ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The scientific conference is dedicated to 155th anniversary of the death of Josif Rajačić, the Patriarch of Serbia (1785-1861).
Josif Rajačić, Serbian Patriarch of great spiritual and social aspirations, lived and worked in the time of huge historical turmoil. He was born in in Lučani in Lika on 20/31st of July, 1785, secular name Ilija Rajačić, and died in Sremski Karlovci on 10/13th of December 1861, and was burried in St. Nikola Church, where he rests to this day.
He was a charismatic person who dedicated his life to the highest human values, spoke several languages, and was a philosopher and a diplomat. Josif Rajačić is a descendant of a well known family of four brothers, who were among the leaders of the Great Migration of Serbs under the Patriarch Arsenije Čarnojević. He took his vows when he was 25 and became Josif, thus starting his religious career that lasted for 60 years.
Boldly following the Lord’s path, he managed to continue the broken line of the Serbian Patriarchs, becoming the first re-established church leader after the abolishment of the Patriarchy in Peć. As the spiritual leader of the Serbs in the Monarchy, he shows the greatest courage and believes in Vojovodina during the Revolution (1848). He respected the man as a divine being, built of body and soul, and fought with all his strength for the highest truth, because the God is the Path, the Truth and Life.
Although he stated in his Autobiography that his ultimate goal was acquiring and maintaining the rights and privilegies of his people and the Church in the Monarchy, he played an important role in the everyday life and activities of the common folk. He took part in curing and caring for the patients during the cholera outbreak, was a passionate botanist, supported aducation and culture, especially music, through his friendship with Kornelije Stanković. He collected more than 1500 titles in his library and helped print the first Serbian Cookbook in 1855.
"In the eulogy published in the Yearbook of Matica Srpska in 1862, it is stated: As a Patriarch he navigated with the steady hand the Church and the Serbs in Austria for 19 years. Like Moses he took us out of the Egiptian darkness, in which we dwelled, insignificant and forgotten, and lead us to the promised land, coveted by our forefathers and us equally. But alas, as Moses was not allowed to set foot on his promised land, so our Patriarch did not live to see the political and social security of his beloved people in the Monarchy!"
