Gerasim Zelic
Encyclopedia
Gerasim Zelić was a renowned Serbian Orthodox Church
archimandrite
, travel
ler and writer
(a contemporary and compatriot of Dositej Obradović
). His chief work is Žitije (Lives), in three volumes. They are memoirs of his travels throughout western Europe
, Russia
and Asia Minor
from the latter half of the 18th century to the first decade of the 19th century and the famous personalities (Napoleon, Prince Eugène, Viceroy of Naples
, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
, Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
, Semyon Zorich
, Catherine the Great, Alexander I of Russia
, Stanisław August Poniatowski, Dositej Obradović
) he met. He had valuable original notes on people, religions, manners, customs, trade, etc.
As much as Dositej Obradović
is an emblematic figure of the 18th century Habsburg Serbian Enlightenment so is Gerasim Zelić. In may ways the East-West travel itineraries of the two men are similar, covering the Levant, the German lands, France and Russia, though Zelić went first to Russia (rather than to the Levant). While both lament their people's plight under Ottoman
rule and promote similar solutions, their perspectives are different, Dositej's cosmopolitanism
contrasting with Zelić's clericalism
, though their intentions are the same: the emancipation of their people from tyranical rule of the two empires, the Habsburg
and the Ottoman
.
Zelić was one of the earliest members of the Serbian Learned Society, better known as Matica srpska
, founded at Budapest in 1826.
, in northern Dalmatia
, some 30 miles east of Zadar
, then part of the Habsburg Monarchy
. He owed his monkish name (Gerasim) to a vow which his mother, actuated by the seriousness of her son's illness, had made to dedicate him to the Krupa Monastery
if he survived. He did survive and his mother's vow was fulfilled. He was tonsured with ordination by a bishop in 1769. He was 17. His literary education was rather desultory, as he intended to be an artist, like some of his predecessors. But the quaint existance of the monastery did not appeal to him and after he had been entrusted with a complex mission he was allowed by his abbot leave the monastery in 1782 and set out to learn icon-painting elsewhere. He initially intended to go to Corfu but some last-minute advice received in Venice made him change his mind and, avoiding the imprisonment which usually awaited those who announced within the Republic of Venice
their desire of going to Imperial Russia, he successfully reached Kiev
and spent the next half year in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra
learning icon-painting until a problem arose. His weak eyesight put an end to that career, so he studied in Kiev, intending to devote himself to educating the illiterate, however, destiny had other plans for him.
Zelić was present in the Crimean Khanate
and witnessed the Tartar surrender, when the Russians annexed the whole peninsula on the 8th of April 1783. In August of that year he was in Kherson
where his passport was extended by none other than the great Potemkin himself. Then Zelić set out on his homeward journey with a good supply of books. When he reached Constantinople
he decided to visit our holy Mount Athos
. There the mockery and name-calling of the Greek monks angered him to such a point that in his intervals of leisure he mastered Greek in five months. On his return to Constantinople he was promoted to archimandrite
by the Patriarch of Jerusalem
, but when he got back to Krupa Monastery the jealous monks refused to recognize his promotion. In dissatisfaction he set out again to Imperial Russia. On the way he was presented to King Stanislaus II in Warsaw and in Kiev he met the Empress Catherine the Great and the Emperor Joseph and King Stanislaus II again.
He arrived in St. Peterburg on the 24th of March 1787, the Wednesday in Holy Week and quickly made himself known to Metropolitan Gabriel. He was chosen to read the Gospel in Greek at the Easter Service, an honour bestowed to very few foreigners. He was also well received in the highest circles in St. Petersburg and was impressed by the hospitality accorded to foreign prelates. The members of the Holy Synod
of the Russian Orthodox Church
, however, were distrustful because, as he later learnt from the Metropolitan, an enemy had sent a false report to the Synod that Zelić was not an archimandrite and did not have a monastery in Dalmatia. So he was not given the permission to collect alms in Russia. However private people treated him with outmost respect and infinite generosity and when he left St. Petersburg on the 20th of May 1787, a month and a half after his arrival, it was with a carriage which had been given to him, and with gifts of money, cloth of gold, church vessels, a large cross, a dinner and coffee service for twelve persons, two English watches, one gold and one silver, and many liturgical and instructive books. He then went to Elizavetgrad to ask Potemkin for a passport and stayed about a month with him before leaving for Dalmatia.
