NIKODIM TISMANSKI IN PRINCE LAZAR’S MISSION IN CONSTANTINOPLE

Text topic: Studies

Text author: Драгана Ј. Јањић и Горан М. Јанићијевић

In the year when eight centuries of the independence of the Serbian Orthodox Church is being celebrated, the issue of the concept of autocephaly in the liturgical-canonical context is actualized, through consideration of numerous events and processes from turbulent history. One of the most important processes was the activity of Prince Lazar, with the assistance of the Mount Athos monks, aimed at reconciliation of the Serbian and the Constantinople Patriarchates. The key for the success of Prince Lazar’s Constantinople mission was his spiritual closeness to the Mount Athos monks, Sinaits and Hesychasts, which in his time occupied some of the key positions in the Constantinople and Bulgarian churches and held important chairs in Orthodox institutions in the Balkans. Although an old man Isaija Serski-Hilandarac is mentioned as the main spiritus movens of this mission of great importance, the presence of Nikodim Tismanski, a “words interpreter”, was also significant. His role in the Orthodox church of the second half of the 14th century was researched not only based on the mentioned activities for the overcome of the schism, but in the foundation of numerous monasteries either in the feudal states of Prince Lazar (Vratna, Manastirica) or in the Romanian lands (Vodica, Tisman). Thus, the solution of this canonical problem has provided a framework for research of church life in the second half of the 14th century.