[1][2] Considered a Renaissance man,[3] he is variously described as a theologist, scientist, poet, engraver, painter, lexicographer, herbalist, oenologist, historian, publisher and translator.

[10] Свети Ђорђе са изгледом манастира Сенђурђа (Saint George with a view of the Senđurđa monastery) from 1767 is Orfelin's work from 1760, for which the art historian Dinko Davidov believes that this copper engraving was "a kind of specialist exercise" on the basis of which Jakob Schmutzer accepted as an honorary member of the Viennese copper engraving academy in 1767.

[11] Serbian poet Đorđe Nešić wrote a poem titled A toast to Zaharije Orfelin, inspired by his poetry and publications on winemaking.

In that song, Serbia regrets the former glory of the medieval state and criticizes compatriots who forget their national identity.

[18] Orfelin founded Slavenoserbski magazin in Venice in 1768, credited as the first South Slavic or Serbian journal/periodical though only one number came out.

In 1776 Orfelin's name appears in a lexicon of Austrian artists, Des Gelehte Osterisch by de Luca, where he is listed as both an engraver and a writer, elected as an academician in the newly established Art Academy of Engraving in Vienna, and acknowledged by its director Jacob Matthias Schmutzer.

[25] Zaharije Orfelin is the author of the first modern Serbian spelling book from 1767, which was used by numerous generations of children.

His book Искусни подрумар (Experienced Cellarer, Vienna, 1783) has several hundred recipes for making herbal wines and many other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and medicines.