Hadži-Ruvim

Hadži
Ruvim Nenadović
Born Rafailo Nenadović
(1752-04-19)April 19, 1752
Babina Luka, Sanjak of Smederevo (now Serbia)
Died January 29, 1804(1804-01-29) (aged 51)
Prison
Cause of death Beheading
Nationality Rum Millet (Ottoman)
Other names Nešković
Religion Eastern Orthodoxy
Church Serbian Church

Hadži-Ruvim (Serbian Cyrillic: Хаџи-Рувим; 19 April 1752 – 29 January 1804) was a Serbian Orthodox archimandrite (superior abbot) of the Bogovađa Monastery who was part of a plot to overthrow the Dahije, renegade Janissaries that had taken control of the Sanjak of Smederevo, that was learnt of; he was thrown in jail and later killed in the event known as Slaughter of the Knezes.

Early life

Rafailo Nenadović (Рафаило Ненадовић) was born on 19 April [O.S. 8 April] 1752 in the village of Babina Luka, Valjevo nahija, the son of Nenad "Neško" and Marija,[1] one of four boys.[2] His paternal family hailed from the Nikšić tribe (now in Montenegro).[2] According to writer M. Milićević (1831–1908), youngster Rafailo had run into problems when he mischiefly disguised himself as a girl to attend a Turkish girl's prelo (weaving-session, traditional woman gathering); as it was haram, Turks condemned him to hanging and went searching for him.[3] He fled his home and hid at the monasteries, where he was schooled, and when his act had been forgotten, he returned home.[3] He married Marija Simeunović[1] on 13 May 1774.[2] He was eventually ordained a priest by Evstatije, the Metropolitan of Užice, at the Ćelije Monastery.[2] He had a son and daughter.[2]

Religious service

After his wife died in 1783 he took monastic vows as Ruvim,[1] at the Bogovađa Monastery.[2] He went on pilgrimage (hadžiluk; hence hadži) to the Holy Land (Jerusalem) in 1784[1] and returned in 1785.[4][2] On 25 May 1786 he was appointed the hegumen (monastery head) of the Voljavča Monastery.[2] In 1788,[4] or when the Ottomans burnt down the monastery on 6 April 1789, during the Austro-Turkish War (1787–91) (in which Serbs participated, managing to occupy the sanjak for the Austrians), he fled with the brotherhood, saving some of the monastery valuables.[2] He recorded that the Turks looted much inventory.[5] For a while, he was at the Velika Remeta Monastery on Fruška Gora (in the Habsburg Monarchy), then, when the war cooled down he returned to the Sanjak of Smederevo and the Bogovađa Monastery (1791).[2] The monastery was then repaired by Hadži-Ruvim, hegumen Vasilije Petrović and jeromonah (priest-monk) Gerasim Georgijević (Hadži-Ðera) over the years.[2] Work started on 13 June 1791.[6] His trip to Sarajevo in March 1792 is shed in mystery, as there are three hypothesis by authors on the cause of the trip.[4] One is that he went to collect for the reconstruction of Bogovađa;[4] that he feared for his life and took refuge in Bosnia; or to retrieve the stolen defter of Voljavča.[5] A new theory is that he went Sarajevo to bring builders back for the monastery, although the other three theories should not be neglected, as noted by historian Vladimir Krivošejev (born 1963).[6] Work was finished in 1794.[6] Danilo, the Metropolitan of Šabac–Valjevo, raised his title to archimandrite on 26 October 1795.[6] An interesting note is that Hadži-Ruvim had signed himself as archimandrite already in 1790, which points to that he had been promised the title by the time the monastery was renewed.[7]

Apart from the Holy Land and Fruška Gora, he took trips to Hilandar, Studenica, and monasteries in Podrinje and Ovčar, among others, and left notes and drawings on empty pages at the monasteries he visited.[4]

After the war, Ottoman sultan Selim III gave the Serbs some privileges which hardly materialized.[1] In 1801 the Dahije (renegade Janissaries) took over the control of Belgrade and the Sanjak of Smederevo, and the Serbs' situation got worse again.[1] Notable Serbs sought the right moment to rise up and revive the Serbian state, and conspired throughout the sanjak.[1] Hadži-Ruvim was one of the individuals part of the organization, spreading the organization and at the same time educating people.[1]

According to M. Milićević, Hadži-Ruvim had a quarrel with the subaša of the prnjavor (rural settlement nearest to the monastery) in 1802, then complained to knez Aleksa Nenadović to have him replaced.[3] As Nenadović was unable to do him the favour, Hadži-Ruvim moved to Studenica at the beginning of 1803, and from there to Mount Athos.[3] In falltime the same year he returned.[3]

Plot against the Dahije

Main articles: Dahije and Slaughter of the Knezes
Hadži-Ðera and Hadži-Ruvim (sitting) with conspirators.

Hadži-Ruvim participated in the planning of a rebellion against the Dahije that had taken control of the sanjak. He was captured by Janissaries while guesting Metropolitan Leontije in Belgrade. Violently beaten, he was held suspected of writing the letter from obor-knez Aleksa Nenadović to Austrian officer Mitezer in Zemun, asking for help against the Turks. The meat on his breast and below the armpits were cut off, and he still did not give up names or admit anything. He was killed on 29 January 1804, days after tens of other notable Serbs had been assassinated in the planned Slaughter of the Knezes; a total of 72 Serbs were killed by 4 February 1804, their decapitated heads taken to Belgrade. He was later buried in the porta of the St. Michael's Cathedral, Belgrade.

Legacy

One of the most important persons part of the Bogovađa brotherhood,[2] Hadži-Ruvim was very interested in history, and at that time in Serbia there were not many people who established private libraries and wrote library bibliographies.[8] He collected a list of his library at the end of the 18th century (which was rare), "an endeavor worthy of recognition".[8] A very literate and educated man, not only for commonfolk, but for hierarchs as well, he collected books in which he drew initials, ornaments and miniatures.[9] He recorded historical events and wars, the state of the Serbian people at that time in the Belgrade and Valjevo districts.[9] He did wood carving and woodcutting.[9]

For his effort to liberate and defend the Serbian people, through which he paid his head, he became a "national martyr".[9]

Hadži-Ruvim is regarded one of the last great Serbian woodcarvers and graphic artists of the 18th century. His artistry represents a fusion of traditional Serbian and European Late Baroque art, and therefore it can be said that he played a significant role in the development of arts in Serbia in the late 18th and early 19th century. His woodcuts were based on the Krušedol works, and included scenes of the life of Christ and the Mother of God (Bogorodica), and he decorated many books with his pen drawings, among others the works of the ktetors of the Bogovađa Monastery, knezes Pavle and Jovan Velimirović. He illustrated their figures on the basis of 16th-century frescoes.

The meeting between conspirators was depicted in a painting by Pavle Simić.[10]

Predrag Savić wrote a novel about Hadži-Ruvim. Borivoje Marinković wrote Hadži Ruvim: pre celine, pre smisla. Zapisi s komentarima in two books in the periods of 1777–1790 and 1791–1803.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Krivošejev 1992, p. 72.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Idrizović 2012, para. 2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Milićević 1888, p. 776.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Krivošejev 1992, p. 73.
  5. 1 2 Krivošejev 1992, p. 74.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Krivošejev 1992, p. 75.
  7. ↑ Krivošejev 1992, p. 76.
  8. 1 2 Idrizović 2012, para. 1.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Idrizović 2012, para. 3.
  10. ↑ Serbian Studies. 11–12. North American Society for Serbian Studies. 1997. p. 150.

Sources

Further reading

External links

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