Jovan Grković ( sr-cyr, Јован Грковић; 1879 – 9 October 1912), nicknamed Gapon (Гапон) was a former Serbian Orthodox monk who joined the Serb guerrilla (

chetniks The Chetniks ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Четници, Četnici, ; sl, Četniki), formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationa ...

) in the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle ( bg, Македонска борба; el, Μακεδονικός Αγώνας; mk, Борба за Македонија; sr, Борба за Македонију; tr, Makedonya Mücadelesi) was a series of social, po ...

(1902–1912).

Life

Grković was born in

Orahovac Rahovec ( sq-definite, Rahoveci) or Orahovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Ораховац) is a town and municipality located in the District of Prizren in western Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Rahovec has 15,892 inhabitants, while the ...

,Leskovac 2004 in the vicinity of

Prizren ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

,Đurić-Mijović 1993, p. 113 at the time part of the Kosovo Vilayet of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. He finished grammar and theological school in Prizren, then became a monk, serving as

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

under the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan (''

vladika Vladika or Wladika ( sr, владика) is a Slavic title and address of bishops in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In Old Church Slavonic, the meaning of the word is ''Mr.'' From the early-16th to the mid-19th century in Montenegro, the title r ...

'') of

Žiča The Žiča Monastery ( sr, Манастир Жича, Manastir Žiča, or ) is an early 13th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia. The monastery, together with the Church of the Holy Dormition, was built by the first King of ...

. He went to the

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population in ...

monastery of

Hilandar The Hilandar Monastery ( sr-cyr, Манастир Хиландар, Manastir Hilandar, , el, Μονή Χιλανδαρίου) is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian monastery there. It wa ...

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...

, where he took the monastic name Jeremija (Јеремија). He stayed at Athos at the same time as

Vasilije Trbić Vasilije Trbić ( sr-Cyrl, Василије Трбић; 1881 – 1962) was a Serbian Chetnik commander in Macedonia who became a politician in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, first representing the People's Radical Party (NRS) in t ...

, but as conflict arose with the Greek and Bulgarian monks, they left for Serbia together, sometime in 1902. They subsequently joined the cause of the Serbian guerrilla fighters ("

") against the Ottomans. Unusually combative and revolutionary for being a former monk, he was nicknamed "Gapon" after Russian Orthodox monk and working-class leader

Georgy Gapon Georgy Apollonovich Gapon. ( –) was a Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox priest and a popular working-class leader before the 1905 Russian Revolution. After he was discovered to be a police informant, Gapon was murdered by members of the ...

, by his fellow guerrilla fighters. When the Serbian Chetnik Assembly were to appoint the

voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

Skoplje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

, Gapon suggested giving it to young veteran fighter Kosta Pećanac — all members agreed, and in a great meeting at Christmas 1904, Pećanac received the title at only 25 years old.Đurić-Mijović 1993, 92 Gapon fought in the units of

Doksim Mihailović Doksim Mihailović ( sr, Доксим Михаиловић; 20 February 1883 – 24 October 1912) was a Macedonian Serb ''voivode'' (military commander), originally a teacher, who joined the Serbian Chetnik Organization to fight in Ottoman Macedon ...

and then Kosta Pećanac, being an active Chetnik until his death. In 1907 or 1908, while Gapon was fighting in the Veles

kaza A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough') * bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза * el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also () * lad, kaza , ...

, he sang the song "The Serb Trumpet Plays For Me" (Srpska mi truba zatrubi) at Drenovo, and also sang it during the Macedonian celebration in Belgrade (1909), from where it became popular across the country. He died on 9 October 1912, the same day the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

began, while fighting around

Kumanovo Kumanovo ( mk, Куманово ; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in North Macedonia and the seat of Kumanovo Municipality, the List of municipalities in the Republic of Macedonia by population, largest municipali ...

, at

Staro Nagoričane Staro Nagoričane ( mk, ) is a village in North Macedonia and the seat of the Staro Nagoričane municipality. The village is primarily known for its 11th century Church of St. George, first constructed in 1071 during Byzantine Macedonia, and rec ...

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grkovic-Gapon, Jovan 1879 births 1912 deaths People from Orahovac People from Kosovo vilayet Kosovo Serbs Serbian Orthodox clergy 20th-century Serbian people Serbian rebels Serbian military personnel of the Balkan Wars Serbian military personnel killed in action Ottoman period in the history of Kosovo Armed priests People from Staro Nagoričane Municipality People associated with Hilandar Monastery

Life

See also

References

Sources