LIFE OF OUR HOLY FATHER
SAVA I
Enlightener and First Archbishop of the Serbs (+1235)
Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and His righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33
 HE
SERBIAN Grand Zhupan (Patriarchal leader) Stephen
Nemanja had two sons, Stephen and Vukan; yet, he and his
wife Anna desired, if it be God's will, to have another
child. Their pious prayers ascended before God, Who
heard their petition and blessed them with their last
child, a son who was born in the year of our Lord 1175.
At baptism the child was given the name Rastko, a name
derived from the Old Slavonic verb "rasti" which means
"to grow." And grow divinely he did. There were many
special things about Rastko: he was a lovely child, with
pronounced features and smooth skin, and possessed,
already in his childhood, an unusually alert and pious
demeanor. Little did Rastko's parents and all those of
the Royal Court (and even the entire Serb nation)
realize that his birth and baptism into Orthodoxy would
providentially set in motion their own historical and
spiritual journey, which would result in the blossoming
of their Christian faith, nation hood and total
Christian cultural orientation. This young child, Rastko,
whose monastic name later was Sava, became and still
remains the most beloved of all Serbian Orthodox saints,
considered by all Serbs everywhere and at all times as
the ultimate expression and example of what it means to
be fully human, that is, what it means to be a devout
and committed follower of Jesus Christ.
St. Sava I - The First Archbishop of
Serbia
Rastko, marriage and all worldly knowledge, authority or
possessions could not compare to what he had experienced
while in conversation with this unknown and simple monk
from the Holy Mountain.
"But how can I face my parents?" thought Rastko to
himself. "How will I ever make such a journey to the
Holy Mountain?" Pondering this dilemma, Rastko, by the
grace of the Holy Spirit, came up with a solution. He
organized a hunting trip and at an opportune time fled
his homeland with the monk to make the long journey to
the Holy Mountain.
Discovering his flight, Rastko's father, Zhupan Stephen
Nemanja, quickly assembled his best soldiers of the
Royal Court and ordered them to the seaport city of
Thessalonica, where he hoped they would catch up with
Rastko. Stephen also sent a letter with his troops which
they presented to the military governor of the city; in
it the Grand Zhupan threatened violence to the city if
his son was not safely returned. However, these efforts
were unfruitful, as Rastko traveled quickly through
Thessalonica and arrived by boat at the Russian
Monastery of St. Panteleimon on the Holy Mountain.
When the soldiers arrived at the monastery, the
all-night vigil had just begun. The soldiers, not
wishing to disturb the Divine Service, entered the
Catholikon (main church) and sat in the stalls along the
inner walls of the church. Spotting Rastko, they decided
to wait patiently until the end of the vigil service and
then order Rastko back to his father. However, the
soldiers never expected the all-night vigil to last over
six hours! As time passed, due to their being physically
and mentally exhausted from the grueling journey from
Serbia to the Holy Mountain, each of the soldiers fell
fast asleep in his stall.
Taking advantage of the situation, Rastko and an elder
hieromonk (priest monk) quickly left the church and
climbed to the top of the bell tower in the monastery
courtyard. During the rest of the night and early
morning, the blessed elder instructed Rastko concerning
the monastic life and, just prior to the completion of
Divine Liturgy (as Divine Liturgy follows every vigil
service) the elder received Rastko into monasticism,
tonsuring him and giving him the name of Sava, after the
great ascetic and holy man of Jerusalem, St. Sava the
Sanctified (tS32; honored Dec. 5th). When the soldiers
awoke from their sleep in the morning, they quickly went
to search for Sava. High up in the air from the window
of the bell tower, Sava revealed himself, and then went
on to explain to them that his monastic tonsure was
completed and that they should not harm any of the
monks. Then he threw down his shorn hair and civilian
clothes; saying, "Please take this to my parents as a
remembrance of my youth." This took place in 1193, when
Sava was just 18 years old.
Hilandar Monastery
Sava was not the first Serb to become a monk on the Holy
Mountain, as there were Serbs there prior to his
arrival. However, there was no Serbian monastery.
