Contents and Summaries
Contents / Садржај
• Томовић Гордана, Манастир Светог Ђорђа и село Уложишта на Дреници
Tomović Gordana, The Saint George Monastery and the Village Uložišta on the Mount Drenica
Kovačević, Mirko. “The Restoration of the Konak 1598/1615 – the White Konak
• Петковић Сретен, Фреске XVII века у цркви Светог Геогрија у Хиландару
Petković Sreten, 17th Century Frescoes from the Church of St. George at Chilandar
• Пено Весна, Мелод и писар Герман Неон Патрон у хиландарским музичким рукописима
Peno Vesna, Melod and Scribe Germanos Neon Patron in Chilandar Music Manuscripts.”
• Трипковић Стевица М., Обнова конака из 1814. године у манатиру Хиландару
Tripković Stevica M., The 1814 Restoration of the Monastic Quarters at Chilandar
• Бубало Ђорђе, Хиландар и стонски доходак у XIX веку
Bubalo Djordje, Chilandar and the Ston Tribute in the 19th Century
Summaries
Tomovic Gordana,
The Saint George monastery and the village Ulozista on the Mount Drenica
The King Stefan Dusan endowed to the Hilandar monastery in 1336 / 1337 the Saint George monastery with the village of Ulozista, leaving to Radoslava, the wife of ktetor (founder) Milsa, life-long maintenance, and to her family an income according to ktetor's rights and a commemoration. On the base of mentioned village boundaries and preserved toponyms it was possible to conclude that the village of Ulozista was in Metohija, on the slopes of the Mount Drenica, where are to-day villages of Orlate and Negrovce, while the Saint George monastery was in the hamlet Djurdjica.
Kovacevic Mirko,
The Restoration of the konaki 1598/1615 - The White Konaki
The second major restoration of the Chilandar Konak, already renovated between 1598 and 1615, began in 2002 and was almost completed when the Konak was destroyed by fire in 2004. The worst damage was caused by the blaze which spread through the first and the second floors and destroyed the exterior that underwent restoration in 1598/1615 and was preserved ever since. Apart from the carpentry, some of the room had original wardrobes, floors and wall inscriptions.
This paper about the White Konak was written, almost entirely, before the fire.
The White Konak was added on the inside and along the eastern defence wall, north of St. Sava Tower. It had the ground floor and four floors above it. The ground floor was apparently always used as a livestock stable whereas the above floors were restricted to residential use. Before the renovation works on the Konak started in 2002, a complete architectural survey was conducted and research works completed. Remains of an older edifice, which stood there before 1598, were discovered in the walls on the ground floor. The edifice, identified as the "reception quarter on seven antique archways" and mentioned in a 1612 Turkish document, was in such a state that it could not be used. It seemed to have been destroyed, together with some other buildings, in an earthquake, sometime in the mid- l 5th century.
Since the huge fortification wall, the part where the Konak was added, was also damaged in the earthquake and rendered useless as the support structure for a new building, at the tum of the 1 7th century pilasters were added on all floors to support a new wooden construction. The middle longitudinal wall was completed then and the gable walls were built, too. Open wooden porches, made on all four floors and facing the yard, lead directly into small rooms with low-ceiling that stood between the longitudinal wall and the huge wall which surrounded the entire fortified structure. Later, soon after 1881, the porches were closed by small post and pan walls which were plastered and painted white on the outside, which explains the name White Konak.
The parecclesion was built on the top floor, in the end room facing north. Originally it was dedicated to St. Nicholas and then, some time later, to the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.
Petkovic Sreten,
17th century frescoes from the Church of St. George at Chilandar
The monastery of Chilandar - Serbian Chilandar - was founded by Greek monks on Mount Athos towards the end of the 10th century. It was abandoned in the mid-12th century because pirates kept plundering it, but was soon renovated, in 1198, by Serbian monks guided by the monk Sava (St. Sava of Serbia) and his father Stefan Nemanja. Except for the ruins, they also came across a well-preserved sturdy pyrgos –tower– on top of which stood a small church, dedicated to St. George. It was renovated in 1203 by St. Sava of Serbia.
