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Atanasije Stojković (Ruma, 20 September 1773 - Kharkiv, 2 June 1832) was a renowned Serbian writer and physicist of the late 18th- and early 19th-century..

He was born on the 20th of September 1773 in Ruma, Srem, where he finished the Serbian Grammar School. He lacked resources to complete his education, and for a while he worked as a clerk at Ruma's Geodesic Office, and later as a teacher. When he tried to resume his studies in Szeged and Pozsony (Bratislava), they would not recognize his previous education. On the advise his grammar teacher from Ruma, Vasilije Krstić, he went to Sopron, where he got accepted, and then enrolled in Szeged, where he studied Philosophy. In the spring of 1797 he tried to find a benefactor who would enable him to pursue his studies in Germany. During a short stay in Vienna, he met Dositej Obradović who became his mentor. In the autumn of 1797, he managed to get 300 florints from Metropolitan Stefan Stratimirović to support himself in Göttingen, one of the most prestigious universities in Europe at the time. In the course of the next two years he managed to get a PhD in Philosophy (1799). He became acquainted with Heinrich Heine (archaeologist and philologist) and professor Ludwig Schletzer. After working intensively in different scientific disciplines (physics, mathematics), he went home to Ruma in 1799. Later, he moved to Buda (Budapest) where he finished and published his main work, three volumes entitled “Fisika” (Physics, 1801-1803), mostly completed during his stay in Göttingen. At this stage of his life he also published a philosophical paper with elements of novel “Kandor or The Revelation of Egyptian Secrets” (1800); a sentimental novel “Aristid and Natalia” (1801), a literary novel ”Serbian Secretary” (1802), a collection of letters, a volume of poems called Stihi kakovim obrazom ljubov u braku sohraniti mozno and a hymn entitled On the Death of the Immortal Jovan Rajić(1802). He became a member of the Göttingen Academic Community in 1802.

Since it was difficult for non-Catholics to get state employment in the Habsburg Monarchy, Atanasije tried unsuccessfully to secure his financial status by becoming a monk at a monastery in Kovilj after the death of Jovan Rajić. He also tried to get a position in the Department of Physics at the Pozsony Academy, but no avail. He was invited and elected the first Professor of Physics at the newly-founded Kharkiv University. The invitation came from the famous Count Severin Osipović Potocki (1762-1829), school curator of the Kharkiv County, the future Imperial Russian Minister of Education, whom he met at the home of politician Joseph Maximilian Ossolinski (1748-1826) in Vienna.

Soon, Atanasije Stojković became the dean of the Physics and Mathematics Department, and in two terms (1807-1808 and 1811-1813) also the Chancellor of the Kharkiv University. Apart from that, he was also the founder of the Kharkiv Academic Community, and then the holder of many merits and privileges – he became the member of the Russian Royal Academy of Sciences, he was awarded the medal of Saint Vladimir of the third degree by Emperor Alexander I, he obtained material privileges as well and became a state advisor.

During his stay in Kharkiv, Atanasije Stojković published numerous works, mostly intended for students, written in Russian. Especially prominent is the book titled “O vozdushnih kamnjah i jih proishozdeniji” (On meteors and meteorites and their origin) published in 1807 and emerged as a result of the fact that, being a university professor, Stojkovicć got his hands on an "air stone", which in 1787 fell near the village of Zhygaylovka in the Kharkiv County. This book is considered to be the first ever monograph on meteorites in the world, and its publication influenced the development of Russian meteorite science. In Tunguzija region (where a meteorite exploded on 30th June 1908 and caused huge devastation) there is a hill 150 meters high named after this scientist - Stojković Hill.

Other works by Stojković, written while a professor of physics in Kharkiv, are: "On The Appearance of Hail And Other Things in the Air Called Fata Morgana (Mirage)", 1808; "The Basic Foundations of Abstract and Experimental Physics Until the Latest Discoveries," 1809; "On personal protection from the strike of lightning in all life situations", 1810; "On the Causes Which Make the Air Improper for Inhaling and On Ways of Protection from Complete Damage," 1811; "The Basic Foundations of Physical Geography," 1813; "The Basic Foundations of Physical Astronomy," 1813.

