Hieromonk Makarije

Hieromonk Makarije (German Macarius ) operated the first printing press in Southeast Europe. He is considered the founder of the Serbian and Romanian printing.

Not far from Cetinje in Obod, a small Orthodox monastery fortress to let Đurađ Crnojević, the prince of Zeta in today's Montenegro, in 1493 set up a small printing workshop, a few decades after the first printing of Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz. With the printing of Hieromonk Makarije was commissioned. From Makarije is believed that he previously worked in Venice by Aldus Manutius in the print shop, where he gained his technical knowledge. In Obod several important works were printed, including the Oktoich, a church hymnal for psalms in eight votes, and the first New Testament in Church Slavonic.

1496 were destroyed by the Ottomans and Obod Cetinje. Đurađ Crnojević fled with his family to Venice, while Makarije went to Wallachia in present-day Romania. In Targoviste Makarije 1508 founded a new print workshop, with the approaches to the Romanian letterpress were laid. The first book of the new printing press was printed in 1510. Later Makarije went into the monastery Hilandar on Mount Athos, where he is mentioned about 1526 as abbot of the monastery. According to tradition, he was involved in setting up the local print shop.

Makarije also wrote the treatise "On the limits of Dacia " (O medjah Dacije ), now preserved in the library of the monastery Hilandar.