Serbian writer, monk, philosopher and biographer
Domentijan (; c. 1210 - after 1264), also known as Domentijan the Hilandarian (Доментијан Хиландарац), was a major figure in medieval Serbian literature and philosophy. He was a monk of the Hilandar Monastery and a contemporary of Saint Sava. In fact, he accompanied St. Sava on his visit to the Holy Land. He was highly respected by both the royal court and the monks of Mount Athos. The Athonite scribe Teodore's account of his troubles, recorded on the pages of the "Hexameron" ("Šestodnev") of John the Exarch, which Teodore copied at Domentijan's request, contains many references to Domentijan's humanity and the help he gave him. The manuscript is now in the State Historical Museum in Moscow.
It can be concluded that Domentijan was essentially a hymnologist who wrote biographies of two Serbian saints, but in fact glorified monasticism and Christianity.
Biography of St. Sava.
Domentijan's biography of St. Sava, written around 1253 (and an earlier one of St. Simeon Nemanja), was expressly commissioned by the royal court of King Stefan Uroš I, seven years after Sava's death. It is an account of the life of St. Sava, but it is also an apotheosis of monasticism. Domentijan's style is characterized by fluent narration, panegyric diction, an abundance of theological and mystical elements with an emphasis on a spiritual and clearly monastic point of view. Domentijan wrote it in the "kellion" (cell) built by Sava in Karyes, the Athonite seat.
Biography of St. Simeon.
For his biography of St. Simeon, Domentijan used material from the works of earlier authors, unintentionally preserving some of them to the present day. He drew freely from the biography of Stefan Nemanja by Stefan the First-Crowned, a third of his own biography of St. Sava, and in the "Panegyric to St. Simeon" he used a few lines from Ilarion's "Panegyric to St. Vladimir".
Legacy.
He is included in The 100 most prominent Serbs. Đura Daničić published Domentijan's texts in Belgrade in 1865. The Serbian Literary Guild adapted them to the modern language in 1938.
References.
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