1.
Eparchy of Zahumlje and Herzegovina
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The Eparchy of Zahumlje, Herzegovina and the Littoral is an eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church with its seat in Mostar, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has jurisdiction over the region of Herzegovina, littoral region of southern Dalmatia in Croatia, the region was under the Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Dyrrachium, which in turn was under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1089, the see of Trebinje was briefly theoretically under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Bar, the Eparchy of Hum or Zahumlje was founded in 1219, by first Serbian Archbishop Sava, the same year the Serbian Orthodox Church acquired its autocephaly status from Patriarchate of Constantinople. Thus, it was one of the original Serbian Orthodox bishoprics and it had jurisdiction over historical regions of Zahumlje and Travunija. The first Bishop of Hum was Ilarion, succeeded by Sava II, the original seat was in Ston, in the church of the Most Holy Theotokos. Following an earthquake, the moved the seat to the Monastery of Holy Apostles in the valley of river Lim in the 1250s. From that time, Eparchy of Hum was sometimes also called Eparchy of Lim, with the War of Hum, most of Zahumlje was taken over by Stephen II, Ban of Bosnia, but region of Travunija remained under the rule of Serbian Kings. After the creation of Serbian Patriarchate in 1346, all original Serbian bishops were raised to the rank of metropolitan bishops. The see of the eparchy was moved to the Mileševa monastery. In the middle of 15th century, Metropolitan David was very influential figure in the court of Stefan Kosača, who was titled Duke of Saint Sava. Following the fall of the Duchy of St. Sava to the Ottoman Empire, eventually, the eparchy was further divided into the Eparchy of Mileševa. In 1557, Serbian Patriarchate of Peć was restored and the Eparchy of Herzegovina was returned to its jurisdiction, bishops of Herzegovina kept their honorary title of Metropolitan, as was also the custom in the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The seat of metropolitan was transferred to Mostar, the process of unification was completed in 1920 and since then Eparchy of Zahumlje and Herzegovina remains part of Serbian Patriarchate. Srpska pravoslavna crkva u Bosni i Hercegovini do obnove Pećke patrijaršije 1557, Епископије и митрополије Српске цркве у средњем веку. Српски јерарси од деветог до двадесетог века, the Serbian Episcopal sees in the thirteenth century. The Serbs of Bosnia & Herzegovina, History and Politics, spiritual Genocide, A survey of destroyed, damaged and desecrated churches, monasteries and other church buildings during the war 1991-1995. Belgrade, Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs. The Serbian Patriarchate of Peć in the Ottoman Empire, The First Phase, Serbian Studies, Journal of the North American Society for Serbian Studies
2.
Prijepolje
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Prijepolje is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of the western Serbia. The municipality of Prijepolje has a population of 37,059 people, while the town itself has a population of 13,330 and it is one of the most proximate cities to the Adriatic sea in the Republic of Serbia, less than 150 miles from the sea. One possible meaning of the name Prijepolje is Prijas field, where Prija is the owner of polje, however, a more likely theory is that the name originates from the location of Prijepolje and its relationship to the travels of caravans. Prije means before, and polje means field, hence, the location might be called Prijepolje, Prijepolje was established as a settlement in 1234, the same year the Mileševa Monastery was built. Prior to its establishment as a settlement, the area was occupied as far back as the stone age, First settled by Illyrians, who migrated to the area after being forced out of the northern plains, they retreated to the more defensible and less accessible mountainous regions. Later arrivals were the Celts, with whom the Illyrians intermarried, with the arrival by the Romans, the Illyrians were again forced to flee, and after the Romans, the Slavs settled in the area, intermixing with some of the earlier Illyrians. The Goths, Huns, Gepids, Langobards and Avars also passed through this area, the most interesting archaeological site in the territory is the Roman necropolis near the modern settlement of Kolovrat where pieces of ancient glass, silver, ceramics, and gold have been unearthed. Prijepolje was mentioned for the first time by Gijom Adam in 1332 while it was part of Dubrovniks sphere of influence, the caravan route traversed both mountainous and heavily forested areas, which could prove dangerous to travelers. Hitting by one