Прописи митрополита мојсија петровића за свештенике и парохијане
Rules of Archbishop and Metropolitan Mojsije Petrović for Priests and Parishioners

Summary/Abstract: Mojsije Petrović, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Belgrade (1713-1726), and subsequently of Belgrade and Karlovac (1726-1730), devoted much attention during his very active life to improving religious and social life of the Orthodox parochial priests and believers of the Serbian church under the Habsburg Monarchy. On 2 December 1724 Metropolitan Mojsije issued a Decree comprising 57 items with which he began bringing order to the clergy and people. His intention was to eliminate the flaws that he perceived as a consequence of the Turkish or non-Christian rule and the past wars. As the clergy, due to their modest material circumstances and lifestyle did not differ much from the parishioners, the Metropolitan intended to primarily regulate their appearance and conduct in order to make them distinct and recognisable. The Decree determined the duties of parish priests regarding the building and furnishing of churches and improvement of knowledge. The People’s and Church Convention held at Karlovci in 1726 discussed the Decree, and although it was not adopted as a whole, some decisions were passed based on this Decree. Metropolitan Mojsije continued his activity by issuing Rules for Priests containing 9 items that were published on 16 June 1728 in the form of circular notice for all eparchies of the Metropolis of Belgrade and Karlovac. This document listed all improper and non-Christian customs that had taken root among the people, and that the Metropolitan wanted to eradicate. The Rules instructed the priests how to eliminate the flaws of their own and of the parishioners in accordance with the rules and laws of the Orthodox Church. The customs concerned were primarily those related to wedding ceremony and feast, memorial service, behaviour of parishioners in church, in the street and during holy days, relation with fellows, the poor and the wretched. The Metropolitan also issued rules to regulate the income of the clergy, relations within parishes, and introduced mandatory keeping of the register of births, marriages and deaths. He devoted much attention to the education of priests so that they could educate parishioners and especially children. The work of Archbishop and Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovac Mojsije Petrović was acknowledged at the People’s and Church Convention held in Belgrade in 1730. A special session was dedicated to the issues of church reform and a debate on the questions of discipline. On that occasion, some provisions of the 1724 Decree were enacted and the 1728 Rules for Priests were adopted and supplemented with the provision on the christening of children. Also, many other decisions were adopted consistent with the efforts of Metropolitan Mojsije Petrović to bring order to the clergy and people. Metropolitan Mojsije Petrović died a few months after the Assembly in 1730 and did not see further development of the reforms. The result of his efforts were new churches in some eparchies, and the overall number of churches in his time increased by one third compared to the previous period. Yet, undoubtedly the most significant result of his work was that he encouraged his successors to follow in his footsteps, the most remarkable among them being Metropolitans Vićentije Jovanović (1731-1737) and Pavle Nenadović (1749-68).

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