Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
December 2, 2004

CELEBRATION OF 600 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF MOUNTING OF CLOCK IN MOSCOW IN 1404 CONSTRUCTED BY SERBIAN MONK LAZAR OF CHILANDAR
NJEGOS ENDOWMENT FOR SERBIAN STUDIES AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MARKS BICENTENNIAL OF FIRST SERBIAN UPRISING
TRANSFORMED ETHOS:
ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
CARDINAL ANTONELLI VISITS ST. SAVA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN MLADENOVAC
ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN AUSTRIA IN ITS SCHOOL-CHURCH-LEGAL CONTEXT

CELEBRATION OF 600 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
OF MOUNTING OF CLOCK IN MOSCOW
IN 1404 CONSTRUCTED BY SERBIAN MONK LAZAR
OF CHILANDAR

Since Lazar (Lazarus) the Serb was a monk of Chilandar Monastery on Holy Mt. Athos, and the patronal feast of Chilandar Monastery is the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, the organizational committee for the commemoration of the six hundred year anniversary of the mounting of the clock in Moscow agreed to hold the ceremony on the same date, i.e. on Saturday, December 4, 2004.

On the Feast of the Entry into the Temple on December 4 during Liturgy in the churches of Belgrade, in Moscow where the clock was mounted, as well as in Chilandar Monastery on Holy Mt. Athos from where monk Lazar set out and Holy Archangels Monastery in Prizren from where he is thought to have originated, mention will be made of “Monk Lazar the Serb”, the name by which he is known in all documents. At noon on December 4, 2004 a sundial will be consecrated on the old building of the Theological Faculty of the Serbian Orthodox Church, in Zadarska Street in Belgrade. The sundial was constructed Dr. Milutin Tadic and decorated with frescoes by students of the Serbian Orthodox Church Academy.

As part of the celebration of the six hundred year anniversary of the mounting of the first striking clock in the Kremlin constructed by monk Lazar (Lazarus) the Serb from Holy Mount Athos, on Saturday, December 4, 2004 on the Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple, at 7:00 p.m. an exhibition of icons by the students of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Academy for Fresco Painting and Restoration under the mentorship of fresco painting instructor Goran Janicijevic will open in Belgrade.

On the same evening a roundtable discussion will take place at 7:00 p.m. in the Russian Hall in Belgrade on the theme of “Six hundred year anniversary of the construction of the clock in the Kremlin by Monk Lazar Crnorizac”. An exhibition of icons by the students of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Academy will be opened in the Hall with the participation of a choir of students from St. Sava Seminary and video presentations.

The facilitator of the roundtable will be Professor Dr. Predrag Ristic, architect. Participants in the discussion will include Dr. Anika Skovran (“Serbs and Russians in the Middle Ages”), archeologist Gordana Tosic, Professor Dr. Milutin Tadic (“From the Studenica clock to the clock of Lazar”), Engineer Zelimir Stefanovic (“Development of mechanical clocks and work on their reconstruction”), architect Gordana Markovic, the director of the Serbian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments (“Program for investigating the mission of Lazar the Serb”). Vladan Zdravkovic will use video presentations to show the reconstruction of Belgrade Fortress with its domes and clocks.

In 1404 Grand Duke Vasily Dimitriyevich commissioned a Serbian monk from Mount Athos to build the first striking clock in the Kremlin. According to the Chronicle the clock did not have figures but letters written on the rim, which turned around instead of hands. Lazar was the inventive monk, who also constructed a bell and a mechanical map for the clock. Each hour on the hour the rim moved one twelfth of the semi-circle and the mechanical man hit the bell with the hammer that he held in his hands. There were daily and night hours, the first beginning with the sunrise, and the hours of sunrise and sunset were rest each fortnight. The clock was a great wonder to Muscovites, who could not understand how the mechanical man could be so precise, and do his job without being told or pushed by anybody. Then it was agreed that the gadget was "somehow the product of man's dexterity and governed by his wits." Before he left Moscow, Lazar trained a Russian watchmaker to service the clock and twice a month to make the necessary time adjustments.

