Visarion Pavlović


Visarion Pavlović was a scholar, pedagogue and the Serbian Orthodox bishop of the Eparchy of Bačka. He succeeded Sofronije Tomašević, and was succeeded by Mojsije Putnik.

Biography

Visarion Pavlović received his education at the famed Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, like many Serbs of his generation. As a scholar, he came from Kiev to his homeland to become a teacher in the Archbishopric, and Putnik's predecessor on the episcopal throne. Soon after arriving, Visarion Pavlović became the founder and dean of the Gymnasium Latin-Slavic Academy of Our Lady, where Zaharije Orfelin taught for seven years from 1746 to 1757. Pavlović mentored Mojsije Putnik and Zaharije Orfelin who were then among the most learned men in the Archbishopric. Thanks to Pavlović, the school had access to all the latest Kievan artistic, literary creations and scientific textbooks such as panegyrics, the contemporary Kievan poetry in Russian Slavonic and books on natural science, astronomy, physics, mathematics, etc.
The first schools in Vojvodina mentioned in records as early as 1726 were Roman Catholic primary schools in Novi Sad, and in 1731 there was the Gymnasium Latin-Slavic School of Our Lady founded and maintained by Visarion Pavlović, the Bishop of Bačka. Bishop Pavlović and the Serbian Orthodox Church Community were aware that only solid education in the Latin language could ensure a better future for the Serbian people in the Habsburg monarchy. Considering the fact that Serbs, in Novi Sad of that time, were a majority and in addition richer than the ethnic minorities, popular schools in Serbian existed as well.