Serbian monks found shelter and lived in the existing
Greek, Russian, Bulgarian or Georgian monasteries, or
eventually lived in caves, leading the life of a
solitary or hermit. Only a few months after his tonsure,
Sava was invited to the Greek Monastery Vatopedi for the
celebration of its patronal feast, the Annunciation of
the Theotokos (March 25th). It was here that Sava first
began his true entrance into the profound spiritual life
of monasticism. In leaving the Panteleimon Monastery,
Prince Rastko was no more; now only Sava the monk was
alive in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sava quickly proved to be a relentless warrior and
ascetic for Christ. He kept constant vigil over his
body, thoughts and passions—his total person. At times,
the abbot of Vatopedi had to restrain Sava from
excessive ascetic practices, for fear that he might harm
his health. Also, as time passed, Sava's parents and
brothers began to accept his new life and provided him
with abundant financial support, which he unselfishly
distributed to the various monasteries on the Holy
Mountain. He had especial love for Vatopedi, providing
it with assistance for both a new roof for the main
Church of the Annunciation and for, the building of
three small chapels. Vatopedi at this time was a kind of
Byzantine university, as the monastery was lavishly
supported by the Byzantine
emperors as well. It possessed a large libraty full of
all the ancient writings of the Fathers of the Church on
the various theological topics of Christian life:
Scripture, liturgy, asceticism, doctrine, sacraments,
Lives of Saints, icons and architecture, and canon law.
At Vatopedi Sava learned the ancient Greek language
perfectly. (He had previously learned the contemporary
Greek language from his mother Anna— named Anatasia as a
monastic later in her life [see June 21st]—for she was
Greek by birth, the daughter of the Greek Byzantine
Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes [1068-1081].) Studying the
writings of the Fathers of the Church, along with
practicing the strict ascetic life and participating
fully in the communal liturgical/sacramental life of the
monastery, the image of God in Sava began to slowly
shine forth, transforming him into a spiritual man of
God, whose sole longing was to be with the Lord Jesus
Christ in the bosom of God the Father, enlivened by the
Holy and Gracious and Life-creating Spirit.
In 1196, when Sava was 21 years of age, he received the
greatest gift of his life: his father, Stephen Nemanja,
decided to abdicate the throne ofthe Kingdom of Serbia
and become a monk in Studenitsa Monastery on Mt.
Radochelo in Rashka He took the name Simeon. To replace
him on the Royal Throne, the Grand Zhupan appointed his
second oldest son, Stephen, as the heir. This news
thrilled Sava, as it was for him a spiritual blessing
for his many prayers, ascetic efforts and even letters
he had sent to his father urging him towards monastic
life. Along with his father, Sava's mother Anna, on the
same day—the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25,
1196—also received the monastic tonsure and was given
the name Anastasia, retiring to the Monastery ofthe Holy
Virgin in Kurshumlija near Toplica.
Hilandar Monastery - Mount Athos
At his son's request, the monk Simeon-Stephen Nemanja,
only a few months after his monastic tonsure, left
Serbia and traveled to Vatopedi Monastery. There for the
first time in three years he met his favorite child,
Sava, who by this time was an experienced and
well-respected monk. The reunion was incredible. The
biographer Theodosius writes: "They were both
speechless; and, had not someone supported his father,
he would have fallen. After he regained his composure,
he poured many tears over the much longed-for and
saintly head of his beloved son, embracing and kissing
it and pressing it to his chest." Thus Sava's dream was
coming true. Simeon's "conversion" and total acceptance
of the monastic life marked a beginning once again, not
only for the two saints, but perhaps more importantly,
fot the entire Serbian race. By this act, Simeon, the
most powerful and influential man of the Serbian
kingdom, was solidifying Serbia's ties with the treasury
of spirituality of the Holy Mountain, as well as paving
the way for all future royalty—rulers of the Kingdom of
Serbia—to accept and acknowledge Orthodoxy as the way
and ultimate criterion for the total christianization of
the Serbian people. Simeon was like the Holy Byzantine
Emperor of old, Constantine the Great (+337), paving the
way for Orthodoxy to be the foundation and basis for all
Serbian culture, history and civilization.
The most wonderful element in the legacy of the monks
Sava and Simeon—son and father—was their joint effort to
bring to the Serbian nation a spiritual center in which
prayer and committed Christian life would be the eternal
flame and vigil lamp guiding the Serbian people to the
Kingdom of God. This eternal torch and divine light was
Hilandar Monastery. Hilandar Monastery was once a small
monastic settlement which had fallen into ruin for many
years. The property was owned by Vatopedi Monastery. Due
to Sava's virtuous life and his representation of the
Vatopedi brotherhood at the Imperial Court in
Constantinople, and also because of Simeon's generous
material support of the Monastery, the ruins of
Hilandar, by Imperial decree, were given to the Serbs as
an independent and self-governing property to be used as
a monastery. This was made official by two foundational
charters: the chrysobull of Byzantine Emperor Alexis III
Angelos of Constantinople in June 1198, and the charter
of Hilandar Monastery's co-founder, Zhupan Stephen
Nemanja—monk Simeon—in late 1198. Hence, the idea of a
Serbian monastery on the Holy Mountain became a reality
when father became obedient to son, when both of these
spiritual pillars of the Serbian people became totally
dedicated to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and Holy
Orthodoxy.
