Teodor Račanin


Teodor Račanin was a writer and Serbian Orthodox monk of the Račan Scriptorium School mentioned in Ottoman sources of 16th century literature.

Biography

Monk-scribe Teodor Račanin was given a mention in 1516 in Rača monastery and references to the place can be found in Turkish sources from 1528-1530. Before 1516 he was tonsured and began to study seriously his craft at the Rača monastery in Bajina Bašta where a renowned library and Scriptorium dating from the Middle Ages was still active. In the year 1560, seven monks lived in the monastery. Written records kept testifying to the existence of the holy place near Bajina Bašta throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, all until 1688 when the monastic church was "burnt in flames" by the invading Turks.
Teodor Račanin was a contemporary of printers/editors Božidar Vuković, Vićenco Vuković, Božidar Goraždanin, Dimitrije Ljubavić, Đurađ Crnojević, Stefan Marinović, Hieromonk Makarije, Hieromonk Mardarije, Hegumen Mardarije, Hieromonk Pahomije, Trojan Gundulić, Andrija Paltašić, Jakov of Kamena Reka, Jerolim Zagurović, Bartolomeo Ginammi, Inok Sava, Stefan Paštrović and many others.
The Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church is in possession of a small number of ornately decorated manuscripts by unknown scribes, though a few have been identified, namely Teodor Račanin, Kiprijan Račanin, Grigorije Račanin, Maksim Račanin, Jerotej Račanin, Simeon Račanin, Hristifor Račanin, Ćirjak Račanin, Gavril Stefanović Venclović and others.