RakovacA glossary of names
People of Rakovac
Founders, scribes, painters, bishops and partisans who shaped Rakovac, and the people who live here today and remember.
This glossary grows over time. Historical entries are based on published sources. For people living today, we record conversations on camera, with their permission: memories of the village, the monastery, the war years, the quarry and everyday life. Where a video exists, you will find it on the person’s page.
Would you like to tell your story, or do you know someone who should? See About the author.
Who does what in Rakovac
Coming soon: a directory of the skills and services people in Rakovac offer, from builders and electricians to tutors, drivers and home cooks. Buying locally keeps the village alive. Want to be listed? Write to konstantin.stein@gmail.com.
Voices of Rakovac today
- Voices of Rakovac: interviews coming soon 2026–Video
- Recorded conversations with residents: memories of the village, the monastery, the quarry and the war years.
From history
- Raka Milošević late 15th century
- Chamberlain of Despot Jovan Branković; according to legend the founder of Rakovac Monastery, which is named after him.
- Abbot Teofan around 1700
- Abbot who rebuilt the monastery after a great fire and edited the Rakovac Srbljak of 1714.
- Hieromonk Pahomije around 1700
- Scribe who made a copy of the medieval Serbian law code, Dušan’s Code, at Rakovac in 1700.
- Metropolitan Vićentije Jovanović 18th century · 1735
- Metropolitan who paid for the baroque bell tower (1735). His remains were laid in the wall of the monastery chapel in 1893.
- Hieromonk Silvestar 18th century · 1749
- Rakovac monk and painter who wrote an account of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
- Vasa Ostojić 18th century · 1763
- Painter of the icons on the iconostasis of Rakovac Monastery (1763).
- Isaija Parivodski active 1767–1771
- Hieromonk and scribe of Rakovac. He copied the monastery chronicle in 1767 and carved the oldest dated inscription at the rock hermitage (1771), which is named after him.
- Amvrosije Janković 18th century · 1768
- Painter of the monastery refectory (1768), remembered as the first painter of the Battle of Kosovo.
- The "court monastery" bishops 18th–19th century
- Pavle Nenadović, Mojsije Putnik, Danilo Jakšić, Josif Šakabenta, Pantelejmon Živković, Georgije Hranislav and others.
- Đorđe Marković Đilas died 1942
- Commander of the staff of the partisan detachments of Srem, killed at Stručica in August 1942.
- Stanko Paunović Veljko 1907–1942
- Partisan commissar and People’s Hero, killed at Stručica in Rakovac in August 1942.
- Zencel Hunjadi, "Franja" 1913–1942
- Partisan courier known as “Franja”, killed at Stručica with the staff of the Srem detachments.
- Hegumeness Gavrila Bedov hegumeness 1990–2020
- Head of the sisterhood of Rakovac Monastery during three decades of rebuilding.