History

The Sopocani Monastery, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was founded by King Uros I. The church and the narthex were built in the 1260s. The exonarthex with the bell-tower was added in the first half of the fourteenth century. Several members of the royal family were buried in the monastery, including the King’s mother Anne Dandolo, Stefan the First Crowned, Grand Duke George and Uros I himself. Fresco painting of the church was completed in 1270. The exterior part of the narthex was carried out after two reconstructions of the bell-tower, in the time of Dusan. Shortly after the Kosovo battle the monastery suffered serious damages, and was restored during the rule of Despot Stefan, when certain alterations were made, especially in fortification. Additional building works also were performed on the central gate, and the tower was erected. In later history the monastery was seriously damaged several times by the Turks.

The Church is a single nave building with a semicircular apse and a narthex facing west. The nave consists of three bays, the central one being domed. Flanking the narthex, there are two adjoining chapels which are fully separate chambers. The exterior appearance of the church is Romanesque. The portal and the windows are made of stone. The master builders may have come from the Adriatic region.

The earliest frescoes, those in the nave, were created in 1273-4. Due to the large size of the saints’figures, there are relatively few scenes on the walls. The compositions of the Assumption of the All-Holy Virgin and the Festival Cycle stand out. The founders’composition is on the south side of the nave, representing Uros I on the throne awaiting the Virgin who leads Stefan Nemanja, Stefan the First Crowned and Uros I with the church model.

The frescoes in the narthex were painted later. For the first time in Serbian painting the Ecumenical Councils, the story of Joseph, the Last Judgment and the Jessee Tree were placed in such a part of the church. The composition of the etah of Queen Ann Dandolo on the north walls bears special significance: over the catafalque stands her son Uros I with his sons Dragutin and Milutin, as well as the other members of the royal family. Kneeling in front of the catafalque there is the king’s wife Queen Helen d’Anjou. The painting is strikingly similar to the composition of the Assumption of the All-Holy Virgin. Along the cast of the south walls, members of the royal family were painted once more, the King with the Queen and their sons.

The frescoes in the two chapels were painted at a later date. Noteworthy are the representations of the death of Stefan Nemanja in the south chapel, and the transfer of his relics to Studenica. Fragments of the fourteenth century frescoes have been preserved in the deteriorated added outer narthex, showing portraits of Emperor Dushan and his wife Helen.

The Sopocani frescoes are the most eminent examples of European painting at that time. What the painters of Sopocani attained in linearity and coloring have been surpassed only in the Italian Renaissance.

Visoki Decani Monastery is situated in the western part of the UN administered Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohia. It was built between 1327 and 1335 by the Serbian medieval king St. Stephen of Decani and was dedicated to the Ascension of the Lord. The monastery is settled in the picturesque valley of the Bistrica river surrounded by the mountains and forests of the Prokletije mountain range It is the largest and best preserved medieval monastery in Serbia. During its turbulent history the Monastery was an important spiritual centre with developed artistic and intellectual activities. Although the monastery buildings suffered damage from the Turkish occupation, the church has been completely preserved with beautiful 14th century fresco paintings. Today a young brotherhood of 30 brethren lives in the monastery continuing the centuries old tradition of the past. The brotherhood has developed various activities: wood carving, icon painting, book publishing and is also active in the missionary work. The beautiful monastic services are served according to the typicon of Mount Athos.

Visoki Dečani Monastery is a major Serbian Orthodox monastery, situated in Metohija, 12 km south from the town of Pec. Its cathedral is the biggest medieval church in the Balkans which contains the largest preserved monument of Byzantine fresco-painting.

The monastery was established in a chestnut grove by king Stefan Dečanski in 1327. Its original founding charter is dated to 1330, however. Next year the king died and was buried at the monastery, which henceforth became his popular shrine. The construction activities were continued by his son Stefan Dusan until 1335, but the wall-painting was not completed until 1350.

The cathedral, dedicated to Christ Pantocrator and built from blocks of red-purple, light-yellow and onyx marble, was constructed by master-builders under the Franciscan monk Vitus of Kotor. It is distinguished from other contemporary Serbian churches by its imposing dimensions and obvious Romanesque features. Its celebrated frescoes comprise some 1000 portraits and cover all major themes of the New Testament. The cathedral contains original 14th-century wooden iconostasis, hegumen’s throne and carved sarcophagus of king Stefan.

In 2004, UNESCO listed the monastery on the World Heritage List, citing its frescoes as “one of the most valued examples of the so-called Palaeologan renaissance in Byzantine painting” and “a valuable record of the life in the 14th century”.

UNESCO’s decision to include Visoki Decani Monastery on the World Heritage List is happy and encouraging news for our entire people, as well as a great recognition for our monastery, which is a pearl of medieval Serbian Christian art.

