Hermitage of Isaija Parivodski

An isposnica is a hermitage: a place where a monk withdrew from the monastery to live alone, fast and pray. This one is carved into soft, light limestone on a small plateau below a cliff. The entrance is set slightly to the side and is less than 1.5 m high. A narrow window lets in a little light.

It is the only hermitage of its kind in Vojvodina. Tourist guides often call it a protected cultural monument, but we have not found it in the official register, and one detailed account says it is not protected. It is believed to have been made by monks of Rakovac Monastery in the 18th century.

The inscriptions

The rock around the entrance is covered with names and dates carved over more than two centuries, many in old church script, alongside plenty of modern signatures.

Published descriptions agree that the oldest dated inscription belongs to the man the hermitage is named after: Isaija Parivodić, hieromonk of Rakovac, who carved it in 1771 and wrote that he stayed at the cave “at the time of his infirmity”. He is considered the first monk of Rakovac to live here. One tourist guide gives the year as 1711; the other descriptions read 1771. He signed himself Parivodić; guides and signposts call him Parivodski.

This is how the text reads on one of our photographs (the end of the surname is hard to make out):

При пещрѣ сей во времѧ
немощи своеа въ мцъ
маій 1771го года преби-
валъ Исаіа Париводи…
іеромонахъ раковачкій

“At this cave, at the time of his infirmity, in the month of May 1771, stayed Isaija Parivod…, hieromonk of Rakovac.”

Around it, visitors kept adding their own marks: a name of 1830 in its own niche under a carved cross, what appears to be a verse dated 1847, contrasting the strife of the town with the peace of the wilderness, and names from the 19th and 20th centuries right up to our time.

Who was Isaija

Isaija was a monk and scribe. In 1767 he made the copy of Abbot Teofan’s monastery chronicle that preserves the founding legend of Rakovac. The Eparchy of Srem also names him as a copyist of a Srbljak, the book of church services to Serbian saints, and writes that he rests at the hermitage, near the former monks’ cemetery, which was nationalised after the Second World War. More in Isaija Parivodski.

How to get there

• From Rakovac Monastery: walk up to Beli Majdan, then follow the marked path further into the forest, about 40 minutes. The path is steep in places.
• From Stari Ledinci: a second path leads up from the Ledinci side.

Wear proper shoes, and in summer protect yourself against mosquitoes. Camping and fires are not allowed.