Dimitrije Ljubavić
Dimitrije Ljubavić (Serbian: Димитрије Љубавић, romanized: Dimitrije Ljubavić - Venice, January 1519 – Brașov, 1564[1]) was a Serbian Orthodox deacon, humanist, writer and printer who together with German reformer Philip Melanchthon initiated the first formal contact between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Lutherans in 1559 when Ljubavić took a copy of the Augsburg Confession to Patriarch Joasaph II of Constantinople. He is also referred to as Demetrios Mysos or Demetrius Mysos (also Demetrius of Thessalonica) in Lutheran and other Western books.[2]
Biography
He came from a distinguished family of early
The House of Ljubavić is a great example of how printing became a family enterprise. Božidar Ljubavić (1460-1527) was the head of a printing dynasty from the city and municipality of Goražde in the Serbian land of Bosnia-Hercegovina just at the time when the Turkish invasions had taken place.[5] He was best known for printing textbooks and biblical material in Church Slavonic, Greek and Latin for the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Lutherans during the Reformation.
Dimitrije's grandfather was Serbian printer Božidar Ljubavić, who is better known as Božidar Goraždanin. In 1518, Božidar Ljubavić sent his sons, Đurađ and hieromonk Teodor, to Božidar Vuković[6] in Venice to learn the art of printing before purchasing a printing press for Gorazde. The Ljubavić brothers procured a press and began printing a hieratikon (priest's service book), copies of which had been completed by 2 October 1519 either in Venice or at the Church of Saint George, built by Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, near Goražde. After Đurađ Ljubavić died in Gorazde on March 1519, it is unclear whether his brother transported the press to Goražde before or after finishing the work on the hieratikon. Because members of the Ljubavić family were from Goražde, they brought the printing press to their hometown. At the Church of Saint George, Đurađ and Teodor organized the Goražde printing house, which produced, beside the hieratikon, two more books in Church Slavonic of the Serbian recension: a Psalter in 1521, and a small euchologion in 1523. Books were printed by Božidar's grandson Dimitrije after being edited by hieromonk Teodor, his uncle.
Early life
When his father died on 12 March 1519, Dimitrije was taken by his mother from Venice to the Kingdom of Candia (Crete), then under Venetian rule. When still young he came to Chios, where he was taught Old Greek and Latin. He also received an extensive religious education while at the Academy of "Janus Lascaris" becoming initiated in the questions of Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic theology. There he met Iacob Heraclid, who pretended to be the legitimate heir of Serbian despots and prince in exile of Samos and Paros. Heraclid was a picturesque person of dubious origin, cousin of another Greek adventurer by the name of James Diassorin. (As fate would have it, Dimitrije would meet up with Heraclid many years later, then known as Despot Voda, who single-handedly attempted to impose the Reformation in the heart of Eastern Europe after becoming a self-styled despot of Romania from 1561 to 1563). After completing his studies at the Lascaris academy, Dimitrije joined hieromonk Teodor Ljubavić, his uncle in Venice, where he learned the family's printing trade.
From Goražde to Târgoviște
In 1544, the printing press was transported from Goražde to
Travels
After Dimitrije Ljubavić and his apprentices Opar and Petar completed printing "Apostol" in Targoviste in 1547, Dimitrije left for Constantinople, where he printed books for the
On his return to Transylvania in 1552, Dimitrije Ljubavić not only took up responsibility for running a school in
In 1556 a Church Slavonic printing press was established by Saxons Protestants in
Reformation: Lutherans and Serbs
The spreading of the Reformation in Europe during the 16th century did not avoid the territory of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia (now all three part of Romania). Reformation ideas arrived in Wallachia from Hungary, Germany, Venice, Carniola, and Carinthia. German noblemen, clerks and military officers also played an important role in spreading the ideas of the Reformation at the grassroots level. Wallachia was in a very difficult situation in the 16th century. Most of the provinces were under Turkish occupation and all efforts were focused on defending the country. As a result, the Turks played a role in allowing the changes of the Reformation to take hold in most parts of Transylvania, including Brasov and Târgoviște. In spite of a large number of renowned Protestant intellectuals who came from other lands, Protestantism did not have a profound impact on the people in Wallachia, only for that moment in time.