Monastery towers deteriorated in time. Chilandar monks, especially during the 16th and 17th centuries, tried to obtain help from Russian patrons, especially Russian tsars, for reconstruction of their church atop of the towers, among them the church dedicated to St. George, but their efforts were to no avail.
It was only during 1670/1671 that the architectural reconstruction of the church and security improvement projects became feasible thanks to the contributions from the Herzegovinian Metropolitan Basil (later canonized as St. Basil of Ostrog). His death, in April 1671, put a stop to reconstruction works.
The man who took over and continued the founders' project was hegumen (abbot) Victor, one of the most enterprising Chilandar leaders. He, most probably around 1672/1673, commissioned the iconostasis and the icons for it.
Around the year 1674, the author of these icons was entrusted, together with another painter, to fresco paint the church. After first plastering the walls which contained the remains of the frescoes from the time of St. Sava, they set to work. The choice of saints and scenes with which to cover the church walls, and their arrangements, was made by abbot Victor's. Among single saint portraits there are two groups of holy warriors, together with the holy physicians and the usual altar fresco arrangement. Particularly prominent are eight scenes depicting the torture and death of St. George.
Of the two fresco artists, the one who painted the iconostasis demonstrated solid knowledge. His portraits of the saints djsplay physical beauty, harmonious proportions, and finished silhouette of each figure. When choosing colour tone, this artist decided to use darker shades. Artistic abilities of the other painter appeared to be limited. In terms of his choice of colour tone, he stood in complete contrast to his colleague because he used thin brush strokes when painting saints. Such disregard for the painting practice of his time seemed refreshing but in terms of drawing he often lacked confidence.
Abbot Victor sponsored the fresco painting works at the church of St. George which can be concluded from the presentation of the rarely painted holy warrior Victor, the abbot's namesake. The warrior's portrait is shown in isolation and is found next to the iconostasis containing the icons of St. Save of Serbia and St. Simeon Nemanja. In fact, Victor's image is not seen carrying a scale model of the church, which was customary for the church patron. This is explained by the fact that the restoration works started with the contributions of Metropolitan Basil, so abbot Victor, wisely and thoughtfully, instructed the artist to paint a portrait of the saint whose name coincided with his, instead of a portrait of him holding the church model in his hand.
Abbot Victor died in 1678. It is very likely that the frescoes in the church of St. George were painted under his supervision around 1674. Above the church entrance, in a semi-round niche, one sees the portrait - added later, in 1686 - of St. George killing the dragon.
Peno Vesna,
Melod and scribe Germanos Neon Patron in Chilandar music manuscripts
In the period between 1650 and 1720, considered the climax of the epoch which saw the revival of interest in church-chanting tradition on the territory of former Byzantine, apart from Panagiotes the New Chrysaphes there was another music coryphaeus - Germanos, the bishop of New Patras. Both men made unique and quite personal contributions, especially in the field of melismatic-omamented chanting, and for a long time remained a role model to young music makers. They are remembered primarily by their original arrangements of the traditional sticheraric chant. In later years, Germanos 's version of the ornamental Sticherarium was more popular in musical practice than Chrysaphes 's.
There are two known Germanos's autographs of Sticherarium: manuscript no. 930, dating back to 1665 and belonging to the library of the Monastery of St. John the Divine on the island of Patmos, and Sinai codex no. 1505, written most probably around 1670.
Greek manuscript tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries abounds in transcripts of this Sticherarium, with examples found in both Greek and Slavic codices which are kept at in the chanters' treasure vault in Chilandar. Apart from the complete Sticherarium collection which comprise all sticherons for an ecclesiastical year, starting with the month of September and ending with the month of August, and sticherons from the triodion and pentecostarion, and together with the katabasis (morning canons) for particular celebrations and church holidays, numerous transcripts contain shorter versions of Sticherariums known under the name of doksastarions. The collection of this type, bearing the name of Germanos, is the one that appears in the Chilandar manuscript collection most frequently.