In 1792 the Venetian Government accorded him the title of Vicar-General of Dalmatia and as Vicar General and Archimandrite he made an episcopal visitation and carried out many reforms in church and social life. He was confirmed in office by the Austrians in 1797 but in 1806 the French, then rulers of Dalmatia, suspected his loyalty and detained him in Zadar. However he was released after a while and in 1808 he was permitted to go to Milan to request the Viceroy Prince Eugène, to ask Napoleon to allow the appointments of Orthodox bishops in Dalmatia, which Venice refused to permit. Napoleon soon granted this request and in 1810 Zelić was in Paris on an ecclesiastical deputation to him in the same connection. During the stay of the deputation Napoleon tricked Zelić by appointing a somewhat mysterious and shady figure by the name of Benedikt Kraljević as Bishop of Dalmatia and Zelić himself as Kraljević's subordinate, Vicar Bishop of Boka Kotorska. Napoleon's navy had previously tried to take Boka Kotorska but were repelled by the overwhelming presence of the British and Russian fleets ensconced there. Soon Zelić and Kraljević parted ways and towards the end of 1811 Zelić resigned his vicarship and retired to Krupa Monastery. With the defeat of Napoleon and the return of the Austrians Kraljević showed his true colours by embracing Roman Catholicism. Zelić, on the other hand, paid for his opposition by being confined from 1820, first in Vienna and then in Buda, where he died on the 26th of March 1828.
, Metropolitan Stefan Stratimirović
, with whom he was associated. Subsequently he went to Milan in 1808 and then Paris in 1809-1810, to Napoleon's court, as Vicar-General of the Orthodox Serbs in Dalmatia. Bonaparte, with whom Zelić had numerous interviews about this time, was not disposed to undertake in earnest a Serbian expedition, when he had other plans. Zelić recognized that support of a mighty European power (like France, for example) was indispensable for Serbian national liberation and the re-making of Serbian national state. Napoleon himself, however, took an interest in Serbs and in their leadership, while his generals prepared a campaign against them (to invade Montenegro). After the Treaties of Tilsit
, Napoleon had Benedikt Kraljević implanted as the first Episcope of the reformed Orthodox Episcopy of Dalmatia so that he would come into conflict with Zelić, then the Vicar Bishop of Boka Kotorska.
As early as 1784, Zelić had argued the need for Slavic rather than Greek clerics (whose loyalties lay with the Sultan), but it was not until 1823 when Benedikt Kraljević was forced to leave that Metropolitan Stratimirović of Karlovci took action in this regard.
Krupa Monastery
was a significant spiritual and cultural centre of Orthodox Serbs in Dalmatia; many important persons lived there: archimandrite Zelić, and writers Dositej Obradović
and later Simo Matavulj
, Nikola Tesla
, Mirko Korolija, Miloš Crnjanski
, Vladan Desnica
, and others.
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
archimandrite
Archimandrite
The title Archimandrite , primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise...
, travel
Travel
Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...
ler and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
(a contemporary and compatriot of Dositej Obradović
Dositej Obradovic
Dositej Dimitrije Obradović was a Serbian author, philosopher, linguist, polyglot and the first minister of education of Serbia...
). His chief work is Žitije (Lives), in three volumes. They are memoirs of his travels throughout western Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
from the latter half of the 18th century to the first decade of the 19th century and the famous personalities (Napoleon, Prince Eugène, Viceroy of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
, Semyon Zorich
Semyon Zorich
Semyon Zorich or Simon Gavrilovitj Zoritj was a Serbian noble and a Russian officer and favorite, lover of Empress Catherine the Great from 1777 to 1778....
, Catherine the Great, Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
, Stanisław August Poniatowski, Dositej Obradović
Dositej Obradovic
Dositej Dimitrije Obradović was a Serbian author, philosopher, linguist, polyglot and the first minister of education of Serbia...
) he met. He had valuable original notes on people, religions, manners, customs, trade, etc.
As much as Dositej Obradović
Dositej Obradovic
Dositej Dimitrije Obradović was a Serbian author, philosopher, linguist, polyglot and the first minister of education of Serbia...
is an emblematic figure of the 18th century Habsburg Serbian Enlightenment so is Gerasim Zelić. In may ways the East-West travel itineraries of the two men are similar, covering the Levant, the German lands, France and Russia, though Zelić went first to Russia (rather than to the Levant). While both lament their people's plight under Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule and promote similar solutions, their perspectives are different, Dositej's cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian and particularistic theories, especially the ideas of patriotism and nationalism...
contrasting with Zelić's clericalism
Clericalism
Clericalism is the application of the formal, church-based, leadership or opinion of ordained clergy in matters of either the church or broader political and sociocultural import...
