Gerasim Petranović

Gerasim Petranovich (Serbian Cyrillic: Герасим Петрановић; Šibenik, 23 April 1820 - Kotor, 5 April 1906) was a Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Kotor (Montenegro), writer and theologian. He was known as a brilliant preacher, the author of several collections of sermons "The Good Shepherd" and a number of books. Honorary Doctor of Theology of the Theological Faculty of Chernivtsi University. He was a contemporary of Jovan Sundečić, Dimitrije Milaković, Georgije Nikolajević, Matija Ban and Božidar Petranović.^[1]

Biography[edit]

Gerasim Petranović was born on 23 April 1820 in Šibenik. He graduated from elementary school in Šibenik, then the Gymnasium (school), Karlovac Theological Seminary and the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zagreb.

On 14 October 1844 in the monastery of Krupa Monastery he joined the order. On 9 December of the same year he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon. On 20 July 1846, he was ordained to the rank of monk. On 6 December 1855, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

He was a professor at the Theological Seminary in Zadar and an assistant to the chairman of the Theological Consistory. He was respected among Orthodox Serbs in Dalmatia. From 1862 to 1871 he was the editor of the Srpsko-Dalmatinski Shop (Serbian-Dalmatian magazine), which was published by his brother Božidar Petranović ^[2].

When Emperor Franz Joseph I approved the creation of an independent diocese of Kotor on 6 November 1870, many representatives of the Serbian community proposed that Archimandrite Gerasim (Petranović) be elected the first bishop of Kotor. Although the emperor fulfilled this appointment on 25 February 1871, a problem soon arose around the consecration of the newly appointed bishop. Orthodox Serbs hoped that the new diocese would remain in spiritual unity with the Metropolitanate of Karlovci, but it quickly became clear that the Austrian-Hungarian state authorities had other intentions in mind. Since at that time the metropolitan throne in Sremski Karlovci was vacant, the question of the consecration of Archimandrite Gerasim dragged on for three more years^[3].

Meanwhile, the state authorities prepared the creation of a completely new metropolis. By decision of the emperor on March 30, 1874, the Bokotor diocese was included in the newly created Bukovina-Dalmatia metropolis with a center in Chernivtsi. Only after that, on May 9, 1874, Archimandrite Gerasimou was consecrated bishop, and then on May 26 he was solemnly served in Kotor.

He managed the diocese of Boka Kotor very successfully, until his death in 1906. In 1874, he founded and was the first editor of the journal Šematizm, an organ of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Boka Kotorsko-Dubrovačka and Spičansk (Regulations of the Orthodox Diocese of Boka Kotor and Spichansk); the magazine was published in Zadar until 1908. He took special care of public schools, established several orphanages, and at his own expense founded a fund for material assistance to religious, educational and charitable institutions^[2].

He died on 18 April 1906 in Kotor and was buried in the Savina Monastery..

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