So far it can be said with certainty that Germanos 's sticheraric chants are found in nine Chilandar manuscripts, five of which are Slavic - nos. 54, 558, 559, 560 and 580, and four Greek- nos. 45, 89, 93, 99 and 167. Two oldest dated codices are the complete Sticherariums, no. 89, written by hieromonk Ignatius in 1741, and no. 45, completed by an unsigned scribe in December 1791.
Slavic Sticherariums were written during the third decade of the 19th century, right after Hurmuzije Hartofilaks, one of the three reformers of the neumatic system of notation, ,"translated" Germanos 's ornamental Sticherarium into the so-called new mode. During 1831 and 1832, this prolific scribe worked on the transcriptions which make up the content of four very extensive manuscripts which today are housed in the National Library of Greece and bare the markings of EBE MPT no. 747-750.
Given that other Greek musicians also worked on translation of Germanos's Sticherarium, primarily Mount Athos monks (the likes of scribe Joasaph whose autographs are kept in the Monastery of Dionysiou, and some others), it would be necessary to identify the melodic version that Chilandar scribes used as a model in their copying work. It is important also to recognize all specific attributes of Chilandar manuscripts and their melodic structures. Another specific feature of the Chilandar transcript of Germanos 's Sticherarium is that it contains hymns sung during church services for Serbian saints which exist neither in the original Germanos's autograph nor in other Greek codices that are based on his chant.
There is no doubt that Germanos 's melismatic melos was extremely important in church feast-day services and frequent, all-night-long vigils held in Mount Athos monasteries, but it was also necessary to compile adequate compendiums for chanters. Chilandar cantors required the same, and efforts were made in that respect for them to stay abreast of the singing trends that prevailed in their surrounding.
Tripkovic Stevica M.,
The 1814 restoration of the monastic quarters at Chilandar
The fire that broke out in Chilandar in the early hours of 4th March 2004 engulfed more than a half of the monastery's fortified complex. Majority of the monastic quarters at the monastery, together with the parecclesions, reception quarters, offices, workshops, pantries and other facilities, were severely damaged or completely destroyed in the fire. The 1814 konak (monastic residence) was to be restored first because it was easily accessible, had a relatively small usable area and a simple construction. Built between 1810 and 1814, this konak comprised a cellar, ground floor and two floors above it. During the second half of the 20th century, a hall was created by joining of two rooms on the top floor and it served for the council of elders to meet there, thus the name of the object - Synodikon Hall. During the reconstruction works, much of the object's exterior and the specific colouring of its fac;ade were restored to their appearance before the fire. The organization of the inner space underwent changes that are more suitable to the monastery's present needs, i.e. the basement and the ground floor were converted into a bookshop with storage space, while the Synodikon Hall on the second floor was extended. This way the konak obtained additional floors, structured as a gallery; one in the basement, another above the ground and instead of four floors there were six of them now. The biggest change happened to the supporting structure of the building where, for reasons of statics, modern materials such as reinforced concrete and steel had to be used. The project for restoration of the konak's 1814 appearance also served as a pilot project for establishing modalities of cooperation with the Greek agency for the protection of the Mount Athos architectural heritage KEDAK - the only such organization with the authority to work on the territory of Mount Athos - and for newly formed group of builders to gather useful experience. During the project development and construction works, a most detailed study of the origins and architecture of this, and the nearby buildings, was carried out. Valuable experience was collected, and also defined were the principles for the protection of the authenticity of the building where the use of new materials and application of constructive solutions were inevitable, all of which are expected to be applied in future renovation projects, naturally with a certain degree of critical re-evaluation.
