Gavrilo Popović or Bishop Gavrilo (Saint George Popović; 23 October 1811 – 7 February 1871) was Bishop of

Šabac Šabac (Serbian Cyrillic: Шабац, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Mačva District in western Serbia. The traditional centre of the fertile Mačva region, Šabac is located on the right banks of the river Sava. , the city p ...

, Rector of Lyceum and the

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

of Belgrade.

Biography

He finished elementary school and a six-year course at the high school in Baja. He completed his philosophy in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

and

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

, the seventh and eighth grades of high school. He began his law studies in Pest, but after one year of study, he decided to move to

Sremski Karlovci Sremski Karlovci ( sr-cyrl, Сремски Карловци, ; hu, Karlóca; tr, Karlofça) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Danub ...

to study theology instead. He completed his seminary in Sremski Karlovci, and then, at the invitation of Belgrade Metropolitan Peter, moved to

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

in 1834. In the same year, he became a deacon and worked as a clerk in the metropolitan area. In 1835 he was elevated to proto-deacon. A seminary was founded in Belgrade in 1836 and Gavrilo became a professor of the newly-established Belgrade seminary. He remained in that service until 1839. From 1839 he was named professor at the

Lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the th ...

with five others (Aleksije Okolski, Atanasije Teodorović, Isidor Stojanović, Atanasije Nikolić, Konstantin Branković) in

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Serbia, and is situated on ...

, then the capital of Serbia. The same Lyceum was transferred from Kragujevac to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

(once the city was liberated) in 1841, and Gavrilo moved to Belgrade consequently. He remained in that teaching position until May 1844. From 11 June 1842, he was a regular member of the Society Of Serbian Letters. He was Vice-President of the society in 1848, 1855 and 1856, and its Secretary in 1850. In May 1844 he was dismissed as the rector of the Lyceum and a member of the Consistory for some transgression that has yet to be made known. On 25 November 1860, he was appointed Bishop of Šabac. He wrote and published a Serbian premier in 1864 called ''Bukvar'' for the grade schools. He also wrote educational children's stories and other textbooks. He retired on November 27, 1866 and after that lived for a time in the

Ravanica Monastery The Ravanica Monastery ( sr, / ) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery on Kučaj mountains near Senje, a village in Ćuprija municipality in Central Serbia. It was built in 1375–1377 as an endowment of prince Lazar of Serbia, who is buried the ...

and the Bukovo monastery. From 6 February 1869, he was appointed an honorary member of the

Serbian Learned Society The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Serbica, sr-Cyr, Српска академија наука и уметности, САНУ, Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, SANU) is a national academy and the ...

on 29 June 1864. He was a full member of the Philological and Philosophical Section. When he became seriously ill, he came to live with his friend and relative, Theodosius Mraović, in Belgrade in 1870. He died 7 February 1871 in Belgrade.

References

Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church {{DEFAULTSORT:Popović, Gavrilo 1811 births 1871 deaths