In 1810 Stojković travelled to Austria to visit his mother in Ruma, as well as his friends in Srem and Slavonia, but because of suspicion that he was actually sent on a secret mission by Russia, and due to some public appearances where he glorified Russia and promoted the creation of a country of South Slavs, he was sent back to Russia in October that year following the Emperor's order. After his return to Kharkiv he became the object of an affair which claimed that on his way back from Austria (and later with the help of his friends), he imported large quantities of goods (wine, silk, gems, artifacts) which he sold illegally. The investigation went on for years, and was later extended on Stojković's relationship with his colleagues and other professors. Probably in order to prevent tarnishing the reputation of the University, the investigation was never closed, the charges were never proven, but the affair was most likely the reason for the end of Atanasije Stojković's university career. In May 1813 he was approved a sick leave, when he was relieved of his duty as chancellor, and once he returned from his leave, Stojkovic personally wrote to the Emperor Alexander I requesting to be relived of professorship.

After he left the University, Atanasije Stojković lived in Bessarabia, where in 1815 he received a large estate (15,000 hectares) from Alexander I. In this period Stojković did not practice physics very much. He had the idea of writing or publishing a comprehensive history of Serbia, but he could not come trough with it. Living far away from Serbia, he was also far from the necessary references and sources. He persisted in trying to realise his idea with the help of Metropolitan Stratimirović, who he was constantly corresponding with him.

The final years of his life were spent in Petrograd in close contact with representatives of Russian central authorities, and in 1826 he also became the representative of Montenegro at the Russian court, thanks to his acquaintance with Montenegrin Metropolitan Petar I Petrović Njegoš. He spent most of his time doing translations, one of which is the New Testament in Serbian, published in Petrograd in 1824.

The following are the titles of the works by Atanasije Stojković created in th last decade of his life:

• О саранче и способах истребљенија јеја (On grasshoppers and ways of exterminating them) 1825. • О отводах молниј и града (On coduction – derivation of lightning and hail) 1826. • Зашчишченије градових отводов (Protection of anti-hail conductors) 1826. • Систематическоје изложеније обезводњенија мокрој почви (A systematic presentation of draining waterlogged land) 1827. • Теоретическо-практическоје настављеније о виноделији (Theoretical – practical advice on wine production) translation from French ,1830.

Records show that Atanasije Stojković died in Kharkiv on 2nd June 1832.

Stojkovic spoke several languages: German, Latin, French, Italian, English, Greek, Hungarian, and almost all Slavic languages.

Translated and adapted from Jovan Skerlić's "Istorija nove srpske književnosti". Belgrade, 1914, pages 109-112.

Živojin Žujović (Vračević, Serbia, 10 November 1838 - Belgrade, Serbia, 25 April 1870) was Serbian politician, writer, and "first Serbian socialist," a sobriquet given to him by Svetozar Marković.

Žujović graduated from Grande école in Belgrade and pursued further studies in St. Petersburg, {Kiev]], Munich, and Zürich from 1861 to 1867. As a commentator on public affairs and a specialist on the Slavic question, he was influenced by the ideas of the Russian revolutionary democrats. In 1863, together with journalist Pavel Apollonovich Rovinsky, he co-edited the “Slavic Land” section in the newspaper Ocherki and wrote for the journal Sovremenik. In 1864 he headed the Slavic sections of the newspapers Golos and Sankt Peterburgskie vedomosti and held that position on the latter newspaper until March 1866. He championed the brotherhood and friendship of the Slavic peoples.

Upon his return to Belgrade in the mid-1867, he sought a teaching post at his alma mater, however, he was appointed to a clerical position at the Ministry of Finance instead. He was quite ill at the time of his arrival, and lived another three years before he died of consumption.

