Hristofor Zhefarovich
Encyclopedia
Hristofor Zhefarovich was an 18th-century painter, engraver, writer and poet and a notable proponent of Pan-Slavism
.
in Ottoman Empire
, (present-day Republic of Macedonia
) and became a monk himself. As a highly-educated and well-learned vagrant monk he painted and traded with books, icons and church plate. He spent some time in the St. Naum Monastery
in Ohrid
. His name was first mentioned in Belgrade
in 1734, when he was well-known as a good painter. His first well-preserved work are the frescoes in the churches of the Bođani Monastery in Bačka
(part of Vojvodina
, today in Serbia
) from 1737 and the Šikloš Monastery from 1739. He was exclusively engaged in copper engraving and book illustration after 1740.
Zhefarovich made a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem through Thessaloniki
and Jaffa
and later established himself in the Epiphany Monastery
in Moscow
, where he died on 18 September 1753. Zhefrovich was the author of two religious works, an instruction to newly-appointed priests (Поучение святителское к новопоставленному йерею, Pouchenie svyatitelskoe k novopostavlennomu yereyu) from 1742 and a description of Jerusalem from 1748 (Описание светаго божия града Йерусалима, Opisanie svetago bozhiya grada Yerusalima). His name is also associated with two textbooks — a primer and a grammar book, as well as numerous copper gravures of renowned personalities from Vojvodina.
He died at Moscow
on the 18th of September 1753.
in 1741. During its composition he used the Stemmatographia of Croatia
n Pavao Ritter Vitezović
of 1701, who on his part used Kingdom of the Slavs of Mauro Orbini of 1601. Stemmatographia was illustrated by Zhefarovich with copper engravings and black and white drawings. It contains 20 images of Bulgaria
n and Serbia
n rulers and saints, as well as 56 coats of arms of Slavic and other Balkan
countries with descriptive quatrain
s under them, regarded as the first example of modern secular Bulgarian and Serbian poetry. Stemmatographia had a crucial influence on the Bulgarian
and Serbian Revival and made a great impact on the entire Bulgarian heraldry
of the 19th century, when it became most influential among all generations of Bulgarian enlighteners and revolutionaries during the period of national awakening of Bulgaria
and shaped the idea for a modern Bulgarian national symbol.
The pattern of Bulgarian coat of arms
of Stemmatographia was used as the state symbol of the royal Bulgarian administration in 1878, but set in an ermine
mantle and with a prince's crown above it. This coat of arms continued to be used on the state seal
and the seals of state institutions well after an official one (also influenced by the one in Stemmatographia) was introduced by the National Assembly
. The coat of arms of the short-lived Ottoman
province of Eastern Rumelia
was also created after the coat of arms of Constantinople
(called "coat of arms of Romania") in Zhefarovich's work.
Zhefarovich's coat of arms of Bulgaria is depicted on the reverse
of the Bulgarian 2 levs
banknote, issued in 1999 and 2005.
, as he considered them to be one and the same "Illyria
n" (South Slavic) people. Exarch
Pavel Nenadović had called him "zealot of the Bulgarian homeland and kinlover of the Illyrian Empire" ("ревнителю отчества Болгарскагѡ и любителю царства Иллѵрïческагѡ"). Zhefarovich noted "our Serbian motherland" ("отечество сербско наше", otechestvo serbsko nashe) and signed as a "universal Illyro-Rascia
n painter" ("иллирïко рассïанскïи общïй зографъ", illirïko rassïanskïy obshtïy zograf). In his testament, he explicitly noted that his relatives were "of Bulgaria
n nationality" ("булгарской нации", bulgarskoy natsii) and from Dojran
. The ethnicity of Zhefarovich has been the subject of some dispute between the Bulgarian and Serbian historiography
. Western scholars prefer to emphasize his contributions to the history of both peoples, and maintain that Zhefarovich belonged to both nations. In the Republic of Macedonia
, he is considered to belong to the modern Macedonian ethnic group
.
Pan-Slavism
Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid-19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires, Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice...
.
Biography
Born at the end of the 17th century, Zhefarovich descended from a priestly family from DojranDojran
Dojran was a city located on the western shore of Dojran Lake in the south-eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia. Today, it is collective name for two villages that exist on the territory of the ruined city: Nov Dojran and Star Dojran, which contains both old ruins and recent construction,...
in Ottoman Empire
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...
, (present-day Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
) and became a monk himself. As a highly-educated and well-learned vagrant monk he painted and traded with books, icons and church plate. He spent some time in the St. Naum Monastery
Sveti Naum
The Monastery of Saint Naum is an Eastern Orthodox monastery in the Republic of Macedonia, named after the medieval Saint Naum who founded it. It is situated along Lake Ohrid, south of the city of Ohrid....
in Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...
. His name was first mentioned in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in 1734, when he was well-known as a good painter. His first well-preserved work are the frescoes in the churches of the Bođani Monastery in Bačka
Backa
Bačka is a geographical area within the Pannonian plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east of which confluence is located near Titel...
(part of Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, today in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
) from 1737 and the Šikloš Monastery from 1739. He was exclusively engaged in copper engraving and book illustration after 1740.
Zhefarovich made a pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
to Jerusalem through Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
and Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
and later established himself in the Epiphany Monastery
Epiphany Monastery
The Epiphany Monastery is the oldest male monastery in Moscow, situated in the Kitai gorod, just one block away from the Moscow Kremlin.According to a legend, it was founded by Daniel, the first prince of Moscow, around 1296. It is also believed that a would-be metropolitan Alexis was one of the...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, where he died on 18 September 1753. Zhefrovich was the author of two religious works, an instruction to newly-appointed priests (Поучение святителское к новопоставленному йерею, Pouchenie svyatitelskoe k novopostavlennomu yereyu) from 1742 and a description of Jerusalem from 1748 (Описание светаго божия града Йерусалима, Opisanie svetago bozhiya grada Yerusalima). His name is also associated with two textbooks — a primer and a grammar book, as well as numerous copper gravures of renowned personalities from Vojvodina.