Hilandar - the Serbian Monastery on
Mount Athos
In
May 1199, the main church, dedicated to the Feast of the
Presentation of the Theotokos in the Temple (November
21st), along with several other buildings necessary for
the Monastery to function properly, were completed and
consecrated. The Typikon of Hilandar (rules and
regulations governing the communal prayer life of the
monastery) was based upon the Greek Typikon of the
Monastery of the Theotokos the Grace-giver in
Constantinople, St. Sava's favorite Imperial monastery.
St. Sava himself translated the Greek text of this
typikon into Old Slavonic for use at Hilandar. When
monastic life at Hilandar began, there were only fifteen
monks, but within a short period of time the number grew
to ninety. There was no doubt that the Hilandar
community would be successful as long as the great Sava
and Simeon were leading the way: that is, by being
totally dedicated to Jesus Christ they were able to
attract many candidates to the radically devoted
monastic lfe m Christ led by the Holy Spirit. Hence,
Sava saw another blessing and miracle develop before his
very own eyes: the arrival of many young Serbian
ascetics desirous, as he was in his youth, of the
totally committed life in Christ.
To any normal Christian ascetic, these accomplishments
would have been enough to perfect his own life or even
make one consider himselfgreat in God's eyes; but Sava
never considered himselfcomplete or perfect. He always
sought "to get away from it all," to serve the Lord in
the solitude of his heart, in order to be perfectas
[his] Father in Heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48).
Therefore, to fulfill this desire placed within his soul
by the creative and energetic grace of God, Sava
traveled to the capital of the peninsula of the Holy
Mountain, Karyes, in order to seek a piece of property
there for the purpose of building a monastic cell for
the solitary life in the Lord.
From September to December 1199, Sava, only 24 years old
(but with the wisdom of Solomon), built in Karyes, the
capital of the Holy Mountain, a monastic cell and small
chapel dedicated to his namesake, St. Sava the
Sanctified of Jerusalem. To provide a liturgical rule of
prayer for himself and for those who would live in the
cell after him, Sava wrote his famous Karejski Typikon
(Typicarnica).
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At first we were confused. The East thought that
we were West, while the West considered us to be
East. Some of us misunderstood our place in the
clash of currents, so they cried that we belong
to neither side, and others that we belong
exlusively to one side or the other. But I tell
you, Ireneus, we are doomed by fate to be the
East in the West and the West in the East, to
acknowledge only heavenly Jerusalem beyond us,
and here on earth--no one
St. Sava to Ireneus, 13th century |
The Karejski Typikon is one of the most important
documents in the history of Serbian spiritual
literature. In 115 lines Sava detailed the rules for
prayer, fasting and liturgical worship to be carried out
by the kelliote (monk who lives in a cell) residing in
Karyes. The Karejski Typikon was patterned after the
ancient rules of prayer of the early ascetics who
strived in the Lord in the deserts of Egypt, Sinai,
Palestine and Syria. The Karejski Typikon expressed a
most fundamental understanding and belief concerning
human beings held to this day by all pious Orthodox
Christians: the truth that all human beings are
originally made and therefore destined to know and be
friends with their Creator—God the Holy Trinity—and to
be personally and intimately known by Him, which is a
flowing and most powerful relationship of love, peace
and joy. And this is totally possible for those who are
seriously committed to "the Way, the Truth, and the
Life," our LordJesus Christ who rests in the bosom of
God the Father, and for those who are animated by the
Holy Spirit. And if there is one clear message revealed
in the life of St. Sava, it is precisely this: that the
Christian life consists primarily in seeking and finding
God, in searching and discovering His will, and in
hungering and thirsting for His righteousness—Seek ye
first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all
these things shall be added untoyou (Matt. 6:33). Sava's
sojourn in his cell in Karyes built him into a pillar of
Orthodoxy, as it was here that he prayed without ceasing
(I Thess. 5: 17) and also wrote many hymns, treatises
and prayers to the glory of God the Holy Trinity.