A monograph published in 1974 in Moscow by Viktor G. Karasev has convincingly shown the significance of Živojin Žujović as the initiator of the new movement of the 1870a in Serbian social thought, and as the predecessor of Svetozar Marković who was to take over the struggle against the liberals which Žujović started.

Celokupna dela Živojina Žujovića (Collected Works of Živojina Žujovića (Belgrade, 1892).

• Paligorić, L. Živojin Žujović (Belgrade, 1960).
• Adapted in English from Serbian Wikipedia.

Pavle Popović (Belgrade, 16 April 1868-Belgrade, 4 June 1939) was a Serbian writer and one of the most influential Serbian literary critics in the period from 1909 to 1939. He is the brother of Bogdan Popović, also a well-known and equally influential literary critic.

Pavle Popović was born at Belgrade on the 16th of April 1868. He studied philosophy and literature in Belgrade and Paris. He was professor of Serbian literature at the University of Belgrade for three decades. He was also the secretary of the Srpska knjizevna zadruga (Serbian Literary Society) from 1911 to 1920, its vice president from 1920 to 1928, and president from 1928 to 1937.

Pavle Popović was French-oriented, like his brother Bogdan. Pavle complimented Jovan Skerlic's work by publishing an overview of Serbian literature (1913) that emphasized early literary history and the oral tradition that followed. His method of literary history combined archival research, philosophical polemics, and comparative perspective, discourse, inspired by other contemporary European literatures, gave a touch of elegant and witty lightness to anecdotal narratives, and soon influenced a younger generation of critics and essayists. Pavle grew into an authoritarian figure in Serbian academia but was less present in public than his brother. His literary history and his numerous specialized studies on nineteenth-century Serbian theater and other matters were considered a standard for more than 60 years, along with Skerlic's work, which was, to be sure, ideologically more attractive.

Pavle Popović corresponded with the following scholars Milivoy S. Stanoyevich, Professor of Slavonic Languages, Columbia University; George Rapall Noyes, Professor of Slavic Studies, University of California, Berkeley; John Dyneley Prince, Professor of Slavonic Languages, Columbia University; R. W. Seaton Watson (United Kingdom); Watson Kirkconnell (Dominion of Canada), and many other academics.

Translated and adapted from Serbian Wikipedia: http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5_%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%9B

Jovan Skerlic, Istorije nove srpske knjizevnosti (Belgrade, 1914, 1921) pages 484 and 485.

On-line books by Pavle Popović: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Popovic%2C%20Pavle%2C%201868-1939

Vićentije Rakić (Zemun, 29 April 1750-Fenek monastery, 29 March 1818) was a Serbian writer and poet. He founded the School of Theology (now part of the University of Belgrade) when in 1810 he headed a newly-established theological college and in 1812 the first students graduated from it. He was a disciple of Dositej Obradović.

Born in 1750 into a religious Serbian family, Rakić was baptized Vasilije on the 29th of April that year at Zemun, according to the customs of the Serbian Orthodox Church. After a provincial schooling he married and opened up a business selling merchandise. His marriage was a happy one.

Then tragedy struck, his wife died in 1785. That same year he sold his house, business, and went to the Fenek monastery, where Abbot Sofronije Stefanović gave him his monkish name of Vićentije after being tonsured on the 9th of April 1786. That year he was ordained deacon at Karlovci by Ćirilo Živkovic, and priest by Vladika Stevan Stratimirović, and appointed to a parish at Šabac, where he delivered sermons for which, along with "Zivot Aleksije čoveka Božiega", written in verse, he became recognized as a promising orator and author. He had no leanings towards scholarship at first, however, his curiosity was always wide-ranging and various rather than particular and constant. At any rate his studies supplied him with that fund of general knowledge he was later to say was indispensable for a writer and poet and with fondness and respect for those authors he would later emulate, namely Dositej Obradović.

