An attempt of reconstruction of the collection of manuscripts of Devic monastery

Abstract

The Serbian monastery Devic was built in 1434, in Drenica, a hilly region where Kosovo and Metohija meet, and where St. Joannicius of Devic lived his ascetic life, passed away and was buried. This great Serbian hermit, under the patronage of Despot Djuradj Brankovic, built the original church dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin which gathered the whole monastic family. Probably at the same time the first collection of manuscripts was built, since the elementary liturgical books were needed for the regular liturgical life. Different conserved manuscripts between the 16th and 19th century attest transcription activities in the monastery, and, at the same time, confirm that Devic Monastery was highly estimated among the Orthodox Christians. First information about the literary fund of the monastery originate in the mid-19th century when many researchers and antique lovers visited the monastery. Testimonies about the scope and content of the Devic collection of manuscripts are quite contradictory, however we are going to try to determine in this paper which manuscripts were undoubtedly in the collection with particular attention to the ones written in the monastery. Despite very poor conditions this collection survived until the 20th century. For safety reasons one part of the collection, which was transferred in the National Library of Serbia, got destroyed during the bombing in April 1941. The rest, which was held in the monastery, was burnt down, including the temple church and the whole monastery complex, by the Albanian Fascists. What remained from the former collection were just a few copies of books which were taken out of the Devic before 1941. The monastery continues to exist till the present day, despite vandalization in 2004.