara 1916–1917” („Реквирирање звона српских православних храмова Темишварске епархије 1916–1917“), Matica Srpska Journal of History (Зборник. Матице српске за историју), no. 59–60 (1999): 173–191.