NJEGOS ENDOWMENT FOR SERBIAN STUDIES AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MARKS BICENTENNIAL OF FIRST SERBIAN UPRISING

The Njegos Endowment for Serbian Studies at Columbia University held its most important event this year on November 13, to commemorate the anniversary of the First Serbian Uprising and 200 years of an independent Serbian state. The commemoration began with a scholarly symposium entitled: The 1804 Serbian Uprising - Political, Social and Cultural Legacies. Speakers were Dusan Batakovic, Ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro to Athens; Dimitrije Djordjevic, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Thomas Emmert, Gustavus Adolphus College; Joel Halpern, Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Gale Stokes, Rice University; Veljko Vujacic, Oberlin College; and Radmila J. Gorup, Columbia University. The panels were chaired by Roger Peterson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Slobodan Curcic, Princeton University.

That same evening, a beautiful gala dinner was held at the prestigious Princeton-Columbia Club in midtown Manhattan. Distinguished guests from both Serbia and Montenegro and the Diaspora were invited. Special guest of honor was H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth Karadjordjevic. The Master of Ceremonies was Fr. Irinej Dobrijevic, and the musical talents of Marina Arsenijevic, world acclaimed pianist, highlighted the evening. Fr. Irinej, on behalf of the Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church, presented a gift of gold commemorative coins issued by the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, to mark the 200th Anniversary of the Uprising, to Professor Gorup and Gordon M. Bardos, Assistant Director of the Harriman Institute, in recognition of their work for the Njegos Endowment.

This proud and inspiring heritage of 1804 is being upheld at Columbia University through the Njegos Endowment for Serbian Studies. Established in 1996 with the goal of establishing an endowed chair in the Serbian language at Columbia University. For more information on the Njegos Endowment and its programs, please visit the Njegos Endowment website at:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/sipa/REGIONAL/ECE/serbian.html

TRANSFORMED ETHOS:
ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Hieromonk Irinej Dobrijevic was among the participants at the thirtieth annual Byzantine Studies Conference held under the auspices of Dumbarton Oaks of the Harvard University Center for Byzantine Studies on October 29, 2004 in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. Fr. Dobrijevic spoke during the afternoon session on the subject of “Transformed ethos: Art and architecture in Kosovo and Metohija”.

As a witness of the destroyed churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija, Fr. Irinej’s presentation was a vivid account of terrorist attacks on Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and Metohija, and well received by the gathered byzantologists. After the well-attended lecture, Fr. Irinej proposed to the group that the Byzantine Studies Conference undertake the restoration of the destroyed medieval church of Bogorodica Ljeviska (the Holy Virgin of Lyevish) in Prizren.

CARDINAL ANTONELLI VISITS ST. SAVA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
IN MLADENOVAC

On Tuesday, November 30, 2004 Monsignor Ennio Antonelli, Archbishop of Florence, Italy, Monsignor Stanislav Hocevar, Archbishop of Belgrade, Don Pedro Sabattini and Sister Ines visited St. Sava Elementary School in Mladenovac. The guests were received on behalf of His Grace Bishop Jovan of Sumadija by Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Dragoljub Rakic, the hierarchal administrator for Mladenovac, and Deacon Petar Leskovac, teacher of religion.

The high officials were greeted by Fr. Dragoljub and the president of the Mladenovac municipal assembly, Mr. Zoran Kostic. After a traditional welcome with bread and salt, the director of St. Sava Elementary School, Nadezda Manic, expressed her sincere thanks for the gift presented by the guests to the school. In his address Cardinal Ennio responded to the warm words of welcome and emphasized that, as a former teacher, he is familiar with the work of schools and very pleased that cooperation between Florence and Mladenovac is unfolding through St. Sava Elementary School. The Cardinal mentioned that he had also visited the Russian Patriarch in Moscow, the Romanian Patriarch in Bucharest, and Serbian Patriarch Pavle in Belgrade. These were wonderful meetings, the Cardinal said, emphasizing that the Serbian Patriarch was a strongly spiritual man, a man of prayer.

Icon painter Dejan Mandel, the owner of the icon-painting workshop Znamenje, presented His Eminence with an icon.

ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN AUSTRIA
IN ITS SCHOOL-CHURCH-LEGAL CONTEXT

An article by Branislav Djukaric presenting historical information regarding legislative and legal measures relevant to religious instruction in Austria is available and can be downloaded in .doc format (in Serbian only) at:
http://www.spc.org.yu/Vesti-2004/12/austrija.doc

[Serbian Translation Services]