, though their intentions are the same: the emancipation of their people from tyranical rule of the two empires, the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
and the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
Zelić was one of the earliest members of the Serbian Learned Society, better known as Matica srpska
Matica srpska
The Matica srpska is the oldest cultural-scientific institution of Serbia. Matica srpska was founded in 1826 in Budapest and moved to Novi Sad in 1864....
, founded at Budapest in 1826.
Biography
Gerasim Zelić was born on the 11th of June 1752 in Žegar, BukovicaBukovica
Bukovica is a geographical region in Croatia. It is situated in northern Dalmatia, between Lika in the north, Kninska Krajina in the east, and Ravni Kotari in the south-west. Prior to the war, it encompassed the western half of the Knin municipality, the eastern half of the Benkovac municipality...
, in northern Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, some 30 miles east of Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
, then part of the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
. He owed his monkish name (Gerasim) to a vow which his mother, actuated by the seriousness of her son's illness, had made to dedicate him to the Krupa Monastery
Krupa monastery
Krupa monastery is a Serb Orthodox monastery on Krupa River in Dalmatia, Croatia.The Monastery was built in 1317 by monks from Bosnia. It is located at the southern slopes of the Velebit mountain, halfway between the towns of Obrovac and Knin. It is the oldest Orthodox monastery in Croatia.The...
if he survived. He did survive and his mother's vow was fulfilled. He was tonsured with ordination by a bishop in 1769. He was 17. His literary education was rather desultory, as he intended to be an artist, like some of his predecessors. But the quaint existance of the monastery did not appeal to him and after he had been entrusted with a complex mission he was allowed by his abbot leave the monastery in 1782 and set out to learn icon-painting elsewhere. He initially intended to go to Corfu but some last-minute advice received in Venice made him change his mind and, avoiding the imprisonment which usually awaited those who announced within the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
their desire of going to Imperial Russia, he successfully reached Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
and spent the next half year in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra
Kiev Pechersk Lavra
Kiev Pechersk Lavra or Kyiv Pechersk Lavra , also known as the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, is a historic Orthodox Christian monastery which gave its name to one of the city districts where it is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine....
learning icon-painting until a problem arose. His weak eyesight put an end to that career, so he studied in Kiev, intending to devote himself to educating the illiterate, however, destiny had other plans for him.
Zelić was present in the Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate
Crimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
and witnessed the Tartar surrender, when the Russians annexed the whole peninsula on the 8th of April 1783. In August of that year he was in Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
where his passport was extended by none other than the great Potemkin himself. Then Zelić set out on his homeward journey with a good supply of books. When he reached Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
he decided to visit our holy Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
. There the mockery and name-calling of the Greek monks angered him to such a point that in his intervals of leisure he mastered Greek in five months. On his return to Constantinople he was promoted to archimandrite
Archimandrite
The title Archimandrite , primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise...
by the Patriarch of Jerusalem
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is the head bishop of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, ranking fourth of nine Patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since 2005, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem has been Theophilos III...
, but when he got back to Krupa Monastery the jealous monks refused to recognize his promotion. In dissatisfaction he set out again to Imperial Russia. On the way he was presented to King Stanislaus II in Warsaw and in Kiev he met the Empress Catherine the Great and the Emperor Joseph and King Stanislaus II again.
He arrived in St. Peterburg on the 24th of March 1787, the Wednesday in Holy Week and quickly made himself known to Metropolitan Gabriel. He was chosen to read the Gospel in Greek at the Easter Service, an honour bestowed to very few foreigners. He was also well received in the highest circles in St. Petersburg and was impressed by the hospitality accorded to foreign prelates. The members of the Holy Synod
Holy Synod
In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod...
of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, however, were distrustful because, as he later learnt from the Metropolitan, an enemy had sent a false report to the Synod that Zelić was not an archimandrite and did not have a monastery in Dalmatia. So he was not given the permission to collect alms in Russia. However private people treated him with outmost respect and infinite generosity and when he left St. Petersburg on the 20th of May 1787, a month and a half after his arrival, it was with a carriage which had been given to him, and with gifts of money, cloth of gold, church vessels, a large cross, a dinner and coffee service for twelve persons, two English watches, one gold and one silver, and many liturgical and instructive books. He then went to Elizavetgrad to ask Potemkin for a passport and stayed about a month with him before leaving for Dalmatia.