drum, the passers by would know that there was no danger. On 26 October 1377, Tvrtko I was crowned as the king of the Serbs, Bosnia and the Seaside, during the Ottoman period, there were quite a few buildings constructed in Prijepolje. Most famous of these are Ibrahim Pashas mosque and the Sahat Kula, Pashas mosque is located in Šarampov, one of three regions in town, and was most likely built in the 16th century. It is adorned with a minaret, and covered by a cheramida. The region has a tumultuous past. It was part of First Serbian revolt in 1875, known as Banines revolt, as well as seeing the Javorian War in 1876, the Raonić Revolt, the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913, and both World Wars. In 1912, during the First Balkan War, control of Prijepolje passed from the Ottoman Empire to the Kingdom of Montenegro, during World War II, Prijepolje officially became part of the Kingdom of Montenegro, a pro-Axis puppet state. Prijepolje was liberated on 4 December 1943, which is now celebrated as the Day of the Liberation of Prijepolje, Prijepolje is located at the confluence of the fast-flowing Lim and Mileševka rivers. It is also situated along the road from Belgrade to the Adriatic sea, the Belgrade – Adriatic road intersects here with the regional road between Pljevlja, Prijepolje and Sjenica. This regional road follows roughly the route as the ancient Roman and Ottoman road known as the Dubrovnik road
3.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
4.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
5.
Eastern Orthodox Church
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The Eastern Orthodox Church teaches that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission to the apostles. It practices what it understands to be the original Christian faith, the Eastern Orthodox Church is a communion of autocephalous churches, each typically governed by a Holy Synod. It teaches that all bishops are equal by virtue of their ordination, prior to the Council of Chalcedon in AD451, the Eastern Orthodox had also shared communion with the Oriental Orthodox churches, separating primarily over differences in Christology. Eastern Orthodoxy spread throughout the Roman and later Eastern Roman Empires and beyond, playing a prominent role in European, Near Eastern, Slavic, and some African cultures. As a result, the term Greek Orthodox has sometimes used to describe all of Eastern Orthodoxy in general. However, the appellation Greek was never in use and was gradually abandoned by the non-Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox churches. Its most prominent episcopal see is Constantinople, there are also many in other parts of the world, formed through immigration, conversion and missionary activity. The official name of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the Orthodox Catholic Church and it is the name by which the church refers to itself in its liturgical or canonical texts, in official publications, and in official contexts or administrative documents. Orthodox teachers refer to the Church as Catholic and this name and longer variants containing Catholic are also recognized and referenced in other books and publications by secular or non-Orthodox writers. The common name of the Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, is a shortened practicality that helps to avoid confusions in casual use, for this reason, the eastern churches were sometimes identified as Greek, even before the great schism. After 1054, Greek Orthodox or Greek Catholic marked a church as being in communion with Constantinople and this identification with Greek, however, became increasingly confusing with time. Missionaries brought Orthodoxy to many regions without ethnic Greeks, where the Greek language was not spoken. Today, many of those same Roman churches remain, while a large number of Orthodox are not of Greek national origin. Eastern, then, indicates the element in the Churchs origin and development, while Orthodox indicates the faith. While the Church continues officially to call itself Catholic, for reasons of universality, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in a letter written about 110 AD from one Greek church to another. Quote of St Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, thus, almost from the very beginning, Christians referred to the Church as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Orthodox Church claims that it is today the continuation and preservation of that same Church, a number of other Christian churches also make a similar claim, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Assyrian Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church, not directly from the Orthodox Church, the depth of this meaning in the Orthodox Church is registered first in its use of the word Orthodox itself, a union of Greek orthos and doxa
6.
