Dimitrije Bogdanović’s catalog of the Cyrillic manuscripts of Hilandar Monastery includes descriptions of three manuscripts that are no longer in Hilandar Monastery’s library: HM.SMS.297, 298, and 435.

Bogdanović quotes from the Hilandar Archives where it is indicated that these shelfmarks are reserved from the time that a Bishop Dimitrije borrowed the manuscripts on June 14, 1896, in order to study them in Beograd. The manuscripts were listed in Hilandar Library’s catalog under the numbers 9, 80, and 174. (Bogdanović 1978: 129)

A photograph of a wall of wooden bookcases in the library of Hilandar Monastery, circa 1970. The bookcases have glass doors and the bound volumes of the manuscripts on the shelves are visible through the glass.

Hilandar Monastery Library (circa 1970)

HM.SMS.297, Teodul’s copy of Teodosij’s Life of Saint Sava (1336) was originally no. 9. “Its fate is not known.” (Bogdanović 1978: 128)

HM.SMS.298, Monk Mark’s copy of the Lives of Simeon and Sava (circa 1360-1370), formerly no. 80, was first listed as no. 1366 in the National Library in Beograd before WWII. The National Library was destroyed during the bombing of Beograd on April 6, 1941, but this manuscript was not in the library at that time, so it survived and is now listed as Ps 17.

HM.SMS.435, Danil’s Miscellany (1553) has also been lost and its fate is unknown. Bogdanović reproduces Sava Hilandarec’s description of the scribal colophon (f. 210r) and the titles of the lives of the Serbian kings contained in the manuscript. (Bogdanović 1978: 167)

 

Source: Богдановић, Димитрије. Каталог ћирилских рукописа Манастира Хиландара. Београд: Српска Академија Наука и Уметности и Народна библиотека Србије, 1978.

Image Source: Photo by Walt Craig, circa 1970