Dorotej or Dorotheus ( sr-cyr, Доротеј) was a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the populat ...

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

Hilandar The Hilandar Monastery (, , , ) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian Orthodox monastery there. It was founded in 1198 by two Serbs from the Grand Principality of Serbia, Stefan Neman ...

and the '' protos'' of

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...

from 1356 until 1366.
/ref> He is noted for writing a charter for the monastery of

Drenča Drenča ( sr-cyrl, Дренча) is a village in the municipality of Aleksandrovac, Serbia. The monastery of Drenča dates back to the Middle Ages. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 255 people.Popis stanovništva, doma ...

in 1382.

Life

Drenča

The village of

, 5 km north of town of

Aleksandrovac Aleksandrovac ( sr-cyr, Александровац) is a town and municipality located in the Rasina District of central Serbia. As of 2022, the town has a population of 5,586 inhabitants, while the municipality has 22,069 inhabitants. History Fr ...

, was home to the ruined church of ''Dušmanica'', as it is called by village's elders. The monk Dorotej, the third Prior of

Hilandar Monastery The Hilandar Monastery (, , , ) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbs, Serbian Serbian Orthodox Church, Orthodox monastery there. It was founded in 1198 by two Ser ...

with his son Danilo (who later became Patriarch Danilo III of the

Serbian Patriarchate of Peć Serbian Patriarchate of Peć (, ''Srpska patrijaršija u Peći''), or simply Peć Patriarchate (, ''Pećka patrijaršija''), was an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate that existed from 1346 to 1463, and then again from 155 ...

, from 1390 to 1397) built the monastery of Drenča in 1382 and dedicated it to the ''Presentation of the Holy Virgin''. The two founders gifted the shrine with numerous estates and established its economic status which was regularly supplied with continuous income. At the south-west angle of the Monastery Church naos the building founders's graves are covered with large stone blocks. With its decoration similar to the Veluće and Rudenica monasteries, the architectural style of Drenča Monastery is of the early school of Morava architecture.

Prince Lazar Lazar Hrebeljanović ( sr-Cyrl, Лазар Хребељановић; – 15 June 1389) was a medieval List of Serbian monarchs, Serbian ruler who created the largest and most powerful state on the territory of the disintegrated Serbian Empir ...

confirmed large properties in the area of town of

Kruševac Kruševac ( sr-Cyrl, Крушевац, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Rasina District in central Serbia. It is located in the valley of West Morava, on Rasina (river), Rasina river. According to the 202 ...

and Braničevo area. The church of Drenča Monastery has a three-foil base combined with an inscribed cross, richly decorated and built of stone and bricks, a slim cupola resting on four free pillars, and an eastern apse with specific sections for the vestry and deacons. The monastery church widens from west side towards the three-part altar space, towards the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

which is a semi-eclipse from inside and five-sided from the outside, and towards the

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

and the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

, used to be covered with the cross-ceiling. Drenča Monastery with its Church dedicated to the Presentation of the Holy Virgin was long time in ruins to experience eventually its thorough reconstruction at the beginning of the second Millennium and gather again religious people from the Zupa region, near

References

Sources

*A. Mladenović, ''Povelje kneza Lazara'' (Belgrade, 2003) pp. 177–190 (Drenča) 14th-century Serbian people People from the Serbian Empire Medieval Serbian Orthodox clergy Medieval Athos Athonite Fathers People associated with Hilandar Monastery {{Serbia-bio-stub

Life

Drenča

See also

References

Sources