Piva Monastery
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Piva Monastery is located in Piva, Montenegro near the source of the Piva River in northern Montenegro. Built between 1573 and 1586, it was rebuilt in another location in 1982 and it is the largest Serbian Orthodox church constructed during the Ottoman occupation in the 16th and 17th centuries. These are displayed in the monasterys museum, the construction workers were brothers named Gavrilo and Vukašin. Piva Monastery is included within the Eparchy of Budimlja-Nikšić, in 1982, a new reservoir, created by the Piva Hydro Electric Project, required moving the monastery. Stone by stone it was moved to the village of Goransko near Lake Mratinje, Piva Monastery is located in the village of Piva, just south of Goransko in northern Montenegro. It is accessible along the E-762 road, on the way to Srbinje and it lies approximately 55 kilometres from Nikšić and is 7 kilometres south of Plužine. The monastery was located at the source of the Piva River, approximately 3 kilometres away from and 100 metres below the junction of the proposed Mratinje Dam. Begun in 1969 and completed in 1982, the monastery was moved to its current position, Piva has the unique distinction of having been built with the permission of the Ottoman rulers over a period of a little more than a decade, from 1573 to 1586. As a result, the church at Piva monastery contains a fresco depicting Savatije and Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, Piva is a small stone structure. Its construction includes three naves with a taller middle nave, also featured is a psalm from the Crnojevići printing press, which was the first printing press in the Balkans. It is dated to 1494 and was discovered by chance among other papers in the library of the monastery, much of the church was decorated by Greek painters between 1604 and 1606 and contains many frescoes. However, the porch area was painted by a local priest Strahinja from Budimlje. Other parts of the church, dating from 1626, were painted by Kozma who also painted many of the icons on the iconostasis, the icons of St. George and the Dormition of the Virgin are dated to about 1638–1639. The artist Longin painted the icons of the Mother of God, Christ. Piva, Moraca and Mileseva monasteries have been described as breathtaking medieval masterpieces that store ancient writings, the church has been provided with drainage arrangements to prevent seepage of water inside the church so that the frescoes are protected from effects of humidity. In 2008, the U. S. Embassy at Podgorica provided $22,200 for the reconstruction of the drainage system
7.
Montenegro
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Montenegro is a sovereign state in Southeastern Europe. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Old Royal Capital. In the 9th century, three Slavic principalities were in the territory of Montenegro, Duklja, roughly corresponding to the half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in the independence of Duklja, Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislavs son, Mihailo, and his grandson Bodin. By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm. In the late 14th century, southern Montenegro came under the rule of the Balšić noble family, then the Crnojević noble family, large portions fell under the control of the Ottoman Empire from 1496 to 1878. Parts were controlled by Venice and the First French Empire and Austria-Hungary, from 1515 until 1851, the prince-bishops of Cetinje were the rulers. The House of Petrović-Njegoš ruled the country from 1697 to 1918, from 1918, it was a part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was succeeded by SFR Yugoslavia in 1945, FR Yugoslavia in 1992, and subsequently by the state union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. On the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006. Montenegro is also a candidate negotiating to join the European Union, on 2 December 2015, Montenegro received an official invitation to join NATO, whereby it would be the 29th member country. This invitation was meant to start accession talks. The countrys name in most Western European languages reflects an adaptation of the Venetian Montenegro, many other languages, particularly nearby ones, use their own direct translation of the term black mountain. Examples are the Albanian name for the country, Mali i Zi, the Greek name Μαυροβούνιο, the Chinese name 黑山, all Slavic languages use slight variations on the Montenegrin name Crna Gora, examples include the Czech Černá Hora and the Polish Czarnogóra. Chechen and Ingush people call the country Ӏаьржаламанчоь, the name Crna Gora came to denote the majority of contemporary Montenegro only in the 15th century. The aforementioned region became known as Old Montenegro by the 19th century to distinguish it from the acquired territory of Brda. Its borders have changed little since then, losing Metohija and gaining the Bay of Kotor, the ISO Alpha-2 code for Montenegro is ME and the Alpha-3 Code is MNE. By 1000 BC, a common Illyrian language and culture had spread across much of the Balkans, interaction amongst groups was not always friendly – hill forts were the most common form of settlement – but distinctive Illyrian art forms such as amber and bronze jewellery evolved. In time, the Illyrians established a federation of tribes centred in what is now Macedonia
8.
