Hieromonk Makarije

Hieromonk Makarije
Makarije's missal (1508)
Born	Макарије 15th century
Died	after 1528 Hilandar monastery
Other names	Јеромонах Макарије
Occupation	Hieromonk
Known for	founder of Serbian and Romanian printing

Hieromonk Makarije (Serbian: Јеромонах Макарије; fl. 1494–d. after 1528) is the founder of Serbian and Romanian printing, having printed the first book in Serbian language and the first book in the territory of Walachia (part of modern-day Romania).

The origins of printing in Serbia are linked to the press established in Obod, near Cetinje, in 1493 by Đurađ Crnojević, the eldest son of Ivan Crnojević, the ruler of Zeta (the earliest designation of the Serb land of Crnagora (also known as Montenegro in translation). At the time Zeta was the last free territory of the former powerful Serbian state that began to collapse after the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. In an attempt to defend Zeta from Turkish aspirations to the land Đurađ Crnojević sought an ally in Venice. He dispatched a monk Makarije to Venice to purchase a printing press and learn the trade of printing.

After Hieromonk Makarije found a printing works, he travelled to Venice, where he learned about printing, probably in the printing works of Aldus Manutius or from Andrija Paltašić. After returning to Cetinje, he founded printing works in Obod, then the capital, and later, with the shifting of the capital, moved back to Cetinje where, in 1494, he printed the first book in Serbian language, an Oktoih (it is probable that the first two or four parts were printed in Venice, but the last four were printed in Obod, near Cetinje). Serbia, however in straitened circumstances, acquired a press some three decades after the invention of movable type.