[1][2] He transcribed and translated the Slavonic Josephus into Serbian vernacular at Karyes, the administrative center of Mount Athos, in 1585.
[3][4] In addition, the Hilandar Monastery has preserved five petitions that hieromonk Grigorije in his frequent travels throughout Europe delivered to nobleman Nikita Romanov (the grandfather of the future tsar Michael of Russia) in April 1586; Andrej Jakovlević (two petitions written before 1582); Polish king Stephen Bathory; and Duke Andrey Kurbsky.
[5] According to records Grigorije Vasilije served as abbot of Hilandar in 1583, and multiple other occasions between 1588 and 1591 and continually from 1591 to 1598.
He also traveled between the far-flung Athonite methos (including Imperial Russia) and their parent establishments on regular errands as alms collecting, property administration and Diplomatic missions on behalf of the secular and spiritual leaders where he stayed at the Moscow courts of Ivan the Terrible and Dionysius, Metropolitan of Moscow and their successors Fedor I of Russia and Patriarch Job of Moscow, years later.
Ivan the Terrible's generosity shown to Serbian itinerant monk Grigorije and other Athonite monks accompanying him could be explained by the tsar’s own recognition of his Serbian royal lineage (through his mother) and the desire to strengthen relations between Russia and Serbia.