For centuries Decani with its medieval Romanic architecture and Byzantine Serbian frescoes has been the bridge that connected peoples and cultures, attesting that the sublimity, spirituality and beauty of artistic creations supercedes transient values and political conflicts.

Decani continues in this role today. Although a Serbian Orthodox monastery built by the Holy King Stefan of Decani at the beginning of the 14th century and a part of the Serbian cultural heritage, Visoki Decani is also a part of the local cultural heritage of Kosovo and Metohija and should be the pride and responsibility of all residents of this region regardless of their ethnicity or religious affiliation.

For this reason we believe that the addition of the monastery of Visoki Decani to the UNESCO World Heritage List will make it possible to better protect our holy shrine during these difficult times for future generations and to serve as a bridge to more easily connect and reconcile the people living in Kosovo and Metohija. We must all be aware that spiritual and cultural values supercede political conflicts and that they transcend narrow national and territorial boundaries. My brethren and I therefore feel it is a great honor that we have the privilege of serving God in this holy place despite the fact that we are living through what may be the most difficult times in the history of this monastery.

The attitude toward Decani as part of the world cultural heritage, as well as the attitude toward other Christian monuments, will be the indicator to what extent local society is ready to accept European and world cultural and civilizational values; hence, we expect greater understanding and support of all people of good will, especially the Kosovo Albanians. I sincerely hope that the sense of responsibility and awareness will prevail among them that a future in Europe and the civilized world cannot be built on the ashes of churches and destruction of Christian culture which through the centuries survived numerous occupations and campaigns of destruction

Fresco paintings of Visoki Decani Monastery – jewels of the 14th century art

Visoki Decani Monastery, the first cultural monument on the territory of Kosovo Province, to be inscribed in the list of UNESCO World Heritage has long been known as one of the architecturally most interesting and best preserved Serbian medieval churches in which traditions of Romanesque architecture meet artistic patterns of the Byzantine world. However, Decani Monastery paintings were often regarded as of lesser artistic value to frescoes in some other Serbian Monasteries in Raska and Kosovo regions. The most recent photographing of the entire fresco-painting of Decani Monastery has revealed a beauty of fresco painting which has so far largerly remained unnoticed in academic and iconographic circles. In this edition of the ERP KIM Info-service Newsletter we are presenting only some of the most beautiful fresco compositions which decorate walls of the Decani Monastery church. The Monastery and the NGO MNEMOSYNE from Belgrade are working currently on publishing of a large and richly illustrated Monography of the Decani Monastery which will present the artistic values of this holy shrine to the wider public.

History

The monastery of Chilandar is first mentioned in a Greek manuscript of 1015, but as being “completely abandoned and empty”, for which reason it was given to the monastery of Kastamonitou. It was certainly established a good hundred years earlier: a certain George Chelandarios (Boatman), mentioned among important Athonites in 980 was probably the founder of the monastery, which was subsequently called after him (h monh tou Celandariou). The monastery’s name appears thus in Greek acts of the 11th and 12th centuries, but later, in the first Serbian sources, it takes the form of Hilandar (D. Anastasijevich). At that time the monastery was already dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple (November 21). The last appearance of the form Chelandar is in a Protaton act of 1169, the signatories of which included abbot Gerasimus of Chelandar. After this, the monastery declined and was abandoned, like many other small monasteries and kellia at Milees, as this part of Athos was called in the Middle Ages. Up till that time, the area had been prey to constant attacks by pirates and brigands of various kinds.

Chilandar was renewed by the Grand Zhupan of Serbia Stefan Nemanja (the monk Simeon) and his son Rastko (St. Sava). Sava came to Athos in 1191 and was shorn in Roussikon, but soon moved to the Greek monastery of Vatopedi. Here he awaited his father, who had renounced the throne, entered the monastery of Studenica in Serbia in 1196, and in November the following year came to Athos as the megaloschemos (senior monk wearing the great habit) Simeon. Father and son immediately undertook all that was necessary to found a Serbian house on the Holy Mountain. First of all, early in 1198, Sava obtained from Emperor Alexius III in Constantinople a gold-sealed sigillion transferring the abandoned small monastery of Chilandar (Helandar) from the protos to Vatopedi, for the purpose of its restoration. The sigillion was accompanied by the appropriate documents: prostagma and praktikon (catastral document on the boundaries of Chilandar’s estate). Work on the construction of Chilandar then commenced. Sava and Simeon managed to overcome Vatopedi’s opposition to giving Chilandar to the Serbs with the aid of the Karyes protos and Assembly, who together sent a request to the emperor that Chilandar be handed over to Simeon and Sava. The latter personally requested Alexius to give the monastery the independent status enjoyed by Iviron (a Georgian monastery) and Amalfitans (Italian). Emperor Alexius agreed, and by a chrysobull of June 1198 placed Chilandar with all the holy places at Milees under the authority and administration of Simeon and Sava as a completely self-governing monastery, “to be a gift to the Serbs in perpetuity”. Shortly after, in the latter half of 1198, Simeon Nemanja issued a gold-sealed charter to Chilandar constituting it as a Serbian monastery and the hereditary foundation of the Nemanjich family. At the same time, the nucleus of Chilandar’s landed property was created: Alexius gave Simeon the serfs of nine villages in the Prizren district for Chilandar; in addition, the monastery was given two vineyards, four bee-farms, one mountain and 170 Vlach shepherds, together with some separate contributions of cattle and salt. Nemanja’s son and successor on the Grand Zhupan’s throne helped his father and brother to raise Chilandar as quickly as possible In this connection, the first abbot of Chilandar, Methodius (Metodije), visited Serbia in 1198.