It would seem that the reform movement as understood by Dimitrije Ljubavić and his contemporaries was in the broadest sense—catholic/universal—a trend happening in Western and now Eastern Europe. His relations with the Protestant group of Urach, led by Hans von Ungnad, in 1561, for a possible printing of Protestant books in Church Slavonic (Serbian recension) may constitute a partial chapter because it is an aborted business, but whose importance for the history of the reforms among the Serbs and Romanians is nevertheless indisputable.[9]
Well-aware that the newly established South Slavic Bible Institute needed the collaboration of some Orthodox in the translation of Protestant literature, Primož Trubar and Stjepan Konzul Istranin engaged Matija Popović and Jovan Maleševac for some time in Urach. But they were very disappointed when the plan to bring to Tübingen Dimitrije Ljubavić could not be realized. Possibly for the same reasons that his countryman Matthias Flacius was prevented from joining the press at Urach, near Tübingen.
At this time, Dimitrije Ljubavić was the first secretary to the voivode of Wallachia
Iacob Heraclid made Lutheranism the state Church, offending the native Eastern Orthodox who viewed him as an iconoclast due to his rhetoric against images, even though he did not, in fact, destroy any icons. This, together with Despot's decision to marry another foreigner (a Pole), new and increased taxes and the omnipotence of his foreign retinue led to a boyar conspiracy instigated by high dignitary
Dimitrije Ljubavić was eventually incarcerated and killed.
See also
- Božidar Vuković
- Božidar Goraždanin
- Đurađ Crnojević
- Hieromonk Makarije
- Hieromonk Mardarije
- Hegumen Mardarije
- Vićenco Vuković
- Trojan Gundulić
- Andrija Paltašić
- Jakov of Kamena Reka
- Jerolim Zagurović
- Bartolomeo Ginammi who followed Zagurović's footsteps reprinting Serbian books.
- Stefan Paštrović
- Inok Sava
References
- ^ Gazette du livre médiéval: bulletin semestriel (in French). Éditions CEMI. 1987.
- ISBN 9780916586829.
- ^ Mârza, Eva (2004). "Preliminarii la un repertoriu al tipografilor români 1508-1830" (PDF). uab.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 25 August 2023.
- ^ Cazacu, Matei. "Dimitrije Ljubavic (C.1519-1564) et l'imprimerie slave dans l'Europe du Sud-est au XVIe siècle. Nouvelles contributions". Anuarul Institutului de Istorie A.d.xenopol, 32 (Iasi, 1995), P. 187-207.
- ^ "Pet vekova srpske knjige u Veneciji". www.novosti.rs (in Serbian (Latin script)). Retrieved 2019-08-16.
- ^ Biblioteka, Matica srpska (Novi Sad, Serbia) (1992). Godïsnjak Biblioteke Matice srpske (in Serbian).
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Xenopol", Institutul de Istorie si̦ Arheologie "A D. (1995). Anuarul Institutului de Istorie si̦ Arheologie "A.D. Xenopol." (in Romanian). Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România.
- ISBN 9786069392034.
- ^ Nouvelles du livre ancien (in French). Service du livre ancien, Bibliothe(que nationale. 1981.
- ISBN 9781493410231.
- ^ "taler (reproduction) - Despot Heraclid - Romanian Coins". romaniancoins.org. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
- Demetrius Mysos (Demetrius of Thessalonica):http://cyclopedia.lcms.org/display.asp?t1=d&word=DEMETRIUSOFTHESSALONICA
- Translated and adapted from Matei Cazacu's article in French: https://www.academia.edu/13615388/Dimitrije_Ljubavic_c.1519-1564_et_limprimerie_slave_dans_lEurope_du_Sud-est_au_XVIe_si%C3%A8cle._Nouvelles_contributions