Firmilian of Skopje

Firmilijan Dražić (secular name Dimitrije Dražić; Serbian Cyrillic: Фирмилијан Дражић; 20 August 1852 — 7 December 1903) was the Metropolitan of Skopje, from 1902 to 1903. He was the first Serb to head the Metropolitanate of Skopje after the abolition of the Peć Patriarchate:

Biography Dimitrije Drazić was born and baptized in Šabac on 20 August 1852. He finished Gymnasium in Šabac, and worked as a merchant for four years. He became a monk and was given the name of Firmilijan in 1869 in the Petkovica monastery. He studied philosophy in Prague, after the Belgrade seminary. In order to support himself in the Czech Republic then part of Austria-Hungary, he also worked as a bricklayer's assistant. From 1876 to 1878 he administered the Vranje diocese. Serbian priests, teachers and cultural workers were intimidated or harassed. The Serbian Church had the right to operate only within the confines of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which was totally under Greek Phanariot control. In Constantinople, Firmilijan worked closely with Stojan Novaković. The diplomatic struggle for the Skopje metropolitan throne lasted five years. He was elected administrator of the Skopje diocese in 1897, and metropolitan of the Skopje diocese in 1899.

Since the division of the nation into official millets was still valid in the Turkish Empire at that time, Bishop Firmilijan was worried about the lack of official recognition of the Serbian millet, as a result of which Serbs were included in the "Romanian millet" (dominated by Greek Phanariots) or "Bulgarian millet" (under the domination of the Bulgarian Exarchate). In that sense, on 12 August 1903, bishop Firmilijan complained to the consul of the Kingdom of Serbia in Skopje:

"In the Turkish Empire, all nationalities are divided: 1. Muslims, 2. Greeks (Rum-millet) and 3. Bulgarians-millet, and there are no Serb-millet anywhere, even if the Turks took these lands only from the Serbs and the Serbs lived in them and had their own empire, today, before the Turkish law we are nowhere registered and recorded as Serbs as though we do not exist!" Thus, bishop Firmilijan pointed out the need for Serbs to be recognized in the Turkish Empire under their national name. Thankfully to his efforts and the consulate in Skopje, that was done before the turn of the century.

Firmilijan was closely connected with the revolutionary leader Jovan Ćirković, and other members of the Saint Sava Society.

Metropolitan Firmilijan died in 1903 in Belgrade, at the age of 52, as a guest of his brother Pero Dražić, a hotelier.

Works He authored 10 books of theological content

I-III - "Interpretation of the Gospel with Sermons" IV - Parish priest Trebnik V - Dogmatic Theology I VI - Dogmatic Theology II VII - Biblical pastoral part VIII - Dogmatic moral part IX - Textbooks and the Christian home X - Instructive part