The monastery was still not quite completed when Simeon died on February 13, 1199. The church, however, was certainly finished for Simeon died in the narthex and was buried in the church. Sava thereupon speeded up the construction and completed the monastery by the end of that year. In the spring of 1199 he again visited Constantinople and obtained another gold-sealed sigillion from Alexius (in June), which gave Chilandar the old, abandoned monastery of Zygos (now in ruins, on the western slope of Megale Vigla), and the right to keep a boat of 1000 measures, as well as confirming all the privileges and rights conferred by the bull of 1198. After this, Sava set about organizing and strengthening the monastery. At the start, Chilandar had only ten or fifteen monks, counting the first abbot, Methodius, but not Simeon and Sava. Six years later, the figure had reached ninety Serbian monks. The monastery’s rule was prescribed by the Chilandar typikon, drawn up by Sava along the lines of the prologue of the typikon of the Constantinoplitan monastery of the Virgin Evergetis (i.e. Benefactress), shortly after St. Simeon’s death and the completion of the monastery (1199). At that time Stefan Nemanjich issued a charter confirming his father’s decrees concerning this foundation and bestowing on it another fifteen villages, markets, mountains and vineyards in Serbia.

On the model of the Evergetis monastery, which adhered to the cenobitic rule observed in the monastery of Studios in Constantinople, Chilandar was thus founded as a cenobitic house in which the monks formed a close-knit community, working, eating and praying together under the rule of an abbot. Spiritual activities were given priority. The first chapter of the typikon, after an ideological introduction and information on the foundation of the monastery, with a note or the death of the holy Simeon, is devoted to prescribing the various forms of worship. It was important that the Chilandar monks should regularly receive the Sacrament under the spiritual supervision of the abbot or a spiritual father, with daily confession. The regulations concerning communal meals likewise are more concerned with the spiritual benefits of meditation whilst listening to religious texts than with the discipline of meals, though attention is also paid to this.

The monastery was to be free of both the Protaton and imperial authority. This independence, on which great insistance is placed in the Chilandar typikon (chapters 12 and 13), is reflected in particular in the monastery’s complete autonomy in choosing its abbot, with no need for subsequent imperial confirmation. Imperial authority was only symbolically represented in the abbot’s staff. The abbot was chosen by a qualified electoral body comprising: the oikonomos or steward, ecclesiarch, and ten to twelve senior monks. The actual election took place in the church, where the newly-elected abbot was then enthroned. The oikonomos was the most important monastic functionary after the abbot, and the latter’s potential successor. He had two assistants: the paroikonomos and external oikonomos. After the oikonomos came the ecclesiarch whose duty was to look after the church and divine office, usually with the aid of a parecclesiarch. The docheiares was in charge of the monastery’s finances. The typikon also provide for other duties: monks in charge of the refectory, the keys, the baking of bread, fishing, and the mules (strator). Perfect order and obedience were required in all things, so that the primary spiritual purposes of life in the monastic community would be kept fully in mind. “Piety, love and unity” are more important than numbers, for “it is better there should be only one who does the Lord’s will than a multitude of lawless ones” (chapter 25). Nor did Sava overlook charitable activity of the kind much practiced in the monasteries of Constantinople. Beside the monastery guesthouse (xenodocheion) was built for the reception of foreign monks and the infirm, while within the monastery itself a chamber was set aside as an infirmary, the first Serbian institution of this kind, with beds for seriously ill monks and a brother whose duty it was to nurse the sick. The hospital was later expanded and a separate income and free equipment allocated for it (Dushan and Lazar’s charters). Treatment followed the latest West European methods, based on the clas­sical traditions of Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides and others (Chilandar has important manuscripts with medical texts from the late 14th and mid- 16th centuries).

