Jovan Rajic
Encyclopedia
Jovan Rajić (September 21, 1726 – December 22, 1801) was a Serbian 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....

, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

, traveller, and pedagogue, considered one of the greatest Serbian academics of the 18th century. He was one of the most notable representatives of Serbian Baroque literature along with Zaharije Orfelin
Zaharije Orfelin
Zaharije Orfelin was an 18th-century Serb polymath who lived and worked in the Austrian Monarchy and Venice. Described as a Renaissance man, he was an educator, administrator, poet, engraver, lexicographer, herbalist, historian, winemaker, translator, editor, publisher, polemicist, and traveler...

, Pavle Julinac, Vasilije III Petrović-Njegoš
Vasilije III Petrovic-Njegoš
Vasilije Petrović-Njegoš was a Prince bishop of Montenegro. Also, he wrote the history of Montenegro, and Serbian patriotic poems.He ruled together with Sava, his brother.-Overview:...

, Simeon Končarević, Simeon Piščević, and others (although he worked in the first half of 18th century, as Baroque trends in Serbian literature emerged in the late 17th century).

Biography

Rajić was born on September 21, 1726 in Sremski Karlovci
Sremski Karlovci
Sremski Karlovci is a town and municipality in Serbia, in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, situated on the bank of the river Danube, 8 km from Novi Sad...

. He attended Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....

's Petrovaradin
Petrovaradin
Petrovaradin , is part of the agglomeration of Novi Sad in Serbia...

ska roždestveno-bogorodičina škola latinosko-slovenska
, the Latino-Slavonic Spritual Academy for young theologians, founded by Russian-born Emanuel Kozačinski in 1731. In 1744 he moved to Komárom
Komárom
Komárom is a city in Hungary on the right bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom county.The city of Komárom was formerly a separate suburban village called...

 where he attended a Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

 gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

 for four years. Fearing to be converted, he became a student of Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 lycee in Sopron
Sopron
In 1910 Sopron had 33,932 inhabitants . Religions: 64.1% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Lutheran, 6.6% Jewish, 1.2% Calvinist, 0.3% other. In 2001 the city had 56,125 inhabitants...

 in 1848. He graduated in 1752 and he was ostensibly headed for the church. But his tastes lead him in a different direction for the time being; not content with a knowledge of books only, he wished to know the world and people better. During a period of almost ten years he seized every opportunity for profitable travel whenever he could. He travelled on foot from Hungary to Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 -- a distance of 800 miles -— where he enrolled as a student of the prestigious Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He remained in 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....

 until 1756 studying theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

. He immediately formed a friendship with his professors, many of whom were desciples of Feofan Prokopovich
Feofan Prokopovich
thumb|Theophan ProkopovichFeofan/Theophan Prokopovich was an archbishop and statesman in the Russian Empire, of Ukrainian descent. He elaborated and implemented Peter the Great's reform of the Russian Orthodox Church...

, the great reformer 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...

 and one of the founders of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....

. After graduating from the Kiev academy he travelled to 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...

 and Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...

. For the next few months he led an unsettled life, attracting attention everywhere by his talents and boldness of his teaching. On his way home he also visited Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and various parts of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. In 1757 he returned to his native Sremski Karlovci and sought a teaching position at a seminary called Pokrovo-Bogorodičina škola, which was denied. Dejected and hurt, he decided to go back to Imperial Russia. He arrived in 1757 back in Kiev where he stayed only for a short time. That same year he travelled to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

, Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...

 before taking a ship across the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

 to 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:...

, and from there to 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...

, where he spent a few months at the Serbian Monastery of Hilendar, doing research in the library. It wasn't until late 1759 that he became a professor of geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

 and rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

 in Pokrovo-Bogorodičina škola in Sremski Karlovci. Entering a conflict with high representatives of Serbian Orthodox Church
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...

 in Sremski Karlovci
Sremski Karlovci
Sremski Karlovci is a town and municipality in Serbia, in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, situated on the bank of the river Danube, 8 km from Novi Sad...

, he moved to Temesvar and then to Novi Sad
Novi Sad
Novi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....

, where he became a professor at a college (Duhovna kolegija). In 1772 he went to Kovilj monastery
Kovilj monastery
The Kovilj Monastery is a 13th century Serb Orthodox monastery in the Bačka region, in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. It is near the village of Kovilj, in the Novi Sad municipality. The monastery was renovated in 1705-1707...

 where, at the age of 46, Rajić became a monk and soon after he was elevated to the monastic rank of 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...

, and made abbot of the same monastery. He spent the rest of his life in the monastery writing books, mostly with religious and theological themes. He died in the Sebian Kovilj monastery
Kovilj monastery
The Kovilj Monastery is a 13th century Serb Orthodox monastery in the Bačka region, in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. It is near the village of Kovilj, in the Novi Sad municipality. The monastery was renovated in 1705-1707...

 on December 22, 1801.

Works

He wrote in Serbian, Russian, Latin, German, Hungarian and Old Slavonic. He was one of the best educated Serbian ecclesiastical scholars who knew theology and history better than most in his day. He translated the works of Feofan Prokopovič, Peter Mohyla, Platon Levshin
Platon Levshin
Plato II or Platon II was the Metropolitan of Moscow from 1775 to 1812. He personifies the Age of Enlightenment in the Russian Orthodox Church....

, Lazar Baranovych
Lazar Baranovych
Lazar Baranovych ; 1620 - 1693, Ukraine) - was a Russian Orthodox archbishop, temporary Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and All-Rus' , , ....

, Metropolitan Gedeon of Kiev, and various German and Hungarian authors. He wrote the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church and a Serbian catechesis for children which was first published in Vienna in 1774 and was consequently reprinted many times over for the next 89 years. He is best remembered for his history books.

All of Rajić's research work came from Russian and Serbian sources, particularly Đorđe Branković's then unpublished, 2,000-page manuscript. He was a most liberal-minded man, both in politics and religion, an enthusiastic supporter of popular education and a most inspiring teacher and speaker. Rajić was always stating that the business of the Eastern Orthodox Church as a whole is not polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...

 but irenic, operating toward peace, moderation and conciliation. He took great interest in the struggle of the Serbs for independence.

His claim on posterity, however, lies not on his irenical writings alone but in the quality of his literary translations and other writings, exhibited at its best in The History of Bulgars, Croats and Serbs.

Notable works

  • Pesni različnina gospodskih prazniki (Vienna, 1790)
  • Kant o vospominaniju smrti, cantata
    Cantata
    A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

  • Boj zmaja s orlovi, (The Battle between Dragon and Eagles) epic poem
  • Istorija raznih slovenskih narodov, najpače Bolgar, Horvatov i Serbov (The History of Various Slavic Peoples, especially of Bulgars
    Bulgars
    The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....

    , Croats
    Croats
    Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

     and Serbs
    Serbs
    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...

    ), the first systematic work on the history of Croats and Serbs.
  • Serbian Catechesis (Katihisis mali)
  • Uroš V (reworked drama by Emanuel Kozačinski, his teacher)

External links

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