On the 9th of January 1796 he became the abbot of Fenek monastery, but three years later he left for Trieste. From 1799 to 1810 he lived and worked in Trieste as the parish priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church looking after the spiritual needs of the Serbian and Greek congregation of St. Spiridon. Sometime shortly after his sixtieth year Rakić himself fell under the influence of Dositej Obradović, and thereafter his life in Trieste was never the same. He went to join Dositej Obradović in Karađorđe's Serbia and went to live in the recently-liberated city of Belgrade.

Rakić's first editor and biographer, Dositej Obradović, made ample use of his letters to unfold Rakić's life in a monograph. Obradović, now Minister of Education, summoned Rakić from Trieste to help him establish both a university (Grande école in 1808) and a theological college (in 1810). A letter by Obradovic to the Very Reverend Vicentije Rakic, dated in late 1809, motivated Rakic, a professor of Pedagogy at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Grande école in Belgrade, to fulfill his life's ambition by organizing a newly-founded theological college in Belgrade and preparing students for priesthood. In 1812 the first group of priests educated in the liberated country of Serbia, graduated. It was with great effort that the insurgents restored and reconstructed their destroyed institutions of long ago.

After the reconquest of Serbia by the Turks in 1813, Rakić left Belgrade and went back to Fenek monastery, in Srem, where he died on the 29th of March 1818.

His theological and moral writings were aimed at saving God from the atheists and even desists, and man from the skeptical philosophers.

• Pravilo molebnoje ko presvetoj Bogorodici, i prepodnjoj Paraskevi srpskoj, written and published in Buda, 1798
• Istorija manastira Feneka, written in Trieste in 1798, printed in Buda, 1799
• Žertva Avramova, ili sobesedovanje grešnika s Bogomateriju, s grčkog, printed in Buda, 1799; second printing, Vienna, 1833; III, Belgrade, 1835, IV, 1856, V - 1803
• Cvet dobrodetelji, from Greek (Buda,1800)
• Pravilo Sv Spiridona (Venice, 1802)
• Žitije svetogo velikomučenika Jevstatija Plakide, i svetago Spiridona čudotvorca, written in verse, and printed in Buda, 1803
• Žitije prekrasnoga Josifa, written in verse (Venice, 1804)
• Istorija o razorenju Jerusalima i o vzjatiji Konstantinopolja (Venice, 1804)
• Ljestvica imuštaja pedeset stepnej (Venice, 1805)
• Čudesi presvetija Bogorodici, from Greek, written in Trieste and published in Venice in 1808
• Žitije Vasilija Velikiga, u stihovima (Veneciji, 1808)
• Propovedi za nedelje i praznike (Venice, 1809)
• Besednikov iliričesko-italijanski (Venice, 1810)
• Beseda o duvanu (Venice, 1810)
• Žitije Stevana Prvovenčanog, written in Šabac in 1791, and printed in Buda in 1813
• Pesan istorijski o žitiju Aleksija čeloveka Božiji, written in verse, and printed in Belgrade in 1835

• Translated and adapted from a biography of Vićentije Rakić at: http://riznicasrpska.net/knjizevnost/index.php?topic=171.0
• Translated and adapted from Jovan Skerlić's Istorija nove srpske književnosti (Belgrade, 1914. 1921) pages 114 and 115

Avram Mrazović (Serbian: Аврам Мразовић; Sombor, 12 March 1756-Sombor, 20 February 1826) was a Serbian writer, translator, pedagogue, aristocrat and Senator of the Free Royal City of Sombor, part of the Military Frontier of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His first grammar was written on the model of Russian Church Slavonic grammars and adapted by Vuk Karadzžić into modern Serbian.

