Dositej Novaković

Dositej Novaković (c. 1774 — 1854) was a Serb priest and Orthodox bishop of Timok from 1834 to 1854.

Biography

Novaković was born in the small village of Dabnica close to Prilep around 1774. As a young men he joined the fraternity of the nearby Treskavac monastery. Soon afterwards he left Treskavac for Holy Mount Athos and monastery of Zoographou where he became a monk.

Returning to Prilep he came into conflict with local Muslims and, fearing for his life, decided to flee northwards. He first came to Pirot and then Niš where he serves as aid to bishop Melentije. In May 1821, fearing that the local Serbs would rise to arms inspired by the Greek Liberation War and proximity of their already free kinsmen, the Ottomans murdered bishop Melentije together with several other churchmen. Novaković manages to escape to the Principality of Serbia where he is received well and appointed first as abbot of monastery Sveta Petka and later on of Gornjak monastery.

After in 1833 Timočka krajna region was liberated from the Ottomans and became part of the Principality of Serbia, Prince Miloš Obrenović decided to form a new diocese for the area. Metropolitan of Serbia, after consulting other two bishops of the principality, decided to name Dositej in 1834 as the first bishop of Timok, the position on which he remained for the next two decades. The seat of the diocese was first in Zaječar but was soon transferred to Negotin (today it is once again in Zaječar). Bishop Dositej is remembered as a kind and benevolent men, who was especially keen on helping pupils from his diocese that continued their schooling in Belgrade.

In 1846 Novaković became a member of the Serbian Learned Society, the precursor of the present-day Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Bishop Dositej died on April 2, 1854. His modest grave originally stood in the churchyard of the old church in Negotin while later on it was moved inside of it. .^[1][2]

References