The misfortunes and hardships that plagued the monastery in the 17^th and 18^th centuries obliged the monks to seek assistance from wealthy patrons, the Romanian voivodas (princes) and Russian tsars. From 1663 on they had permission from Tsar Alexius to come to Russia once very five years to collect contributions towards the monastery upkeep. This permit is preserved in Studenica's treasury.

In the mid 18^th century, Timisoara (Romania) was an important Orthodox cultural centre. When the monks decided to replace the old damaged triptych from the time of the founder, they sent in to a Timisoara workshop. In 1750 a new triptych was made there of wood and ornamented with the figures of saints, enamel, silver figurines, and bone and mother -of-pearl inlay.

The Timisoara artists introduced the style of Russian religious objects into this work, but among the saints they painted St Simeon Nemanja, on the inner side of one wing, and assigned the most important place on the central panel to the Virgin's Dormition, the main feast of Studenica monastery.

Triptych made in Timisoara, Romaina, 1750

Cross of Abbot Martirije, wood with silver mount, early 18^th century, Studenica treasury.

As the Very Rev. Mateja Matejic has observed, "Serbs were the first to anticipate the grave peril coming at one time from Islam and then from Nazism and finally Communism. They were the first to resists…making the victories of others possible, even if they themselves were defeated."