Avram Mrazović (1756-1826) was the son of Very Reverend and Mrs. Georgije Mrazović, parish priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint John the Baptist in Sombor. Mrazović is known in literary annals as a Serbian education reformer who lived and worked in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Serb and Romanian territories of today's Serbian Vojvodina and Romanian Banat. He is the founder of the Serb National Primary School Commission. He also founded Norma, a teacher training college in Sombor in 1787 before another school was opened in 1812 in Szentandre called Regium Pedagogium Nationis Illiricae (Preparadija) which eventually moved back to Sombor again in 1816. The first book on logic in the Serbian language was written by Nikola Simić, Avram Mrazović's friend, and was published in Budapest in two volumes, entitled "Logic" (Vol. I, 1808; Vol. II, 1809). Ten years later, Mrazović wrote the second book on logic in Serbian in a similar manner, entitled "Logic, or Reasoning", completed in 1826, but the book was never published since he died.

Aside from Pavle Julinac, remembered as the first to translate from French, other translators of the period were Gligorije Trlajić, Nikola Lazarević, Atanasije Stojković, and Avram Mrazović. Mrazović translated the French work of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, the German philosophers and authors, Friedrich Christian Baumeister, Johann Christoph Gottsched, Christian Wolff (philosopher), Salomon Gessner, Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, and the Latin of Ovid, Cicero, Virgil, Horace, and the Greek of Aristotle.

• Rukovodstvo k slavenstej grammatice: vo upotreblenik slaveno-serbskih narodnyh ucilisc (1794)
• Celovekomerzosti I raskajaniju (1808)
• Epistolarum de Ponto livri V (Buda, 1818)
• Rukovodstvo k slavenskomu krasnoreciju vo upotreblenik ljubiteleij slavenskago jezyka izdano Avraamom ot Mrazović (1821)
• Logic, or Reasoning, completed in 1826, but the book was never published.

• Translated and adapted from Serbian Wikipedia.

Dimitrije Davidović (Zemun, 12 October 1789-Smederevo, 24 March 1838) was a secretary to Miloš Obrenović I, Prince of Serbia, writer, journalist, publisher, historian, diplomatist, and founder of modern Serbian journalism and publishing.

Dimitrije Davidović, born in Zemun on the 12th of October 1789, was the son of Gavrilo and Marija Georgijević. In 1789 his father, a regiment priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Austrian Army, was transferred to Zemun after the liberation of Belgrade from the Turks. His grandfather, Very Rev. David Georgijević, was a professor at the famed Latin School (Latinska škola) at Sremski Karlovci, founded by Metropolitan Pavle Nenadović of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Dimitrije was a sickly child and as such was inclined to read and write instead of playing outdoors. He completed Serbian grammar schools in Zemun and Kežmarok, and his post-secondary education, at Sremski Karlovci, was guided by his professor of Latin, his paternal grandfather Georgijević. From there he then went to the universities of Pest and Vienna, where he first studied philosophy then switched over to the University of Vienna's prestigious School of Medicine. He was early involved in the political troubles in which Serbia and the Serbian people were then immersed with the Turkish authorities in Istanbul (Constantinople).. Dimitrije decided one day to take his grandfather's given name "David" as his surname "Davidović" to avoid detection by the authorities who were looking for him.

The First Serbian Uprising, led by Karađorđe Petrović, started in 1804 but could not survive beyond 1813 without the support of the Great Powers. Soon, came the Second Serbian Uprising under Miloš Obrenović I, Prince of Serbia in 1815 which gained nominal concessions from the sultan of Constantinople, thanks to the intervention of Imperial Russia.