Desiring greater solitude and divine quietness (Hesychasm), Sava founded a hermitage, a kellion dedicated to his patron, St. Sabas of Jerusalem, at Karyes as early as 1199. Its status and way of life were laid down by Sava’s Karyes typikon, still preserved on its original parch­ment scroll at Chilandar. The text of this is also carved above the main door of the church in the Karyes hermitage, which was for that reason later known as Tipikarnica. The Karyes typikon belongs to the so-called “skete” (anchorite) rules, whereby two or three solitary monks recite the entire psalter by “hours” day and night, with strict fasting and all types of abstinence. A similar regime was probably introduced in other Chilandar kellia and towers kpyrgoi), built in the 13th and 14th centuries. Before 1262, King Urosh I of Serbia had the Transfiguration Tower built half an hour’s walk uphill from the monastery towards the south (now Spasova Voda). In 1302 King Milutin raised Hrusija, known as Basil’s Tower, beside Chilandar’s harbour, explicitly giving it the status of an independent kellion . It is noticeable that these towers and kellia were built in places that were both strategically important and also suitable for spiritual activity and in­tellectual work in complete tranquility: the Karyes hermitage at the very top of the Karyes depression, with a magnificent view of Athos and the sea; Hrusija – on an isolated rock above the sea, dominating the coastline; the Transfiguration Tower on a cliff terrace with a distant view of the sea, in a lonely inaccessible, wooded spot. Chilandar was thus intended to cultivate all degrees of Orthodox spirituality and asceticism, from the “common” one, open to all, in a community, to the elite withdrawal into solitude of two or three monks for the purpose of contemplation, Hesychastic prayer and literary work.

The economic basis of Chilandar’s existence in the Middle Ages was its landed property. From the nine villages and other gifts in the Prizren region bestowed on the monastery by Simeon Nemanja’s founding charter in 1198, Chilandar’s estates expanded during the 13th and 14th centuries into the largest complex of monastic holdings in medieval Serbia, stretching “from Thes­salonica to north of Parachin”. The precise size and economic potential of these estates have still not been studied, but they are known to have included huge areas of land in the Pech and Hvosno regions, in the Pomoravlje region (beside the River Morava), in the Thessalonica and Struma (Strymon) areas, and particularly on Chalcidice. By the beginning of the 15th century, Chilandar had over thirty metochia with 360 villages over which it exercised full feudal rights, “together with considerable judicial, administrative and financial privileges, so that it virtually constituted a state within a state” (R. Grujich). By the mid- 14th century, Chilandar possessed almost a fifth of the Athos peninsula alone, which means about 60 square kilometres.

The rich archives of Chilandar monastery, with 172 Greek, 154 Serbian and two Bulgarian charters from the Middle Ages (the Russian and Romanian charters are of later date), combined with other sources, make it possible to reconstruct in considerable detail the monastery’s history in the 13th and 14th centuries, and its growth in spiritual, economic and political importance. Without exaggeration, Chilandar may be described as the centre of medieval Serbia’s spiritual life and an important intermediary and representative in Serbia’s relations with Byzantium. Without its intermediary role, it is inconceivable that Serbia would have adopted Byzantine civilization and the classical heritage. As it was, the elite of the Serbian Church, literature and theology passed through Chilandar. In the eyes of Byzantium, Chilandar was a lasting proof of Serbian legitimacy, recognized and confirmed by imperial chrysobulls. Enjoying the status of a Byzantine “imperial lavra”, this rich and independent monastery was Serbia’s best diplomatic mission in Byzantium. On the most delicate questions of war and peace, in the complex negotiation of international treaties, and on other matters involving Serbo-Byzantine relations, Chilandar was called upon by both sides during the 13th and 14th centuries to serve as an active interpreter of certain policies. Particularly prominent in these activities, of course, were the abbots of Chilandar, who were clearly chosen with the previous approval of the Serbian ruler.

Not all the 13th-century abbots are known. The first was Methodius, appointed by St. Simeon himself, who helped Sava to restore and complete the monastery. He was an active participant in Sava’s undertakings involving not only the founding of a Serbian spiritual centre on Athos but also the establishment of the Serbian medieval Church and statehood. At the invitation of his brother Stefan, in 1206 Sava transported the relics of St. Simeon to Serbia and remained there as archimandrite of the Studenica monastery. Eleven years later, in 1217, he returned to Athos and set about gaining an independent, autocephalous archbishopric for Serbia. This he achieved in Nicaea in 1219. On his return to Serbia via Chilandar, he brought with him not only books on which he would build the new Church and state organization (Krmchija-Code) but also people who were to serve as bishops and help him to implement his plans. One of these men was probably Methodius, who was to become bishop of Rascia (Serbia). St. Sava visited the Holy Mountain only once more, on his return from his first pilgrimmage to the Holy Land in 1230, but we do not know who was abbot of Chilandar at the time.

