The Issue of Construction of the Old Serbian Orthodox Church in Mostar and Its Repair in 1833

Abstract

As opposed to many sacral Christian structures on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the period of Ottoman rule, the issue of the construction of the old Serbian-Orthodox Church remains controversial in Yugoslav historiography.

The author of the present paper is trying to shed more light on the issue, as well as on the Issue of the repair of the same Church in 1833. Beginning from the supposition that the basic condition for the construction of any sacral structure in any given community is the existence of a certain number of worshipers, the author offers a certain number of mostly unpublished Turkish archive data on the Christian population in general. Namely, being unable to separate the data referring to the Serbian Orthodox population, from those referring to the Catholic population, since with the mention of certain persons no religious affiliation had been given, the author present all the cases to the experts in the field, to judge, if possible, about the confessional affiliation of the mentioned person. According to the established routine in the Islamic lands, the common name - zimani or nasrani or gaberani was used for all the Christians.

It is especially pointed out in the present paper, that by comparing of the available data from the past of the city of Mostar, one can reach the conclusion that the Christian population, in that early period, had not rapidly decreased in number due to Islamization, but it increased as the time passed, this was true of both Serbian Orthodox and Catholic population.

As the best proof for determining of the time of the construction of the old Serbian Orthodox Church, the author used the authentic copy of the Sultan's Ferman, dated second decade of rebia II 1262 (8-17 April 1846), in which it is stated that the Serbian Orthodox population in the city of Mostar, had during the past 80-100 years been buried in the cemetery located on the land of Hadj Bali's waqif, on the hill-sides of the hill of Stolac. This cemetery is located in the immediate vicinity of the old Serbian Orthodox Church.

As for the manner in which the permission for the repair of 1Jhe Church had been granted from the central Turkish authorities, there is a Ferman on that matter, dated the third decade of redjep 1248 (14-23 December 1832), as wen as a Buyuruldli of the newly-appointed Pasha of Herzegovina, Ali-Pasha Rizvanbegović, in connection with the above mentioned Ferman, dated 27^th of rebia III, 1249 (23 September 1,833). While presenting the material, the author mentions the a certain number of data from memoirs, to be found in our historiography in connection with this matter, of Which there is no mention in the Turkish sources.

In agreement with the tradition of those times, Bishop Joseph, together with the Mostar deputies, received the Ferman from the Grand Vezier Kara Mahmud-Pasha, while the Pasha was staying in Sarajevo, in whioh the repair of the Church was granted for the good services of the Serbian Orthodox population on the side of the Sultan's army in fighting the rebels of Husein-bey Gradaščević. The Moslem population resisted granting of the permission for the repair of the Church. The author is actually trying to shed more light on all the above issues.