While studying medicine in Vienna in 1812, Dimitrije Davidović wanted to start a Serbian newspaper but could not get a licence which was personally denied by Klemens von Metternich himself. About 1813, in conjunction with a fellow student, Dimitrije Frušić, he founded and edited a Serbian newspaper in Vienna called Novine Serbske (Serb News), and Zabavnik (Entertainment), a Serbian almanach, in which many interesting particulars respecting the literature and political history of Serbia was published. Like Stefan Novaković, his predecessor, Davidovice believed that any people who would like to be recognized as enlightened must have its national newspapers and magazines, which are essentially important for the four million Serbs living under the Habsburg yoke at the time. His Novine serbske iz carstvajuscega grada Vienne soon changed its direction from translations of travelogues, biographies and writings on history to national issues (current events) and Serbian literature. Among the contributors in his newspaper and magazine were Lukijan Mušicki, Sima Milutinović Sarajlija, Teodor Pavlović, Georgije Magarašević, Danilo Medaković and other prominent Serbian poets and writers. Both the newspaper and almanach were eventually suppressed by the Austrian government in 1821. He wrote Istorija Serbije, 1813-1815 and what is now considered his best work, Srbijanka (1826), an epic poem in praise of the liberation of Serbia, led by Karadorde Petrovic (1804) and Milos Obrenovic (1813). Serbian historiography at the revolutionary time of pre-romanticism, it is said, has no better representative than Simeon Piscevic, right up to Dimitrije Davidovic.

His "History of the Serbian People", supplemented by lawyer Jovan Hadžić, was reprinted several times. In 1848 the work was translated into French by Alfred Vigneron.

His talents gained him the favourable notice of Prince Miloš (Obrenović) of Serbia, who appointed Davidovic secretary of his offices at Belgrade, and sent him on special diplomatic missions. According to prince Milos's judgement Davidovic was "exceptionally talented in diplomacy." He resided in Belgrade and enjoyed the continued favour of the court. He headed the Serbian diplomatic delegation in Istanbul (Constantinople), Turkey, from 1829 to 1833. He is considered by Serbian historians as one of the most important diplomats of his era.

In one of Davidović's patriotic appeals on August 3, 1821 he pointed out the need for female children's education. Since the state was technically at war with the Turks and almost unable to concern itself with the opening of a girls' school which at the time was prohibited by Moslem (Turkish) law. He was Minister of Education and Minister for Foreign Affairs from the 8th of June 1834 to the 2nd of December 1835.

In 1835 he was placed at the head of a committee to draw up a Serbian constitution; and it was, after all, chiefly drawn up by himself. Called "Sretenje Ustav" (Candlemas Constitution) it was drafted by Dimitrije Davidović to secure Serbia protection of citizens before the state and transformation of Serbia into a legal state with protected human and property rights for all. It was the first step toward power-sharing in modern Serb political history. But it was not to be expected that such sweeping changes could be affected without opposition, and no sooner the Sublime Porte and Austria brought their grievances against the implemented Sretenje. Prince Miloš yielded to them, but many of Davidović's followers were not so complaisant, and it was only by threat of force of arms that the new constiution was abolished after being less than three weeks in force. Davidovic and Prince Miloš sadly parted company under political pressure. Davidović withdrew from Belgrade to Smederevo, where he died three years later.

Dimitrije Davidović greatly distinguished himself as one of the most intrepid and influential supporters of the cause of liberalism, in both political and religious matters, until his death at Smederevo, where he died on the 24th of March 1838.

He belongs principally to the same class of writers as Djordje Magarašević, Teodor Pavlović, and Danilo Medaković who worked tirelessly more on a cultural and political plain than literary. Obviously, dictated by the circumstances of the times.

Translated and adapted from the Serbian Wikipedia: http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B5_%D0%94%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%9B Translated and adapted from Jovan Skerlić's Istorija nove srpske knjizevnosti (Belgrade, 1914, 1921) pages 152-153 Historical Library in Serbian: http://www.istorijskabiblioteka.com/art:dimitrije-davidović

Hieromonk Grigorije Vasilije (c. 1530-past 1598) was the scribe of the first and the earliest extant Serbian copy of Josephus's "The History of the Jewish War" and the second historical text , "The Tale of the Capture of Constantinople" (Provest o Tsarigradu).

To date, no one has written specifically about this extraordinary monk. His name is known to us from the colophon from the Serbian manuscript of Josephus (HM.SMS.280) compared to the Russian original (HM.SMS.281). Called Grigorije, he took the name Vasilije when he was tonsured into the Great Schema in the Tower (pirg) of Saint Sava in 1585.

