Visarion Pavlović

Visarion Pavlović
Portrait of Visarion Pavlović
Born	Висарион Павловић 1670 Novi Sad
Died	18 October 1756
Nationality	Habsburg
Occupation	scholar, educator and the Serbian Orthodox bishop

Visarion Pavlović (Serbian Cyrillic: Висарион Павловић; 1670-Novi Sad, 18 October 1756) was a scholar, educator and the Serbian Orthodox bishop of the Eparchy of Bačka (1731–1756). He succeeded Sofronije Tomašević, and was succeeded by Mojsije Putnik.

Visarion Pavlović received his education at the famed Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (now the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), like many Serbs of his generation. As a scholar, he came from Kiev (with a group of Russian professors and teachers, including Emanuel Kozačinski) 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 of the fact that only solid education in the Latin language can 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, it is obvious that popular schools in Serbian existed as well.