Only a few months after the completion of his cell,
Sava's father, monk Simeon, became grievously ill. On
February 13, 1200, Blessed Simeon fell asleep in the
Lord. He was 86 years old. (And only four months later,
on June 21, 1200, Princess Anna-St. Anastasia, Sava's
mother, fell asleep in the Lord at age 75 in the
Monastery of the Holy Virgin in Kurshumlja near
Toplica.) In Sava's biography of his father which he
wrote in his cell in Karyes, he described the tremendous
sorrow he experienced over the loss of his father, as
well as the holy and divine way in which Blessed Simeon
died. After Simeon's death, Sava asked the Lord God to
reveal to him concerning the judgment of his father. One
night, in a dream, Simeon appeared to Sava with a
luminous countenance, and delivered a most powerful
message to him. Simeon told Sava that Serbia needed him,
that there was much work to be done there. Although Sava
did not desire, after entering monastic life on the Holy
Mountain, ever to return to Serbia, this message of
Simeon made him realize that it was now time for the son
to be obedient to the father.
The state of affairs in Serbia had been quite poor ever
since Simeon's departure in 1196: there was little
religious leadership, and the brothers Stephen and Vukan
were locked in a terrible fratricidal struggle for
political rule of the kingdom. In response to the
supplication of Simeon—whose appearance to Sava also
demonstrated Simeon's own saintliness—and to the
numerous pleadings for Sava to return on the part of his
younger brother, the newly coronated King Stephen
(11961228), Sava decided to travel back to his
birthplace in the cause of peace, and in order to
comfort and guide his Serbian people. Thus, in 1204, at
age 29, after eleven years of monastic life on the Holy
Mountain, Sava began his journey homeward. His departure
was mourned by the monks, but they knew Sava's departing
was the will of the Lord. Sava did not leave without
honor bestowed upon him, as he was elevated to the rank
of Archimandrite in Thessalonica by four bishops of the
nearby dioceses.
Hilandar Monastery
When Sava entered his native land in 1204, he
unfortunately found the country just as Simeon had
informed him in his dream—in total disarray. The Serbian
state was split in two. By secret negotiations with
Hungary and Pope Innocent III, Vukan, the eldest of the
three brothers, who was bitter over the appointment of
his younger brother Stephen as heir to the throne, was
able to amass troops and capture Zeta; he then was set
to launch a campaign against Rashka, King Stephen's
portion of the divided kingdom. This civil war was only
a microcosm of a larger conflict instigated by the
West—that is, the hostilities initiated by the Great
Crusades of the Latin church. In 1204, the soldiers of
the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople and much of
the territory of Byzantium, including the Holy Mountain.
In 1205, the Holy Mountain was officially placed under
the authority and jurisdiction of a Roman Catholic
bishop. It is believed that this occurrence was the most
influential factor in Sava's decision to return to
Serbia. Hence, the Saint returned home with his work cut
out for him.
When he returned, Sava brought with him the medicine to
heal the entire situation: the relics of his father, the
Grand Zhupan and saint, Stephen Nemanja-Simeon the
Myrrh-bearer and co-founder of Hilandar. Upon entering
Studenitsa Monastery, St. Simeon's foundational
monastery, Sava invited his two brothers to a proper and
rightful Memorial Service for their father. As the
casket was opened, before their eyes the body of their
father was found to be sweet-smelling, exuding a
fragrant oil and myrrh, warm and aglow, looking very
much alive, as if he were only restfully sleeping. This
act of veneration oftheir father was the first step in
healing the fraternal schism between Vukan and King
Stephen. Shortly thereafter, the civil war was halted
and a peace agreement was drawn up, once again restoring
the kingdom of Serbia as it was under the reign of the
great King Stephen Nemanja-St. Simeon the Myrrh-bearer.
In discussions with his reunited brothers, Sava also
designed plans for an immediate, systematic and
far-reaching missionary program to save the Orthodox
soul of the Serbian people. Studenitsa Monastery, with
St. Simeon's relics making it a national shrine, was
chosen as the outreach station for all activities. St.
Sava wrote the Monastery's Typikon, which strengthened
Studenitsa's monastic life.
St. Sava's hermitage near Studenica
As
newly elected abbot of Studenitsa, Archimandrite Sava
personally went on several missions throughout the
territories, preaching and teaching the Word of God in
the churches as well as renewing and creating
monasteries, building many churches, opening iconography
schools, and in general establishing and confirming the
populace in the Orthodox faith. Sava was concerned not
only with the spiritual welfare of the kingdom, but also
with the material condition of the people, as he
constantly advised his two older brothers, especially
King Stephen, on how to better feed, clothe and
administer the people. It is believed that through the
monasteries in Serbia at this time, Sava was able to put
the kingdom's economy in order by raising to the highest
level the production of food, wine, honey, fish,
vegetables and livestock, not only sustaining the
monastics but also benefitting thousands of Serbs:
pilgrims, visitors, and especially the sick and aged.
