Petar Kostic

Petar Kostić-Brojanin (Serbian Cyrillic: Петар Костић Бројанин; Prizren, Ottoman Empire, 24 June 1852 – Skopje, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 12 July 1934) was a national and educational activist and writer.Матица српска Одабране биографије том 5, Accessed 23 April 2013.
==Biography==
Petar Kostić comes from Brod (part of Suva Gora), from the Lekovci familyhttps://doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-7599/2002/0350-75990251087S.pdf. He is the son of Anastasija and Kosta, a merchant. Петар Костић - Аутобиографија, Призрен, (1997). стр. 31. In Prizren, he completed elementary school (1859–1864) and high school (1866–1868). He learned the shoemaking trade (1868–1869). Thanks to the financial assistance of Sima Andrejević Igumanov, he continued his education at the Belgrade seminary (1869–1873), as a state cadet. After completing his education, he was appointed a teacher of the Serbian Orthodox Seminary in Prizren in 1873. There, he taught Serbian, Old Church Slavonic and dogmatic theology. After the death of the director of the seminary, Ilija Stavrić, in 1879, he served as director from February to April 1880, and was officially appointed director in January 1883. At the end of 1884, he went to Constantinople to ask for permission to print school books for the needs of Serbian schools in Old Serbia and Macedonia. Thanks to his ability and personal connections, he managed to get the required permission (1885), which represented a great success for Serbian education in the Ottoman Empire. He was the rector of the seminary until April 1889, when he was replaced by Melentije Vujić. Kostić still maintained ties with the Ottoman authorities and represented Rector Melentije with them (because he knew the Turkish language).
He was the supervisor of elementary schools and the president of the Education Commission. As a member of the Church and School Municipality and a trustee of the Serbian government, he took care of education in the entire area of Old Serbia, appointed teachers, took care of their financing, built school buildings and supplied them with textbooks.
As a private school, he opened in 1894 the Serbian Dom Nauke High School in Thessaloniki, of which he was the director and teacher. He returned to the seminary in 1897.As a member of the Prizren ecclesiastical municipality, he came into conflict with Metropolitan Dionisije Petrović (1896–1900) of Raška-Prizren and the following year he was transferred to Skopje to the position of primary school officer, with a confidential mission at the Serbian consulate. Two years later, he was appointed secretary of the Velesko-Debar eparchy, and in February 1901 he was returned to the position of educational officer in Skopje. He was dissatisfied and bitter about these transfers and asked to return to Prizren. With the help of Metropolitan Nićifor Perić (1901–1911), he returned to Prizren in 1901 to the post of secretary of the Metropolitanate and remained in that position until 1920.
He was a deputy, chairman and president of the "First Serbian Assembly of the Ottoman Empire" in Skopjein 1909. During the Balkan Wars, he worked at the headquarters of the Third Army in Prizren. As the secretary of the Raško-Prizren Metropolitanate, he submitted a request to retire. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwarded the request to the Ministry of Education with the remark that "Kostić, as an old educational worker, deserves all the attention and favourable assessment."
During the First World War, he was interned in Bulgaria (1916–1918). Kostić was on the payroll of the seminary from 1919,having received the title of full professor, but he did not teach.
In 1922, he was appointed head of direct taxes of the Ministry of Finance of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
In the 1930s, he was elected as a senator of the Kosovo-Metohija region. When his son Dragutin went to an audience with the King Alexander, the king told him: "Petar Kostić will be a senator as long as he lives."
The Serbian government was interested in Petar Kostić and his political commitment, so it asked the Austrian consul in Prizren about it. He said that Kostić is a completely Russian man, very loyal to Ivan Jastrebov and, as far as internal Serbian politics is concerned, he thinks the same as Russia and that he is on the side of Milan Ristić and the radicals.
As an educational and national worker, Kostić initiated the establishment of many organizations. He founded the "Sveti Uroš" Church, the Serbian Singing Society](1885), the Society of Saint Sava, the "Sveta Nedelja" Society, and the Subcommittee of the "Princess Ljubica" Society. He was the first president of the Steering Committee for the construction of the power station, an honorary member of the Serbian Agricultural Society in Belgrade, a member of the Sokol Society, a corresponding member of the Skopje Scientific Society and the "Car Uroš" Singing Society. He was a member of the Administrative and Supervisory Board of the St. George's Church Fund.
==Awards and Recognition==
Petar Kostić was awarded the Order of Saint Sava III and II order, Karađorđe Star IV degree, Order of the Yugoslav Crown IV degree, medal of the Society of Saint Sava.
Petar Kostić enjoyed great authority among the Serbs as well as the Arbanas (Albanians) and the Turks.
==Works==
Petar Kostić wrote his autobiography which documented most of his life's experiences. He was engaged in writing historiography and ethnography. He wrote down folk customs and described old Serbian customs and rituals. Under the pseudonym Veličko Trpić (which he also used later), Petar Kostić wrote a critique of Milojević's Travelogue of the Real (Old) Serbia under the title: "Miloš S. Milojević in Prizren and its surroundings," published in Belgrade in 1880. 
Petar Kostić published his works in Brastva (1902, 1911, 1921, 1925), in the Golub calendar (1908), Nikola Čupić's anniversaries (1909, 1911), Gora (1926), Bosanska vila (1910), SKA Memorial (1910).
==Literature==
Stanković, Vekoslav A. (2000). Poreklo Petra K. Kostića književnika i senatora iz Prizrena (PDF). Zbornik radova knj. 50. Beograd: Geografski institut „Jovan Cvijić” SANU. str. 87—92. Arhivirano iz originala (PDF) 20. 12. 2016. g. Pristupljeno 17. 12. 2016.
Category:1852 births
Category:People from Skopje
Category:1934 deaths
Category:Education activists
Category:Writers