Mojsije Putnik

Mojsije Putnik
Mojsije Putnik (1782) by Stefan Gavrilović
Born	Vasilije Putnik 1728 Novi Sad, Kingdom of Hungary, Habsburg Monarchy (present-day Serbia)
Died	1790
Nationality	Habsburg
Occupation	the Metropolitan of Sremski Karlovci between 1781 and 1790
Known for	Religious tolerance

Mojsije Putnik (Serbian Cyrillic: Мојсије Путник, pronounced [mǒːjsije pûtniːk]) (1728 – 1790) was the Metropolitan of Sremski Karlovci between 1781–90, during the reign of Joseph II. He was known for publishing the Toleranzpatent (tolerance patent) meant to ensure equal rights for the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Catholic church in Sremski Karlovci.

Vasilije Putnik was born in 1728, in Novi Sad, at the time part of Kingdom of Hungary in the Habsburg Monarchy (modern Serbia). He was the grandson of Stevan Putnik, the dignity having been conferred in 1621 by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, to Stevan von Putnik for his services in the Imperial Guard Cavalry as a captain of the Military Frontier, known as Potiska Krajina (They were mainly bordermen from the Potiska and Pomoriaka border zones—known as Kraine—in course of time these Serbs merged with the Cossacks, and partly with the Moldavians, who live in the southern part of Imperial Russia).

Stefan died in 1622 in the Thirty Years' War, but his male heir attained the honour of knightood. Coming from such an illustrious background meant that Vasilije Putnik received a thorough education that commenced in the primary and later Latin School in Novi Sad, the same school where Zaharije Orfelin taught two decades later.