О ЈЕВАНЂЕЉИМА У ИРИГУ У ВРЕМЕ КУГЕ 1795/96. ГОДИНЕ
IRIG GOSPELS AT THE TIME OF THE PLAGUE IN 1795/96

Summary/Abstract: Plague epidemics were the most disastrous of all epidemic diseases that came upon human race. Wherever it appeared, it left behind desolation and death. For centuries, Srem was exposed to epidemics of various infectious diseases, particularly plague and smallpox, which most often arrived in Europe from the south, from Turkey. Last in a series of contagious epidemics in Srem in the 18th century, which is called the century of plague in the history of medicine, was the plague of Srem or the plague of Irig. At the time of the plague, there were three Orthodox churches in Irig with six priests. Three priests died of the plague. Throughout the duration of the epidemic, Stefan Vezilić, a parish priest of the Church of the Holy Ascension, stayed in Irig, in the center of the epidemic, and worked as a chaplain in the hospital for infectious diseases. Apart from other liturgical books, at the time of the plague in Irig there were three gospels that were read in Irig churches, thus appealing to the Lord to stop further spread of infection and save the people from that terrible pestilence. For that reason, they are called “Plague gospels”. In addition to the fact that on their pages there are precious written testimonies of witnesses and participants in these fateful events, the history of these holy books also deserves attention. One of the two larger holy books was printed in Moscow in January 1784, during the reign of Russian Empress Catherine the Great. In the same year, this holy gospel was sent as a gift to St Nicholas Church in Irig by Mojsej Jovanović Šakabenta, then the major of Russian imperial army, and son of Andrija Jovanović Šakabenta. Andrija was a protopresbyter of St Nicholas Church in Irig. He was brother of Patriarch Arsenije IV Šakabenta, with whom he came to this region from Peć in 1737, together with a lot of other people. The other “Plague gospel” was printed in Moscow in 1760, during the reign of Russian Empress Yelisaveta Petrovna. Beside its spiritual and bibliographic value, this gospel is significant because priest Stefan Vezilić left a detailed record of events during the plague epidemic on one of the blank pages. Thanks to Darko Jelić, the present parish priest of St Nicholas Church and St Theodore Church, the third “Plague gospel” was found during the rearrangement of old liturgical books. It also contains valuable notes written by priest Stefan Vezilić about the tragedy that befell Irig and surrounding area in these fatal years at the end of the 18th century.

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