In 1792 the Venetian Government accorded him the title of Vicar-General of Dalmatia and as Vicar General and Archimandrite he made an episcopal visitation and carried out many reforms in church and social life. He was confirmed in office by the Austrians in 1797 but in 1806 the French, then rulers of Dalmatia, suspected his loyalty and detained him in Zadar. However he was released after a while and in 1808 he was permitted to go to Milan to request the Viceroy Prince Eugène, to ask Napoleon to allow the appointments of Orthodox bishops in Dalmatia, which Venice refused to permit. Napoleon soon granted this request and in 1810 Zelić was in Paris on an ecclesiastical deputation to him in the same connection. During the stay of the deputation Napoleon tricked Zelić by appointing a somewhat mysterious and shady figure by the name of Benedikt Kraljević as Bishop of Dalmatia and Zelić himself as Kraljević's subordinate, Vicar Bishop of Boka Kotorska. Napoleon's navy had previously tried to take Boka Kotorska but were repelled by the overwhelming presence of the British and Russian fleets ensconced there. Soon Zelić and Kraljević parted ways and towards the end of 1811 Zelić resigned his vicarship and retired to Krupa Monastery. With the defeat of Napoleon and the return of the Austrians Kraljević showed his true colours by embracing Roman Catholicism. Zelić, on the other hand, paid for his opposition by being confined from 1820, first in Vienna and then in Buda, where he died on the 26th of March 1828.
Political aspirations
Gerasim Zelić travelled twice to Russia, first as a young man, then for a second time to collect alms for his monastery. His political opinions were largely modelled on those of his contemporaries, Karađorđe Petrović, Sava TekelijaSava Tekelija
Sava Tekelija was the first Serbian doctor of law, president of the Matica srpska, philanthropist, noble, and merchant. Tekelija founded in Budapest the Tekelijanum in 1838 for Serb students studying in the city. Tekelija, the patron of the Matica Srpska, opened also a Matica library in the...
, Metropolitan Stefan Stratimirović
Stefan Stratimirović
Stefan Stratimirović was Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Austrian Empire between 1790 and 1836. Having been appointed Metropolitan at the age of 33, Stratimirović maintained control over church life decisively and autonomously...
, with whom he was associated. Subsequently he went to Milan in 1808 and then Paris in 1809-1810, to Napoleon's court, as Vicar-General of the Orthodox Serbs in Dalmatia. Bonaparte, with whom Zelić had numerous interviews about this time, was not disposed to undertake in earnest a Serbian expedition, when he had other plans. Zelić recognized that support of a mighty European power (like France, for example) was indispensable for Serbian national liberation and the re-making of Serbian national state. Napoleon himself, however, took an interest in Serbs and in their leadership, while his generals prepared a campaign against them (to invade Montenegro). After the Treaties of Tilsit
Treaties of Tilsit
The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by Napoleon I of France in the town of Tilsit in July, 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon I of France, when they met on a raft in the middle of the Neman...
, Napoleon had Benedikt Kraljević implanted as the first Episcope of the reformed Orthodox Episcopy of Dalmatia so that he would come into conflict with Zelić, then the Vicar Bishop of Boka Kotorska.
As early as 1784, Zelić had argued the need for Slavic rather than Greek clerics (whose loyalties lay with the Sultan), but it was not until 1823 when Benedikt Kraljević was forced to leave that Metropolitan Stratimirović of Karlovci took action in this regard.
Krupa Monastery
Krupa monastery
Krupa monastery is a Serb Orthodox monastery on Krupa River in Dalmatia, Croatia.The Monastery was built in 1317 by monks from Bosnia. It is located at the southern slopes of the Velebit mountain, halfway between the towns of Obrovac and Knin. It is the oldest Orthodox monastery in Croatia.The...
was a significant spiritual and cultural centre of Orthodox Serbs in Dalmatia; many important persons lived there: archimandrite Zelić, and writers Dositej Obradović
Dositej Obradovic
Dositej Dimitrije Obradović was a Serbian author, philosopher, linguist, polyglot and the first minister of education of Serbia...
and later Simo Matavulj
Simo Matavulj
Simo Matavulj was a Serbian novelist, a representative of lyric Realism, especially in short prose. He is best known for employing his skill in holding up to ridicule the peculiar foibles of the Dalmatian folk...
, Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
, Mirko Korolija, Miloš Crnjanski
Miloš Crnjanski
Miloš Crnjanski was a poet of the expressionist wing of Serbian modernism, author, and a diplomat...
, Vladan Desnica
Vladan Desnica
Vladan Desnica was a Croatian and Serbian writer.-Life:He was born in Zadar, then part of Austria-Hungary...
, and others.