The Resava School of Transcription

During the short time the life of the founder and monastery coincided (1407-1427), so much was achieved in Resava that it remained an important and outstanding monument in the history of our culture. It was there that Constantine, a reputable “Serbian teacher” grammaticist, translator and historian established the famous orthographic school of Resava, in order to correct errors in the ecclesiastical literature incurred by numerous translations and incorrect transcriptions, and to thoroughly change the previous orthography.

Constantineʼs essay on how Slavic books should be written recommended a very complicated orthography that subsequently many authors adopted and used for a long time. Regardless of subsequent criticism of this endeavour, the very fact that in Serbia in the 15^th century an essay was written on orthography and its rules is very important. But the writing and translation works in Manasija are even more important. Until the very end of the 17^th century documents confirm outstanding reputation or translations and transcripts originating from the Resava School.