Lecture ’Identity Determinants of Orthodox Monks and Patrons of Monasteries in the Balkans under Ottoman rule (15th-16th Century)

As part of the project (Trans-)Formation of Identities: Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Balkans (c.1450-c.1750)” (FORMIDOX, no. 10932), funded by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, led by the Institute for Balkan Studies of SASA, Ognjen Krešić, PhD, will give a lecture titled ’Identity Determinants of Orthodox Monks and Patrons of Monasteries in the Balkans under Ottoman rule (15th-16th Century). The event will take place on Tuesday, 4 November, at 12.30 p.m. at the SASA Audiovisual Archive and Digitisation Centre.

The lecture will examine the impact of administrative practices of the Ottoman Empire on the (Trans)formation of identities of the Orthodox-oriented population in the Balkans between the 15th and 18th centuries. The issue will be explored through the examples of Orthodox monks under the jurisdiction of the Pećs Patriarchate, as well as the monastic community of Mount Athos. The particularities of the legal and social status of monks were evident in the ways the Ottoman bureaucracy dealt with them. By analysing various types of documents issued by central and local authorities, the lecture will show the interrelationship between the determinants that monks used for themselves and their communities and how they were recognised in the context of the administrative and judicial framework. Maintaining strong ties between the Orthodox population and monastic communities, as well as the continued practices of donation and endowment, played a significant role in shaping the collective self-understanding of the Orthodox population. Particular attention will be devoted to how these phenomena influenced the process of identification of members of the elite, and how certain determinants of medieval tradition changed during the centuries of Ottoman rule.

Ognjen Krešić (PhD in Historical Sciences, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad) is employed at the Institute for Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is the author of a monograph entitled ’Hilandar Monastery and the Eastern Balkans in the 18th Century: Cultural and Economic Ties’, Belgrade 2021. His research focuses on the relationship between the legal status and cultural, religious and social practices of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Balkans (16th–18th centuries), with a special focus on Christian Orthodox monastic life and the monastic economy.