The third Serbian archbishop, Sava II, youngest son of King Stefan Prvovenchani (Stephen the First-Crowned), Predislav, had also been a monk on Mount Athos before 1263. At that time the abbot of Chilandar was Joannikios (Joaniije), who became Serbian archbishop in 1272. He was succeeded as abbot of Chilandar by Eustathius (Jevstatije, 1262-1265), who was to leave the monastery to become bishop of Zeta and then archbishop of Serbia (1279-1286). He was followed at the end of the century by abbots Stephen (Stefan) and Cyriacus (Kirijak), and at the beginning of the 14th century by Arsenius (Arsenije) and perhaps Sava.

Throughout this period, Chilandar was acquiring growing prestige and expanding its estates (charters of the Byzantine emperor John Ducas Vatatzes and Michael VIII Palaeologus, and the Serbian kings Vladislav, Urosh I and Dragutin). But the most important benefactor was King Milutin (1282-1321), who greatly enhanced the economic and political might of the Serbian state and made the first serious incursions into Byzantine territory, in Macedonia, thereby expos­ing Serbia to even stronger Byzantine social and cultural influence. At the same time he raised Chilandar’s reputation and religious-political significance. By the late 13th century the monastery’s numbers had increased considerably, but it was constantly threatened by piratical attacks and local anarchy. Milutin therefore tried not only to beautify Chilandar, building a new main church on the foundations of the old one in 1293, but also to reinforce and extend the existing fortifications. The new buildings were Hrusija by the harbour and what is known as Milutin’s Tower at the entrance from Sava’s Field into the narrow valley of the Chilandar stream, beside the path leading to the monastery. Both keeps were built in 1302 and manned by guards from Prizren. Their value was proved shortly after, in 1307, when the Catalan mercenaries mutinied and attacked Chilandar. On that occasion, Daniel (Danilo) abbot from 1306 commanded its defence, displaying exceptional courage and military skill.

Daniel (Danilo) was a remarkable figure in the history of Chilandar and of the whole Serbian Church. In direct contact with the hub of spiritual life on Athos in the first decades of the 14th century, acquainted with the great Greek thinkers, theologians and church dignitaries who lived on or visited Athos, Daniel did much to ensure that Byzantine influence on medieval Serbia took deep and lasting root. As abbot, following the example of St. Sava, he spent some time in the Karyes hermitage (probably 1310-1311). Subsequently, he went to Serbia to help build up the autocephalous Church and, perhaps even more, to aid King Milutin in political affairs by serving as an intermediary and diplomat. After becoming bishop of Banjska in 1312, he soon returned to Athos, until 1316, when he became bishop of Hum (1317). Again he returned to the Holy Mountain, until 1324, when he was translated to the archbishopric of Serbia, an office he held till his death in 1338. Daniel was the first in a line of Chilandar abbots who also served as statesmen and diplomats. His successor at Chilandar, Nicodemus (Nikodim), was abbot from 1312-1316, and archbishop from 1317-1324. Nicodemus visited Constantinople on a diplomatic mission in 1313, and obtained two chrysobulls with further land (1313 and 1316) from Emperor Andronicus II. During his rule as abbot, the Karyes kellion was restored and fortified, through the labour of the elder Theodulus (1312). Nicodemus himself spent some time as a brother in this kellion.

The outstanding figure in Chilandar’s history in the 14th century was undoubtedly abbot Gervasius (1317-1336). Grand oikonomos during Nicodemus’s period as abbot, Gervasius (Gervasije) assumed the leadership of Chilandar at a time of dynamic growth in relations between Byzantium and Serbia. On the other hand, he himself, together with some of the monastery’elders (particularly Callinicus, spiritual father of Queen Simonis) played a major role in settling and promoting these relations. He is rightly described as “the most capable abbot, to whose almost twenty years of administration Chilandar owed the major part of its landed wealth, an excellent diplomat and statesman who probably spent less time in the monastery than in the court of Serbian and Byzantine rulers, and whose influence, direct or indirect, is felt at almost all important moments in the history of Byzantine-Serbian relations in the third and fourth decades of the 14th century.” (V. Moshin). As a diplomat, Gervasius served not only Milutin but also Stefan Dechanski and even King Dushan. He took part in the work of the Serbian State Assembly, an had a hand in a huge number of imperial and royal acts: of the 146 Greek acts relating to Chilarndar from the 14th century, 95 date from Gervasius’s period as abbot.