Bubalo Djordje,
Chilandar and the Ston tribute in the 19th century
In 1333, King Dusan sold Ston and the Peljesac Peninsula to Dubrovnik for 8.000 hyperpyra and an animal tribute of 500 hyperpyra. That is how the so-called Ston tribute was established. The same monarch conveyed later the tribute entitlements to the Serbian monastery of St. Archangel in Jerusalem. After the monastery in Jerusalem was abandoned, the monks from the Serbian monasteries on the Mount Athos - Chilandar and St. Paul - using counterfeit charters and exploiting the pressure from the Ottoman authorities on Dubrovnik became the beneficiaries of the Ston tribute at the end of the 15th century. These monasteries kept receiving the until the beginning of the 19th century. The fall of the Dubrovnik Republic brought an end to the practice of collecting tribute.
The Mount Athos monks, however, kept hoping the practice would be reestablished. The brotherhood of Chilandar Monastery made efforts to that effect in the mid-19th century. The Monastery of St Paul, having become Greek, did not participate in this diplomatic undertaking. Since the territory of the former Republic of Dubrovnik was under Austrian rule, the Chilandar monks requested that Austria takes over the commitment from old Dubrovnik and continues paying the contributions to Chilandar. The Chilandar monks send petitions to the Austrian Consulate in Belgrade on three occasions between 1847 and 1855, with the mediation and assistance from the Belgrade Metropolitanate and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Principality of Serbia.
In mid-1847 the Chilandar mission, comprising of hieromonk Cyriacus, and monks Metrophanes and Cyril, delivered to the Austrian consul, with the mediation of the Belgrade Metropolitan, a petition for reinstatement of Stone tribute. The petition also contained copies of the counterfeit charters of Tsar Uros (1358) and Sultana Mara Brankovi6 (1479), and their German translations, which were once used to confirm the entitlement of the monasteries of Chilandar and St. Paul to Ston tribute. The Austrian side, however, never sent a reply. Thus, the Chilandar monks sent a new mission to Serbia, in the autumn of 1851. Once again the Metropolitan of Belgrade, Peter, assumed the role of mediator and once again there was no answer from the Austrian Consul.
The Chilandar monks were not giving up and the situation gained momentum in 1853 when Chilandar Archimandrite Onuphrius Popovic, determined, energetic and capable monk who tirelessly, always and everywhere, represented interests of the monastery, came to Serbia. Towards the end of 1853, Onuphrius handed the Austrian Consul Teodor Radosavljevi6 an elaborate petition and the copies of charters of Tsar Uros and Sultana Mara Brankovi6, certified by the Belgrade Town Court and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Much like the Chilandar monks before him, Onuphrius also pleaded with the Austrian government, which now was the legal successor of the former Republic of Dubrovnik, to accept the responsibility for paying contributions to Chilandar. At the same time, he reminded them that the Monastery of St. Paul was no longer Serbian and as such was not eligible to receive Ston tribute. Since the answer was taking months to arrive, Archimandrite Onuphrius submitted a new petition to the Austrians, in June 1854. The reply from the Austrian Consulate finally arrived in February 1855. The Austrian Consul to Belgrade, Teodor Radosavljevi6, informed Archimandrite Onuphrius that the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, acting on the Chilandar request, had requested an investigation into the Dubrovnik Archives and Dubrovnik documents that were in Vienna at the time. Using a strict selection of documents, but also a free interpretation of their content, the Austrians arrived at a conclusion whereby the Chilandar petition was rejected: a single document from 1501 was used to prove that tribute payments were completely discontinued at that time when they, in fact, were only temporarily suspended, and that with the disappearance of the Republic of Dubrovnik all of its obligation ceased to exist.
Despite Austria's apparent refusal to meet Chilandar requirements, Onuphrius did not admit defeat. That same year, in the spring, he sought money from the Serbian government so he could travel to Dubrovnik and look for proof of Chilandar privileges there. Instead of Dubrovnik, the Serbian government dispatched him to Constantinople to continue representing interests of the Monastery of Chilandar in disputes over confiscated property. This marked the end of the last attempt to re-establish the practice of collecting Stone tribute. Hopes of it happening ever again were abandoned permanently.
