Šišatovac Monastery
First mentions and early history
Before the Second World War, a manuscript “Testamentary scroll” was kept in Šišatovac, which names Hegumen Teofil of Žiča as its founder. Allegedly, he and his monks left Žiča, “because of the Turkish violence” and on the site of a small church, called Remetsko, in 1520, during the time of the Roman “Caesar Karol V”, the Hungarian king Lajos and the “lord of the Serbs of Syrmia Despot Jovan Branković and his wife Jelena”, built a monastery dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is possible that this holy place existed even before 1520, which is indicated by the “Šišatovac Remembrance Book”, which mentions Hegumen Vasilije before Teofil. A Turkish firman from 1540, which permitted the hegumen to repair several damaged cells, was kept in the monastery archive.
The long-lived abbot Teofil left unusually deep traces behind him, shedding light on the earliest history of his endowment. In the “Four Gospels”, which was copied by in 1560 “Evgenije the Sinful” on his order, the founder of the monastery is described as an old man “of a tall stature, with a white beard and wide eyes” and who “had great fraternal love”. However, there is another source that mentions this extraordinary ascetic. Until the middle of the 20th century, a silver coffin was stored in the treasury of Beočin. It was made by “Dmitar the goldsmith in the monastery of Remetice in the summer of 1550”, that is, during the administration of “Hegumen Teofil and Ilarion of Šišatovac”. It also seems that during his hegumenship, sometime between 1545 and 1553, the most revered relic of Šišatovac was brought here – the ark with the relics of Saint Stefan Štiljanović. Until the beginning of the Second World War, this monastic family represented the center of the growing cult of the Holy “Despot”, the heavenly protector of Orthodox soldiers.
The old temple
This holy place appears in Turkish sources under the name “Remetice”, “Remetsko” or “Stefan Iškilanović Monastery” until the middle of the 17th century. The researchers were led to the conclusion that the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was destroyed in the war clashes between the two empires, based on the Turkish permission of the Turkish authorities for the monks to carry out its comprehensive restoration in 1634. Furthermore, the gracious approval of their claim to the Ikalovo pond is interpreted as an expression of economic development at the time. It is mentioned that the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was visited by Patriarch of Peć Pajsije (Janjevac) who wrote the life of Saint Stefan Štiljanović and there are also notes that testify to similar pilgrimages of his successors, Maksim, Arsenije III and Arsenije IV.
At the beginning of 1701, Abbot Bonini describes Šišatovac as a large, wealthy monastery, in which 25 people dedicated themselves to monasticism. Beside the old stone temple, between 1738 and 1742, a bell tower with the chapel of St. Great Martyr George was built, through ktetorship of Colonel Vuk Isakovič, who was immortalized by Miloš Crnjanski in “Migrations”. In addition, his brother Trifun Isaković, built a cemetery chapel dedicated to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in 1750, while the “Description” from 1753 testifies to the existence of an old and a new dormitory, facing all four corners of the world.
The new temple and the dormitory
The next decade will be marked by the numerous charities by the Bishop of Vršac, Vikentije (Popović), who received his tonsure in this monastery. He arrived to Šišatovac as a boy and from 1751 he served here as a hegumen and archimandrite. His posthumous bequest speaks most eloquently about the warm feelings that bound him, even then as an archpriest, to the walls among which he built his ascetic youth. Three years after his death, the remains of Bishop Vikentije were exhumed from the Mesić Monastery and reburied in Šišatovac, in accordance with his wishes and hopes that “the bones will rest peacefully” where “the soul rested happily and peacefully”. Thus, from 1758 to 1778, Vikentije (Popović) built the present-day Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, supplying it with “beautiful and shining clothes and valuables”. Considering the fact that the cult of St. Stefan Štiljanović was especially respected among Serbian officer and military families, it is not surprising that significant contributions to this place of worship were made by the senior captain Jovan and his brother Josif Monasterlija, as well as Sekula Vitković, the “lieutenant colonel” of the Petrovaradin regiment, whose relentlessness inspired the inhabitants of Šanac to fight with great zeal for the status of a free royal city. The magnificent building, with its baroque tower, convincingly symbolized the abrupt break with Serbian medieval architecture.