After Gervasius’s death, changes occurred in the political orientation of Chilandar which thenceforth relied more on Serbia. This is the reign of King, later Emperor Dushan (1331-1355), who annexed considerable territories of the Byzantine Empire to his state, including (from 1345 on) the territory of the Holy Mountain. Gervasius’s successor, Arsenius (1336-1345, died 1348), while still spiritual father of Chilandar was Dushan’s spiritual advisor. Dushan raised Chilandar to the highest point in the whole of its medieval history. His ten charters provided it with the bulk of its landed property. On Athos itself, he grouped the monastery’s holdings (1347-1348), showing great generosity to other monasteries in order to carry this through. In the same year, Dushan together with his wife, the Empress Helen (Jelena), took refuge from the plague at Chilandar, and devoted his full attention to the Holy Mountain.

In the second half of the 14th century there was a quick turnover of abbots. Those in Dushan’s reign were Callinicus, Theodulus (elder of the Karyes kellion), Sava (later Serbian patriarch as Sava IV, 1354-1375), followed by John, Dorotheus and, for brief periods, Theodosius, Callistus, John, Euthymius, Neophytus and others. The most important of these was Dorotheus (Dorotej, 1355-1361), who strove tenaciously to defend Chilandar’s rights and restore its old privileges. During the seventh decade of the 14th century, Dorotheus became protos of the Holy Mountain, and in this position did much to benefit Serbian monasticism on Athos despite the religious schism that had occurred when Patriarch Callistus of Constantinople excom­municated the Serbs in 1350 following Dushan’s unauthorized action in raising the Serbian Church to the rank of a patriarchate. A Chilandar monk and Serb, the elder Isaiah, served as an intermediary, together with his pupils Nicander and Silvester, and with the former protos Theophanes and Nicodemus the Greek, between the Serbian Church and Constantinople Patriarch (1375). Their objectives were to get the excommunication raised, establish church unity and obtain recognition for the autocephalous Serbian patriarchate. This was the last but a most important and successful diplomatic mission undertaken by Athonite Serbs in relations between Serbia and Byzantium before the downfall of the independent state and Turkish conquest.

At the end of the 14th and particularly in the early 15th century, when Serbian lands were ruled by princes and despots, Chilandar’s landed property continued to expand, as shown by many charters issued by Serbian rulers of that period. Before the Battle of Kosovo, the Serbian Prince Lazar (1371-1389), continuing the Nemanjich tradition, became its benefactor. He had an exonarthex added to the main Chilandar church (“Lazar’s narthex”). In 1379 he donated the village of Jelashnica in the Hvosno region to the monastery’s infirmary. Lazar’s chrysobull on this, sanctioned and signed by Patriarch Spyridon, is preserved at Chilandar (Ills. 21, 19). The Battle of Kosovo, however, brought disruption to Chilandar’s relations with Serbia, not only because of the Turkish conquest but also because of the ensuing conflicts between the Brankovich and Lazarevich families. At first, the Brankoviches had the greater influence: the Chilandar monk Gerasimus was the brother of Vuk Brankovich, head of the family. Princess Milica (Lazar’s widow) and his son, Stefan Lazarevich, abolished the contribution from the rich town of Novo Brdo which Lazar had previously donated to Chilandar, and which meant a great deal for the monastery’s survival at a time when the income from its landed property was losing its former value. Though the Brankoviches made gifts to Chilandar (a charter from 1393 from Vuk Brankovich has been preserved), its economic position could be repaired only by improving rela­tions with the Lazareviches. This occurred after the deaths of Vuk and Gerasimus. At the request of two Chilandar monks (the elder John – Jovan – and Father Theodore), Despot Stefan restored the Novo Brdo income of 100 litres of silver annually by a charter issued in 1405. Dubrovnik likewise undertook to pay Chilandar 500 ducats a year.

In addition to such gifts, new forms of material bequests and new relations with benefactors appeared. At Chilandar, Serbian rulers and feudal lords bought so-called adrphat (adeiphaton) the right to lifelong maintenance of a certain number of monks, for themselves and members of their families, in case the need should arise for them to withdraw from the world to a monastery. The founder’s right of this kind was used by both Lazareviches and Brankoviches, who also aided other Athos monasteries until the final downfall of Serbia in 1459. Thus the Athonite monasteries, especially Chilandar, served as a place of refuge for the last Serbian ruling and noble houses. Blind Grgur Brankovich, son of Despot Djuradj Brankovich, died on October 16, 1459, as the monk Germanus on Chilandar’s metochion in the Struma (Strymon) district, and was buried at Chilandar. It is probable that certain church dignitaries, deprived of their eparchies or monasteries by war, took shelter at Chilandar. We know for certain that this was the case with the metropolitan of Serrai (Sirrhae), Sava (1381, 1386), and the metropolitan of Melnik, Cyril.

