The Timok Diocese According to a Census from 1836 Cover Image

Тимочка епископија по попису из 1836
The Timok Diocese According to a Census from 1836

Author(s): Nedeljko V. Radosavljević
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Ethnohistory, Social history, 19th Century
Published by: Istorijski institut, Beograd

Summary/Abstract: The 1836 census of the Timok Diocese was the first systematic survey of the ecclesiastical structure made in the Timok region after the foundation of the Principality of Serbia. The data furnished by this census shed considerable light on some important questions from the history of the Timok Diocese, which was founded in 1834, a year after the territory of six Turkish districts had been added to the Principality of Serbia. This census makes it possible to establish the boundaries of the Timok Diocese, the number of priests and parishes in it, and the number of active monasteries. In addition, it records the basic information about the priests and monks, from which their age and geographic and ethnic provenance may be inferred. The records of the manumissions of the priests given in the census also provide evidence of the terms of office of the individual metropolitans of Vidin and of the bishops who had administered the neighbouring eparchies before 1833. It can be said, therefore, that the 1836 census of the Timok Diocese is an exceptionally important, first-class source for the history of the Serbian Church in the nineteenth century. Besides, the fact that it was made for the current needs of the ecclesiastical administration, with no thought of posterity, makes it a document of undoubted credibility.

  • Issue Year: 2005
  • Issue No: 52
  • Page Range: 252-267
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Serbian