Not only was the hieromonk a noteworthy scribe, he also served as abbot of Hilandar Monastery in 1583, multiple times between 1588 and 1591, and continually from 1591–1597/8 (Fotić 2000: 1 7). However, because of his frequent travels, he had to leave the abbot’s duty to another hieromonk. The Hilandar records indicate that Grigorije Vasilije served as an abbot five times between 1588 and 1591. This is understandable considering the need of the abbot to travel, since the best were chosen to represent the monastery abroad.

In addition to writing the manuscript and serving as abbot, the hieromonk Grigorije Vasilije was well known as the monastery’s representative on foreign missions. Hilandar Monastery sent him on several missions to seek support for the monastery. This type of mission was called pisanije. It takes its name from the word for letter/correspondence because it entailed the carrying of a letter, written usually by the abbot or abbots, which would accompany a representative of the monastery as he traveled and came in contact with potential benefactors and donors. The reason for this type of frequent travel of the Hilandar monks in the second half of the sixteenth century (after 1569) was undoubtedly the confiscation of the monasteries and monastery land by the Turkish rulers (Fotić 1994:49, 221).

The monks had to travel and ask for help in order to get the monastery out of debt. These monks had the written permission of the Turkish authorities, which allowed them to travel and collect donations. It is interesting to note that these monks, in order to protect themselves, often had to resort to disguises in order to avoid robbery.

Hilandar Monastery has preserved five letters addressed to dignitaries that the hieromonk Grigorije Vasilije presented on behalf of the monastery. One of the important journeys that the hieromonk Grigorije Vasilije made was to Imperial Russia in September of 1582. During this trip, the Hilandar monks stayed in Russia for over a year (Fotić 2000: 419). Eventually, Grigorije Vasilije and his delegation were admitted to the tsar’s court on December 6, 1583. During this visit, Grigorije Vasilije handed the Hilandar abbot Makarije’s letter to the tsar asking for monetary help for the building of a tower. On this occasion, Tsar Ivan the Terrible gave him the Josephus manuscript as a gift, and 700 rubles to Hilandar Monastery for prayers for the repose of the soul of his son, Ivan. The tsar donated another 60 rubles, 40 pieces of beaver’s fur (which, at that time, were worth around 20-30 rubles each), and 20 rubles for each monk.

During his stay in Russia, the hieromonk Grigorije Vasilije most probably lived in the residence in Moscow that Tsar Ivan the Terrible had donated to Hilandar Monastery in 1556. The purpose of this residence was to provide accommodation to visiting Hilandar monks.

The manuscript of Josephus’ "The History of the Jewish War" was copied in 1585 by hieromonk Grigorije Vasilije and was written in the Serbian recension of Church Slavonic; folia 73v-126v have different handwriting, which strongly suggests that there was one other scribe besides Grigorije Vasilije who worked on this manuscript. The handwriting suggest that this second scribe could be hieromonk Dionisije, who also was a scribe in Karyes (Athos) on Mount Athos at the time. In addition to Grigorije Vasilije there were seven other Serbian scribes who lived and worked in the Karyes cell at the time. Considering that Grigorije Vasilije had to leave part of the work of his manuscript to another monk-scribe, owing to to some mission outside the monastery, it is likely that one of the scribes was involved as his assistant. The following are the scribes who are known to have lived and copied manuscripts in the Scriptorium at that particular period: Arsenije, Makarije, Varlaam, Dionisije, Jefrem, Lavrentije and Antonije.

The “Russian” manuscript is the parent of the Serbian copy and was used as the source of what the hieromonk Grigorije Vasilije calls his translation into the Serbian recension, where this is explicitly stated: “Српски препис са руског извода XVI века сачуваног у Хил. 281” (“A Serbian Copy from a Russian Source of the 16th century preserved in Hilandar 281”).

