Mojsije Putnik (Serbian Cyrillic: Мојсије Путник, pronounced [mǒːjsije pûtniːk]) (1728–1790) was the Metropolitan of Sremski Karlovci between 1781 and 1790, during the reign of Joseph II.

[1] Vasilije Putnik was born in 1728, in Novi Sad, at the time part of Kingdom of Hungary in the Habsburg monarchy (modern Serbia).

He was the grandson of Stevan Putnik, a captain of the Military Frontier who served in the Imperial Guard Cavalry and achieved minor nobility status which was conferred to him in 1621 by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.

Putnik was then entrusted to an important diplomatic mission to suppress the Uniates (Eastern Catholic Churches) who were propagating their confession in one of the Orthodox dioceses.

Mojsije Putnik remained in that position for eighteen years, and during that period he took particular care to improve the educational system of his diocese, which culminated in the foundation of its first seminary.

[4] His congregation desired to have him elected archbishop immediately after Metropolitan Pavle's death, but numerous intrigues developed during the sabors (assemblies) of 1769 and 1774 which prevented Putnik from taking the high office.

Mojsije continued his educational policies, and founded the first secondary school in the Military Frontier, better known as the Vojna Krajina, after a permission was received directly from Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1782.

In May 1790 Mojsije Putnik went to Vienna with the bishops of Temișoara, Vršac, and Bačka to pay respects to the newly enthroned Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (1747–1792).

On the basis of the existing situation, Frontier General Arsenije Secujac, backed by Serb military and the high clergy, demanded the establishment of a Serb-Illyrian chancellery.

Sava Tekelija, a politician and a leader of the Serbs, was opposed to the military demands, advocated a peaceful compromise with the Hungarian authorities in the spirit of constitutionality.

(The Vienna Royal Court, following its self-serving divisive policy towards the nationalities of the Danube region, found the creation of the Illyrian chancellery practicable for the time being).