Mateja Matejić ( sr-Cyrl, Матеја Матејић; 19 February 1924 – 27 July 2018) was a
Serbian American writer, translator, anthologist,
Serbian Orthodox priest, and
Professor Emeritus of
Slavic languages and Literatures at
Ohio State University.
Biography
Matejić was born in
Smederevo in what was then the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (today Serbia) and educated there. As a seminarian at
Bitola
Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...
during the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, he left the country and completed his seminary education in a
displaced persons camp
A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for interna ...
in
Eboli
Eboli ( Ebolitano: ) is a town and ''comune'' of Campania, southern Italy, in the province of Salerno.
An agricultural centre, Eboli is known mainly for olive oil and for its dairy products, among which the famous buffalo mozzarella from the ...
,
Italy. In 1949, at another camp in
West Germany, he married Ljubica Nebrigić of
Srem (who preceded him in death on 17 April 2016).
He was ordained as a Serbian Orthodox priest in a camp in 1951. He and his young family emigrated to the United States in 1956. As a priest, he founded two parishes and encouraged and physically contributed to the building of two places of worship, the Church of St. George in
Monroe, Michigan (where he served from 1956 to 1967), and the Church of St. Stevan of Dečani in Columbus, Ohio (where he served from 1967 until his retirement in 1990).
He graduated from the
University of Michigan where he received his Ph.D.
Mateja Matejić was a founder of the
Hilandar Research Library
The Hilandar Research Library (HRL), located in the Thompson Library on the campus of Ohio State University, has the largest collection of medieval Slavic manuscripts on microform in the world.
Hilandar Research Library Collection
The collection ...
scientific project at the Ohio State University in
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
, where he taught Slavic languages since 1968. He was the first director of the ''Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies'' and founder and director of the publishing house ''Kosovo'', as well as the editor of the ''Paths of Orthodoxy'' magazine. A translator and
anthologist of
Medieval and foreign
poetry, he had also authored several books of poems and Eastern Orthodox history, two of which are acclaimed: ''An Anthology of Medieval Serbian Literature'' (as co-author) and ''The
Holy Mount
Holy Mount, , is a prominent peak in the Taconic Mountains of western Massachusetts, formerly used as the location of religious ceremonies by a nearby Shaker community.
Geography
The mountain is located in Pittsfield State Forest and is tra ...
and
Hilandar monastery''. In September 2000 he received two awards from the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches.
The majori ...
, the ''St. Sava Medal'' (the highest), presented to him in
Ohio, and the next day a ''gramata'' from
Patriarch Pavle in
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 ...
.
Works
* Na stazama izbeglickim: srpsko pesnistvo u izbeglistvu 1945-1968 (On Exile Paths: Serbian Poetry Diaspora 1945–1968) ''in Serbian'' co-author Bor. M. Karapandzic (1969)
* A Brief History of the Russian Orthodox Church ''in English''
* Biography of Saint Sava ''in English'' (1976)
* An Anthology of Medieval Serbian Literature ''in English'' co-author Dragan Milivojevic (1978)
* The Holy Mount and Hilandar Monastery ''in English'' (1983)
* Relationship between the Russian and the Serbian Churches through the centuries ''in English'' {1988)
Kosovo and Vidovdan After Six Hundred Years''in English'' (1992)
* Troubles in Chiiandar ''in Serbian'' (1994)
* Scriptural instructions for Christian life ''in English'' (1997)
* Hilandar manuscript / Hilandarski rukopis ''in English and Serbian'' (1998)
* Remaining Unchanged ''in Serbian'' (1998)
* The oldest Christian liturgy ''in English'' (1999)
* A festschrift for Leon Twarog ''in English'' co-editor Irene Masing-Delic (2001)
External links
The Hilandar Research Library (''website'')has the largest collection of
medieval Slavic
manuscripts
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...
on
microfilm in the world.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matejic, Mateja
1924 births
2018 deaths
Writers from Smederevo
Serbian Orthodox clergy
Ohio State University faculty
University of Michigan alumni
Yugoslav emigrants to the United States