Hegumen Mardarije (; 1543âÂÂ45) was a Serbian Orthodox monk and one of the first printers of Serbian language books.
Mardarije received his education in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity of Pljevlja. To save its liturgical books and other valuables, he moved to Banja Monastery and became its hegumen. In 1543, he and two monks from Mileà ¡eva monastery travelled to Venice to buy the printing press and bring it to Mileà ¡eva to establish the Mileà ¡eva printing house.
He was a Serb from Podrinje, who descended from Vraneà ¡i, Sokolac, Sanjak of Bosnia, Ottoman Empire (modern day Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Mardarije was educated in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity of Pljevlja. When he learned that the Ottomans were going to destroy LjuboviÃÂa Church in Pavino Polje, he took liturgical books and other valuables and transported them to Banja Monastery using six loaded horses.
In 1543, Mardarije was a hegumen of the Banja Monastery near Priboj when Todor LjubaviÃÂ, a monk in Mileà ¡eva and son of Boà ¾idar LjubaviÃÂ, was sent to Venice to join his brother, ÃÂuraÃÂ, and to buy a printing press for the monastery. Todor was accompanied by the Mileà ¡eva monk Sava and by Mardarije. At that time, Banja Monastery was a seat of the metropolitan bishop while Mileà ¡eva was the richest monastery of Dabar eparchy. That is why those two monasteries were given the task to finance and organize establishing of the printing house in Mileà ¡eva and why Mardarije travelled to Venice together with monks from Mileà ¡eva. The Mileà ¡eva printing house was operational in period 1544âÂÂ1557. Three books were printed in it, Psalter (ÃÂÃÂðûÃÂøÃÂ, 1544), Breviary (âÃÂõñýøú, 1545) and another Psalter (1557). Psalter of 1544 was edited and prepared by Mardarije and Teodor LjubaviÃÂ, based on 1519âÂÂ20 Psalter of Boà ¾idar VukoviÃÂ.
In 1545, Mardarije went to BogovaÃÂa near Lajkovac and rebuilt it. An engraved plate commemorates this rebuilding and mentions Mardarije and Vraneà ¡i as his fatherland.
In many earlier sources, Hegumen Mardarije, who was hegumen of the Banja Monastery, is misidentified with Hieromonk Mardarije who was also a printer, but in Mrkà ¡ina crkva printing house and Belgrade printing house. Taking into consideration that Mardarije of Mrkà ¡ina crkva never mentioned in his books his much higher position of the hegumen of Banja Monastery, it was concluded that Hegumen Mardarije and Hieromonk Mardarije were two different people.