In the new, much more luxurious temple from the second half of the 18th century, the Holy “despot” rested with dignity, lying in a metal reliquary, “very richly decorated, in front of the Savior’s throne”. On the relics of Saint Stefan, until the middle of the 20th century, there were the coat of arms of the Štiljanović family and the medal of the founder Jovan Monasterlija. Furthermore, the generous Bishop Vikentije hung his skillfully decorated “precious cross with a chain, worth 1,000 ducats, with an emerald and a diamond” around his neck. The following lines were written on the reliquary:
“I build this reliquary for the Šišatovac Monastery and the temple of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where relics of St. Stefan Štiljanović lie, under the rule of the Roman Emperor Franz I and Queen of Hungary Maria Theresa. Also under the most holy Pavle Nenadović, the Archbishop of Karlovci and of Serbian and Vlach people of the Metropolitanate and the great Councillor of the crown, and Arch. of the family, Mr. Vikentije Popović, in the month of January, anno Domini 1760.“
Iconostasis
The beautiful tradition of decorating the monastery was continued by the following hegumens, Archimandrites Gedeon (Nikitić) and Gavrilo (Stefanović), as well as Hegumen Timotej (Popović). The high, brick-built, iconostasis partition and the interior of the temple were painted by Grigorije Davidović Obšić from Čalma, between 1793 and 1795. Since the icons of Šišatovac were destroyed during the Second World War, the author’s abandonment of the Baroque and acceptance of some classicist style features can only be understood on the basis of the preserved photograph. Here, Obšić portrayed Bishop Vikentije of Vršac, in 1795. The expressed desire for visible indicators of faith, but also for feudal representativeness, reflected in the constant sprucing up of the monastery, in the end seriously damaged its economy.
Treasury of the Monastery
Before the devastation, this monastery possessed several precious antiquities, such as the handmade cross of the silversmith Radoslav from 1598, the five-bread communion tray from 1659, the “despot’s silver bull” (a similar item attributed to the ownership of Jelena Štiljanović), an epitrachelion made from the robe of Saint Stefan Štiljanović and a copperplate with his image, from 1763, paid for by Vuk Isakovič. Portraits of the “Duke” Monasterlija, Patriarch Arsenije IV, Sekula Vitković, Vikentije (Popović) and Lukijan (Mušicki) hung in the salons of the dormitory. The library of Šišatovac was widely famous for its manuscripts and extremely rare printed books. According to Dušan K. Petrović, the “Šišatovac Apostle” manuscript, written on parchment in Ždrelo near Peć, 1324, the “Šišatovac Gospel” from 1560 and another “Gospel” with 16th century miniatures, Menology from 1566 and the bishop’s sermons copied in 1616 in the Moldovici monastery were stored there. In 1910, Mata Kosovac recorded the fact that 662 books were kept in the monastery, of which 25 were handwritten.
Sufferings and renewals
After taking over the duties of the hegumen, Archimandrite Lukian (Mušicki) remained disappointed by the appearance of the complex’s “lopsided and rotten” buildings and the initiated renovation only increased the already existing debts. In material terms, the gifted archimandrite paid a high price for his transformation of Šišatovac into a Serbian cultural center, where Šafarik and Miklošić carried out their scientific research and where Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, according to the memory of Tešan Podrugović and Filip Višnjić, recorded some of the best Serbian epics. In 1821, at the suggestion of Archimandrite Lukijan, Arsa Teodorović executed a painting composition in the monastic refectory with a detail from the life of Saint Stefan Štiljanović, in which he is shown distributing wheat to the starving people in his town of Šikluš. Contrary to creative enthusiasm, economic atrophy resulted in the “Description” from 1846, in which visitors emphasize the very poor condition of the dormitory, which was destroyed by fire, only three years later. The effects of the reconstruction from 1928 will be swallowed up by the coming destruction of war.
Under the occupation by the Independent State of Croatia, Šišatovac was looted, burned and finally detonated. In 1941, its Hegumen Saint Rafailo (Momčilović) lost his life in a very cruel way in the Ustaše camp. With the exception of the Annunciation at the imperial doors, Obšić’s iconostasis was lost forever in 1944, when the tower, vaults and roof were demolished. After the Second World War, the remains of the destroyed, three-story dormitory were stripped to the ground. In the following decades, the Holy Liturgy was served only on the day of the monastery’s patron saint’s feast day, among the ghostly walls of the former church. The estate of 16 cadastral acres of arable land, remaining after nationalization, was taken care of by the hegumens of Kuveždin.
The first monk who settled in this sanctuary again was Vitalije (Ignjatović), who managed to build the southern wing of the dormitory, between 1981 and 1986. The renovation of the monastery started symbolically with the Holy Bishop’s Liturgy, which was served by Serbian Patriarch German (Đorić) and other bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, including the new Bishop of Srem, Mr. Vasilije. Since then, a new tower, dome and vaults have been built, the dormitory has been completed and a winter chapel, refectory, bishop’s salon and monastic cells for the enlarged brotherhood have been arranged. In addition, the cemetery chapel was reconstructed to its old appearance, and a fountain was built at the spring of Saint Anastasia, where, according to tradition, the young Nikola Tesla was miraculously cured.
In addition to ktetors Monasterlija and Vitković, the temple is the resting place of Metropolitans Elevterije of Belgrade-Srem (1689) and Joanikije of Požarevac (1702), as well as Bishop Jeftimije (Popović) of Buda (1704). Their grave markers were badly damaged during the Second World War. The chapel of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is located in the monastic cemetery and it is the resting place of Vuk Isakovič and Archimandrite Petronije (Trbojević), a close relative of the famous scientist Nikola Tesla.