The Turkish conquests immediately after the Battle on the Maritza, following the first occupation of Athos, and above all after 1430, caused grave unrest among the Holy Mountain monks and even an exodus. Whereas former rulers, feudal lords and high church dignitaries sought asylum on Athos, many of the monks fled northward. Before the downfall of the despotate, this wave of Holy Mountain emigrants had reached the Serbian state in the Morava valley; interesting details of this are contained in the Life of Romilus of Ravanica. Violence and lawlessness prevailed throughout the entire region. Despite the special firman (decree) issued by Sultan Mehmed II in 1457 confirming the ancient liberties of the Holy Mountain monasteries, the monks of Athos shared the fate of the Orthodox monks in all the Balkan lands under the Turks. The moving testimony of Ottoman brutality preserved in monastic records should not be regarded as “exaggeration”.

In the second half of the 14th century, Chilandar lost most of its vast estates. Though it retained its land on Chalcidice, all its property was now subject to heavy taxation. (Today, Chilandar has only three villages outside the Holy Mountain: the metochia of Kumitza, Kakovo and Kalamaria.) Disputes over land with neighbouring Athos monasteries were to become a fresh and chronic source of economic hardship. In view of this, political and economic support had be secured elsewhere. As early as 1503, the despot’s wife Angelina Brankovich begged the Russian Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich to protect Chilandar and Roussikon. In the middle of the century, if not before, monks from Chilandar went to Russia themselves. In 1550, abbot Paissius with three elders visited Moscow to request Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Ivan the Terrible) for help and protection. The Russian czar intervened with the sultan, seeking concessions for Chilandar. He also permitted the collection of contributions in Russia, and himself made rich gifts to the monastery (1556). Thus, Ivan the Terrible became another benefactor and restorer of Chilandar “like previous emperors”. Chilandar’s delegation, probably the first with this standing, did not return to Athos until 1557. This marked the beginning of regular trips to Russia by Chilandar’s monks which were to continue until the 19th century. By a special charter kgramata) of 1571, Ivan the Terrible presented Chilandar with a mansion in Moscow. Czar Fyodor (Theodore) Ivanovich confirmed the status of the Chilandar mansion and made further gifts (1586), while a golden bull of 1591, issued to abbot Gregory, entrusted Chilandar’s monks with the duty of repairing Roussikon, renewing their right to collect contributions in Russia. All the imperial gifts were confirmed by Czar Boris Fyodorovich in a golden-sealed gramata of 1603, and subsequently reaffirmed by Mihail (Michael) Fyodorovich (1624), Aleksei (Alexius) Mihailovich (1658 and 1660) and finally by Ivan and Petar Alekseyevich (Peter the Great) in gramate of 1684.

All this time the monastery managed to maintain itself, despite numerous difficulties. It is known to have had 200 monks in 1560, and not many fewer (170) in 1579. The cenobitic order remained in force. The authority of Chilandar’s abbots seems to have been unquestioned throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, and was even enhanced in the 17th, when the monastery was headed by such distinguished abbots as Philip, Hilarion, Victor, Gabriel and Simeon. A particularly important figure was abbot Victor (c. 1652-1678), who has gone down in Chilandar’s history for his large-scale building projects. During the time of abbot Gabriel and the early years of Simeon, the monastery nevertheless became overburdened with debts, a crisis which led to a decline in its numbers. At this point a decisive role in saving and successfully renewing the monastery was played by the brother of the Chilandar monk and later abbot, Simeon, a Serbian merchant living in Venice, who subsequently lived on the Holy Mountain, from 1662 onwards, as the monk Nikanor in one of St. Paul’s kellia (of the Saviour). At the request of the Chilandar brothers, he moved in 1671 to the kellion at Spasova Voda, where he remained the spiritual father of Chilandar until his death in 1685. He made many valuable gifts to Chilandar, paid off its debts, and supplied it with books and vessels. He undertook extensive building work at Spasova Voda: he raised the church of the Holy Trinity “from its foundations”, repaired old cells, and bestowed gifts on the churches of the Transfiguration and St. Sava. Chilandar has a large number of books in its library which were presented by the elder Nikanor. His name is still mentioned with gratitude as a “second founder” of Chilandar. If we are to believe Josif Georgirenis archbishop of Samos, whose book on Athos was published in English in London in 1678, at that time the Serbian monastery had the largest number of monks: up to eight hundred. Even if this was an exaggeration or a mistaken calculation based on the monastery’s physical obligations, it is clear that the generosity of the elder Nikanor helped the monastery to overcome one of its gravest crises.

