Хиландарци и Јевреји (XVI–XVII век)

Abstract

На основу османских докумената манастира Хиландара обра- ђени су односи хиландарских монаха и Јевреја у XVI и XVII веку. Издвојени су службени контакти, који се нису могли избећи од оних до којих је долазило обостраном слободном вољом и из обостраних интереса. Верске предрасуде, ако су и постојале, нису се очитовале на пословном плану. Хиландарци су најчешће позајмљивали новац, а спорови су избијали због незаконите или погрешно обрачунате камате, као и због немогућности да се врати дуг. Игумани Хиландара понекад су сâми изабирали Јевреје да заступају манастир приликом куповине и продаје некретнина. Очигледно је да су имали поверења у њих као у економске стручњаке. Везе и искуство у финансијском свету и трговини, као и могућност да се у кратком року сакупи висок готовински износ, препоручи- вали су манастиру Хиландару Јевреје као пословне партнере.

In the period of Ottoman rule, Orthodox Christians in the Balkans followed economic trends and behaved according to existing laws. The elders from the Chilandar monastery, as well as all Athonite monks, acted accordingly. If the monks had some religious prejudices towards Jews, just like towards Muslims, these were never associated with business relations. Ottoman documents from the archive of the Chilandar monastery bear evidence to highly developed trade dealings, credit transactions, as well as the presence of Jewish merchants on Mount Athos. The monastic fraternity of Chilandar took out loans from Jewish creditors, usually those from Thessaloniki and Siderokavsia, especially in case of large sums that were difficult to obtain from other sources. It seems that they pledged their estates (metochia) until the payment of their debts, if Jewish creditors who for a time governed the large Chilandar metochion in Üç Ev (Neochorion, Kalamaria) are to be believed. The largest loans were taken out during the period of the so-called “confiscation affair” (1568/1569), when the monastic community of Chilandar (just like all other monasteries in the Empire) was forced to purchase its own estates from the state. Jewish creditors sometimes charged unlawful interest rates, as evidenced by disputes held at kadı courts. There are examples showing that the hegumens of Chilandar voluntarily took Jews for their legal representatives (vekils) in real estate transactions, which needed to be registered at the kadi court. They clearly trusted the Jews as financial experts. Their commercial expertise and ability to raise large funds in a short period of time made the Jews useful business partners of the Chilandar monastery