He died at Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
on the 18th of September 1753.
Stemmatographia
Zhefarovich's work of greatest importance for the South Slavic Revival was his Stemmatographia published in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1741. During its composition he used the Stemmatographia of Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n Pavao Ritter Vitezović
Pavao Ritter Vitezovic
Pavao Ritter Vitezović was a noted Croatian writer, historian, linguist and publisher.-Early life:Pavao Ritter Vitezović was born in Senj to a family of a frontier soldier. His father was descended from a German immigrant from Alsace, and his mother was Croatian...
of 1701, who on his part used Kingdom of the Slavs of Mauro Orbini of 1601. Stemmatographia was illustrated by Zhefarovich with copper engravings and black and white drawings. It contains 20 images of Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n rulers and saints, as well as 56 coats of arms of Slavic and other Balkan
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
countries with descriptive quatrain
Quatrain
A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...
s under them, regarded as the first example of modern secular Bulgarian and Serbian poetry. Stemmatographia had a crucial influence on the Bulgarian
Bulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
and Serbian Revival and made a great impact on the entire Bulgarian heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
of the 19th century, when it became most influential among all generations of Bulgarian enlighteners and revolutionaries during the period of national awakening of Bulgaria
National awakening of Bulgaria
Bulgarian nationalism emerged in the early 19th century under the influence of western ideas such as liberalism and nationalism, which trickled into the country after the French revolution, mostly via Greece, although there were stirrings in the 18th century. Russia, as fellow Orthodox Slavs, could...
and shaped the idea for a modern Bulgarian national symbol.
The pattern of Bulgarian coat of arms
Coat of arms of Bulgaria
The coat of arms of Bulgaria consists of a crowned golden lion rampant over a dark red shield; above the shield is the Bulgarian historical crown...
of Stemmatographia was used as the state symbol of the royal Bulgarian administration in 1878, but set in an ermine
Ermine
Ermine has several uses:* A common name for the stoat * The white fur and black tail end of this animal, which is historically worn by and associated with royalty and high officials...
mantle and with a prince's crown above it. This coat of arms continued to be used on the state seal
State seal
State seal may refer to one of the following:*One of Seals of the U.S. states*One of State seals of Russian Empire...
and the seals of state institutions well after an official one (also influenced by the one in Stemmatographia) was introduced by the National Assembly
National Assembly of Bulgaria
The National Assembly of Bulgaria is the unicameral parliament and body of the legislative of the Republic of Bulgaria.The National Assembly of Bulgaria was established in 1879 with the Constitution of Bulgaria.-Ordinary National Assembly:...
. The coat of arms of the short-lived 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...
province of Eastern Rumelia
Eastern Rumelia
Eastern Rumelia or Eastern Roumelia was an administratively autonomous province in the Ottoman Empire and Principality of Bulgaria from 1878 to 1908. It was under full Bulgarian control from 1885 on, when it willingly united with the tributary Principality of Bulgaria after a bloodless revolution...
was also created after the coat of arms of 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:...
(called "coat of arms of Romania") in Zhefarovich's work.
Zhefarovich's coat of arms of Bulgaria is depicted on the reverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
of the Bulgarian 2 levs
Bulgarian lev
The lev is the currency of Bulgaria. It is divided in 100 stotinki . In archaic Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion".It is speculated that Bulgaria, as a member of the European Union will adopt the Euro in 2015 .- First lev, 1881–1952 :...
banknote, issued in 1999 and 2005.
Nationality and ethnicity
Hristofor Zhefarovich worked for the spiritual resurgence of the Bulgarian and Serbian peopleSerbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, as he considered them to be one and the same "Illyria
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....
n" (South Slavic) people. Exarch
Exarch
In the Byzantine Empire, an exarch was governor with extended authority of a province at some remove from the capital Constantinople. The prevailing situation frequently involved him in military operations....
Pavel Nenadović had called him "zealot of the Bulgarian homeland and kinlover of the Illyrian Empire" ("ревнителю отчества Болгарскагѡ и любителю царства Иллѵрïческагѡ"). Zhefarovich noted "our Serbian motherland" ("отечество сербско наше", otechestvo serbsko nashe) and signed as a "universal Illyro-Rascia
Rascia
Rascia was a medieval region that served as the principal province of the Serbian realm. It was an administrative division under the direct rule of the monarch and sometimes as an appanage. The term has been used to refer to various Serbian states throughout the Middle Ages...
n painter" ("иллирïко рассïанскïи общïй зографъ", illirïko rassïanskïy obshtïy zograf). In his testament, he explicitly noted that his relatives were "of Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n nationality" ("булгарской нации", bulgarskoy natsii) and from Dojran
Dojran
Dojran was a city located on the western shore of Dojran Lake in the south-eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia. Today, it is collective name for two villages that exist on the territory of the ruined city: Nov Dojran and Star Dojran, which contains both old ruins and recent construction,...
. The ethnicity of Zhefarovich has been the subject of some dispute between the Bulgarian and Serbian historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
. Western scholars prefer to emphasize his contributions to the history of both peoples, and maintain that Zhefarovich belonged to both nations. In the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, he is considered to belong to the modern Macedonian ethnic group
Macedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
.