An important source of income during the 16th and 17th centuries, and later, was contributions from devout Christians throughout the Balkans, which were collected by Chilandar monks, often led by eminent and capable elders. The monastery has kept books of contributors, the so-called pa russia or proskomidia, since the names of the benefactors were to be mentioned in the prothesis chapel during the liturgy. The oldest book of this kind dates from the 16th century. Beside the name of the contributor, the date and place were recorded, thus making it possible to reconstruct the areas in which Chilandar exerted its influence.

The collection and recording of contributions was not to “go begging” (as was mistakenly thought for a long time). The most eminent monks of Chilandar would set off on this mission, carrying with them not only Gospels and similar books for liturgical purposes but also the Lives of Serbian rulers and archbishops, which they would read to the contributors and thereby keep alive the knowledge of history. Whereas in the Middle Ages Chilandar was the true representative of legitimate Serbian nationality on foreign soil – the territory of Byzantium, in the Turkish period all Serbs looked to it as indestructible evidence of their former free life, their state, their Church and culture.

On the other hand, Serbian patriarchs, bishops and clergy continued to assist Chilandar. Many books and sacral objects in the monastery bear witness to the concern for Chilandar shown by the Serbian Patriarchate at Pech. Some of these Serbian church dignitaries visited the monastery. Zonara’s Chronicle from the third decade of the 16th century, fomerly in the possession of the metropolitan of Prizren, Michael (Mihailo), reached Chilandar as a gift of the patriarch John (Jovan) of Pech following the metropolitan’s death, in 1602. In 1658 Patriarch Maximus (Maksim) personally brought to Chilandar a “little gift” – a large illuminated Gospels Book from the 16th century, for use on the altar. Another Gospels Book from Maximus, written around 1570, with covers presented by the Belgrade metropolitan, Haji Hilarion, obtained through the efforts of the spiritual father of St. Paul’s, hieromonk Christopher, was brought to Chilandar at the time of abbot Victor in 1662. There are also gifts from parish priests, monasteries and laymen, often accompanied by testimony of their love for and devotion to Chilandar.

Although the most significant artistic works in Chilandar monastery were for the most part completed by or in the 18th century, its history in the 19th century is full of dramatic events and upheavals. It should not be forgotten that the entire Athonite peninsula was drawn into the liberation struggle of the Greek people, which immediately gave rise to Turkish reprisals. The Chilandar fraternity is known to have made monetary contributions to the Greek insurgents, as a result of which it had to endure the brutality of a Turkish garrison stationed in the monastery for several years. Testimony of their hardships is provided by a letter sent by the monastery’s administration on October 5, 1828, to archimandrite kyr Isaiah, in which the monks describe their difficult life, for every evil inflicted on the Holy Mountain at that time passed through their monastery, which was inhabited by only twenty ailing monks. Somewhat earlier, in 1820, the monks of Chilandar requested Prince Milosh of Serbia to be their benefactor and patron. His initial ties with Chilandar very soon extended to all the other Athonite monasteries, particularly Great Lavra. On October 20, 1835, the representatives of all the Athos monasteries sent Prince Milosh their thanks following his large gift of money to be shared by all the monasteries. This first significant gift of the Principality of Serbia later became a regular annual contribution. The interest shown by the Serbian government in the monastery of Chilandar in the 19th century emphasizes the great significance Chilandar gradually assumed in Serbian political, church and scholarly circles. Much of the credit for these Chilandar – Serbian ties goes to the archimandrite Onofrije Popovich, a Bulgar by birth, who established contact with Prince Milosh during the Greek uprising, when he moved temporarily to Serbia in 1826. Chilandar sought the help and protection of the Serbian Principality especially after 1847, when it was involved in protracted and troublesome court disputes about the monastery’s estate boundaries. During the forty years’duration of these impoverishing disputes before the slow Turkish courts and corrupt authorities, the monastery was saved several times by financial aid from Serbia. Serbian envoys likewise made countless efforts, not totally unavailing, to intervene with the Turkish government and check the abuses of local officials.

In the 1860′s and after, the metropolitan of Belgrade, Mihailo (Michael), made vigorous efforts to settle the situation in the monastery, when disputes arose between the Serbian and Bulgarian brothers, particularly after the Congress of Berlin of 1878.

This was also the purpose of the visit of King Alexander I Obrenovich of Serbia, which was followed by a final switch in Serbian-Bulgarian relations.  Only then were the preconditions created for complete internal consolidation of the monastic fraternity.  It was in this settled condition that Chilandar monastery awaited the new, changed circumstances after the First World War,  when Athos finally became part of the Greek state.  This marked the start of a new era in   its  long  history.