Milena Davidović

INVERSION
INSTITUTION
Institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
ORCID ID
0000-0001-6340-8423
COUNTRY
Сърбия

Milena Davidović is a research assistant at the Institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. She is particularly interested in Slavic literature and literacy (Slavic manuscript heritage, scriptoria and scribes), Slavic paleography and digital humanities studies. She is currently working on her doctoral thesis – Medieval Cyrillic scriptoria in the Balkans. She is the author of the chapter The Library of the Šudikova Monastery, in D. Popović, M. Popović, Šudikova Monastery in Budimlja, Belgrade 2020.

11/25/2023

Milena Davidović

SERBIAN SCRIPTORIUM IN SERRES AND SERBIANBYZANTINE POLITICAL AND CHURCH RELATIONS

  • ABSTRACT

    The study examines the model of the establishment of a Serbian political, spiritual and scriptural center in Serres during three decades of Serbian rule (1345–1371). The model is considered against two circumstances: historical – the anathema of the Serbian ruler, patriarch and archbishops, and geographical – the proximity of Serres to Mount Athos and the Bulgarian Empire. There are three important focuses of the work: the Four Gospels of Metropolitan Jacob, the books donated to the Sinai monks and the activity of monk Isai in the circle of secular and ecclesiastical aristocracy in Serres. By pointing out certain characteristics of the book of Metropolitan Jacob, the unique program of the Serbian ruler and the Serbian church is sketched. Although exceptional individuals dedicated to literature stayed in Serres, the connection with the scriptoria on Mount Athos and those in the central part of the Serbian Empire raises the question to what extent we can speak of the existence of a developed Slavic scriptorium in Serres.