ABSTRACT
Unlike the majority of festival manuscripts (and even more festival books) produced in early modern Europe, Orfelin’s work should not be viewed as a chronicle or a memento. It was, indeed, created after the installation of Bishop Putnik, but it was not meant to serve as a commemoration of that event. On the contrary, it was supposed to envisage an ideal performance and to propose a possible ‘production’ of this sacred and secular ceremony. Therefore, it should be viewed as a sort of idealized synopsis for the rite of episcopal installation. Since it was supposed to act as a complete synopsis, it has all the important elements that distinguish such a piece of work: a textual background in the verses of the panegyric, giving scene-by-scene descriptions of the installation rite, precise illustrations of all the ‘costumes’ and the decoration of the ‘stage’ in the church where the event took place, musical scores for the sung parts, and most importantly, detailed directions for the movements of all its performers – in fact, a complete mise en scène. However, it could never have been allowed a public production, the circumstance that conditioned the outlook and medium of the whole enterprise. There were previous occasions when the production was allowed, but it was a very limited one. For the arrival of Archbishop Vikentije Jovanović at Karlovci in 1735, he was granted an entry and a panegyric. Only the entry was the pure rejoicing of the grateful congregation, while the political content of the panegyric was restricted to the safe space of ‘possession’ that an Orthodox cathedral represented.
