Mitropolit beogradski Melentije

Hadži Melentije Stevanović (Birač at Zvornik, or Osat, 1766 - Rača, 27 March 1824) was a restorer and archimandrite of the Rača monastery, one of the leaders of the First Serbian Uprising, Vojvode of Sokolski nahija, bishop-elected of the Eparchy of Šabac-Užice, and Metropolitan of Belgrade from 1810 to 1813. after his father Stevan and grandfather Nikola, of the Milićević family. He was born in 1766 in central Podrinje, though it is not known exactly whether in Birč, near Zvornik

Upon his return from the tour of the tomb of Christ with the acquired grammar of the hadži, in 1795, with the help of the Ecumenical Patriarch Gerasimus III, he was granted permission to meet with Sultan Selim III, from whom he sought permission for the reconstruction of the Rača monastery. It is made of wedding white marble. The idea for the erection of the monument was initiated in 1924 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of Hadži Melentije by the then abbot Zaharije Popović (Zdravko Popović Milekić). The work is the creation of academic painter and sculptor Mihailo Milovanović of Užice, who presented the character of Hadži Melentije after the story of Abbot Zaharije, descriptions from books and the Serbian folk song "The Beginning of the Revolt against the Dahijas". During the construction of the monument with his family, Mihailo Milovanović stayed in the monastery residence. The monument was unveiled and consecrated in the summer of 1924, and at the ceremony was welcomed by a large number of Račan district residents and Bishop Jefrem Bojović of Žiča.