The original manuscript is located in the manuscript library of Hilandar Monastery, on Mount Athos, Greece. A microfilm of the manuscript forms part of the Hilandar Monastery Slavic manuscript collection housed at the Hilandar Research Library, a special collection of the Ohio State University Libraries. It was microfilmed in 1971 by the Hilandar Research project of Ohio State University (Joković 2007: 2 -57).

• Hieromonk Grigorije Vasilije's profile:http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crossingover/5thCrossingOver/SessionA/8/

Sofija Skorić is a Serbian Canadian writer, editor, translator, publisher, activist and initiator-founder of The Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada, based in Toronto.

She came to Canada at an early age to take her post-graduate degrees in Library Science and become one of the principal librarians at Robarts Library of the University of Toronto, retiring as librarian emerita.

Skoric concerns herslef with three main fields of inquiry -- the interelations of philosophy and science, the philosophy of law, and the social and political problems of the Serbs. She edited some of the books of George Vid Toamshevich, Danko Popovic, Mesa Selimovic, Dushan R. Kosovich, Vasa D. Mihailovich; wrote several comprehensive chapters in the East European Quarterly, Serbian Studies and other learned Slavic periodicals; and translated Epiphany by Matija Beckovic the poet. She also served as president of the The North American Society for Serbian Studies and vice-president of the Serbian Unity Congress.

Skorić's eminence among her contemporary Serbian writers was not generally recognized until the appearance of the Serbs in Ontario, Serbian Academy After A Century: An Institution at Risk (see Source at Memorandum SANU), Stress In the Vortex of Global Anomie, Dream and Shadows, A World As A Metaphor, The Bloodblossoms of Kossovo: A Chronicle About the Serbian Holy Land, Jewish Portraits in the Work of Ivo Andrić, and many other titles.

Her earlier work in publishing received recognition of the Canadian and Serbian governments alike; but it was her determination to initiate and found the Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada which established her position in the front rank of the Serbian activists in Canada.

The Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada was founded in 1981 and has been active ever since. The academy invites scholars, authors and speakers on various subjects pertaining to Serbian society in general and culture in particular, in the past and present, and across all fields and disciplines.

Founded in 1981, to act as a central cultural institution within the Serbian Diaspora in Canada, supporting preservation and development of Serbian language, education, literature, history, music, folklore, including all other activities in the social sciences field in connection with Serbian cultural heritage; it collects, archives and offers to public all available written materials from history and culture of the Serbian nation.

The Serbian Heritage Academy is the result of a lengthy and careful evolution. Its development began in the late 1970s with a working group of Serbian intellectuals in Toronto, Canada; it concluded with the founding of the Academy by librarian Sofija Skorić of the University of Toronto; lawyer Nikola Pašić, the grandson of World War I statesman by the same name; art historian Dusan Bijelic, civil engineer Nikola Alexeichenko and teacher and vice-principal Paul Pavlovich. Soon others joined the Board, including Mrs. Rosa Somborac, Gojko Protich, Nikola Bogdanovich, Michael (Mihailo) Petrovich, Jana Dzeletović, Rade Dodić, Dr. Žika Davidovac, Mirijana Simić, Jelena Petričić, Braca Divić, Dr. Velimir Ristić, Nada Stegnajic, Gordana Tomić, Dragan Todorović (known as Charles Todd).

With her vision of an academy, Sofija Skorić aimed for a clearly-defined goal: with the help of a close-meshed network of Serbian historians, scientists, professors, writers, poets and artists, the problems and questions facing the Serbian nation in the Balkans should be examined from different perspectives and ultimately answered. The Serbian Heritage Academy in Toronto and Hamilton had a total of 14 chapters in fourteen cities in North America at the height of their activity The guests of the academy were invited speakers in all the SHA chapters.

• List of books edited and published by Sofija Skorić: https://www.library.yorku.ca/find/Author/Home?author=Skoric%2C%20Sofija.