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha
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Sokollu Mehmed Pasha was an Ottoman statesman. He was assassinated in 1579, ending his near 15-year rule as de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire, sokollus birth name was probably Bajica, and he was of ethnic Serb origin. He was said to be born into a modest shepherd family, adherent to the Serbian Orthodox Church, Sokollu is a demonym, derived from his place of birth. He had two brothers and a sister, who married the brother of Hüseyin Pasha Boljanić, as well as at least one uncle. However, details about his family and relations are disputed on two major counts, one is his relationship to Makarije Sokolović. Traditionally identified as his brother, today some historians consider him to have either a nephew or distant relative. The second is the matter of Mehmeds uncle, by some accounts, his uncle was a monk at the Mileševa monastery who had his two nephews, Bajica and Makarije, educated there. Other sources suggest that his uncle converted to Islam early, in 1516, an Ottoman expedition gathering up boys as part of the devşirme system reached Sokol. According to folklore, Bajica was either taken from his fathers home or, due to a reputation as a gifted child. The story further holds that his uncle unsuccessfully appealed to the authorities, as proclaimed in Baghdad on 13 March 1535, Mehmed was sent to be one of the seven retainers of the Imperial Treasurer Iskender Çelebi. Upon Iskenders death, Mehmed returned to Constantinople, in addition to Turkish, he spoke Serbian, Persian, Arabic, Venetian-Italian and Latin language. Mehmed in 1541 first became an Imperial Chamberlain and then the head of the Sultans squires, in these positions he became very close to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and learned from him. As a soldier, Mehmed excelled at the Battle of Mohács, in 1546 the Kapudan Pasha Hayreddin Barbarossa died and Mehmed was appointed his successor. In this capacity he was present at the expedition against Trablus. During his five years in this position, Mehmed Pasha greatly strengthened the arsenal of the naval fleet, Mehmed became Beylerbey of Rumelia in 1551, headquartered in Sofia. While he was visiting the area of his birth, his mother recognized him by the birthmark on his face, after the death of John Zápolya, king of Hungary as an Ottoman vassal, in 1540, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor looked to annex Zápolyas lands. The Hungarian diet had elected infant John Sigismund Zápolya, the son of Zápolya and Isabella Jagiellon, as King of Hungary, which broke the Treaty of Nagyvárad, Isabella struggled to rule Hungary as Queen dowager for her son. Frater George Martinuzzi, appointed by John as regent, opposed her, Ferdinand I sent mercenary leader Bartolomeo Castoldo with more than 7,000 mercenaries who beat a contingent led by Péter Petrovics, killing more than 2,500 of them, near Csanád
9.
Fresco
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Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance painting. Buon fresco pigment mixed with water of temperature on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster. Because of the makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the intonaco. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours, many artists sketched their compositions on this underlayer, which would never be seen, in a red pigment called sinopia, a name also used to refer to these under-paintings. Later, new techniques for transferring paper drawings to the wall were developed. The main lines of a drawing made on paper were pricked over with a point, the paper held against the wall, if the painting was to be done over an existing fresco, the surface would be roughened to provide better adhesion. This area is called the giornata, and the different day stages can usually be seen in a large fresco, buon frescoes are difficult to create because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Once a giornata is dried, no more buon fresco can be done, if mistakes have been made, it may also be necessary to remove the whole intonaco for that area—or to change them later, a secco. An indispensable component of this process is the carbonatation of the lime, the eyes of the people of the School of Athens are sunken-in using this technique which causes the eyes to seem deeper and more pensive. Michelangelo used this technique as part of his trademark outlining of his central figures within his frescoes, in a wall-sized fresco, there may be ten to twenty or even more giornate, or separate areas of plaster. After five centuries, the giornate, which were nearly invisible, have sometimes become visible, and in many large-scale frescoes. Additionally, the border between giornate was often covered by an a secco painting, which has fallen off. One of the first painters in the period to use this technique was the Isaac Master in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. A person who creates fresco is called a frescoist, a secco or fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster. The pigments thus require a medium, such as egg. Blue was a problem, and skies and blue robes were often added a secco, because neither azurite blue nor lapis lazuli. By the end of the century this had largely displaced buon fresco