Truly St. Sava carried out and actualized the great
commandment of Christ: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as
thyself. These missionary efforts were for Sava, as
always, ascetic exercises allowing him to be more fully
immersed in the eternal grace, love and beauty of the
Holy Spirit of God. These acts demonstrated his
tremendous love for his people. Sava was fast becoming a
great Serbian ecclesiastical leader; and in the ensuing
years his continual wise leadership would enable him to
become a well-respected international ecclesiastical
figure as well.
The international situation, as mentioned, was also in
disarray. The increasing papal power in the East could
no longer be ignored. Byzantium was fighting a losing
battle. The Byzantine Empire, like Serbia, was divided
in two, with one political center at Constantinople and
the other at Thessalonica; with the two rival factions,
the Niceans and the Epirotes, fighting for political
control over the Empire. The Patriarchate of
Constantinople, the ultimate ecclesiastical
administrative overseer of Serbia, was split in three,
with centers at Nicea, Trebizond and Ochrid. As a result
of this confusion and turmoil, King Stephen, at the
advice of his wife, Queen Anna, decided to ally Serbia
with the Pope of Rome in order to stem the tide against
the attacks of the Hungarian King Andreas III and those
of the Latinophiles in Constantinople. This decision on
the part of Stephen angered his brother Sava, who, due
to his loyalty to Orthodoxy and the Byzantine State,
decided to return to the Holy Mountain. Hence, in 1217,
at age 42, after thirteen years of missionary activity
in his homeland, Sava traveled once again to his true
spiritual home, Hilandar Monastery on the Holy Mountain,
in order to be alone with his Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. And, like his Savior so often did, Sava too
"departed from his flock for a little while" in order to
rest in the bosom of the Father, and to retreat from the
world and its passing struggles and desires. Yet this
was only for a short while, for the Lord had many tasks
still ahead for Blessed Sava to fulfill.
Sava
spent a little less than two years at Hilandar after his
departure from Serbia (1217-1219). The moment he left,
Serbia's situation worsened both domestically and
internationally. The miracle-working oil exuding from
the holy relics of his father Simeon stopped flowing.
The people were outraged at King Stephen for driving
Sava away. Under no terms would they accept the Pope's
support and disavow Orthodoxy. As a result, Stephen
wrote to Sava imploring him to return. Stephen also
renounced his western ties and attempted to reconcile
with the Byzantine emperor in Nicea, Theodore Laskaris
(1204-1222). Spending his days and nights in prayer and
vigil, guarding his soul from all passions, and
incessantly petitioning the Lord in behalf of his
Serbian people, Sava was elated to receive his brother
Stephen's repentant letter. When he heard from Stephen,
Sava immediately went to his cell and prayed tearfully
to his father Simeon: "O Saint, having been commanded by
God and implored by us, please disregard our
transgressions. For whatever we are, we are still your
children. Allow, therefore, the myrrh to flow again from
your body in the tomb as before, to bring joy and relief
to your people now in mourning." This prayer, which Sava
sent to King Stephen in a letter, was read aloud before
the tomb of Simeon in Studenitsa Monastery and was then
published throughout the land. The letter also disclosed
plans Sava had received in a dream from Almighty God: to
obtain from Nicea the independence of the Serbian
Orthodox Church. When the letter was read aloud in
Studenitsa, immediately the miraculous myrrh from the
relics of the holy patriarchal leader Simeon began to
flow once again. Thus, by the will of the Lord, Sava set
out to journey homeward for a second time from Hilandar
in order to heal his people and to bring them glad
tidings of salvation, faith and unity.
Prior to his return, Sava traveled eastward to Nicea,
the city where the Imperial Patriarch Manuel Sarantenos
(1215-1222) resided, the highest ecclesiastical
authority permitted to grant independence to a local
Church. Sava, who also brought with him several monks of
Hilandar, discussed his vision with the Patriarch and
Emperor Theodore. At first, the Patriarch was reluctant
to grant Sava's request. Why hadn't Sava, he thought,
petitioned through the Archbishop of Ochrid, who was the
immediate jurisdictional authority over the Church of
Serbia? But after a careful review of the polilical and
ecclesiastical difficulties in the Balkans—not only in
Serbia but also between Nicea and Epirus—this request on
the part of Sava began to make perfect sense to both the
Patriarch and the Emperor. By granting autonomy to the
Church of Serbia, Rome and the West's attempts to
capture the Balkans could be thwarted. Also, the
Archbishop of Ochrid was becoming too powerful; with
independence granted to the Serbs, his power would
diminish. The Serbian Orthodox Church, now independent,
would remain under the direct jurisdiction of the
Patriarchate. (As is well known, the Serbian Orthodox
Church did not receive her own Patriarch until over one
hundred years later, becoming autocephalous on Palm
Sunday, April 9, 1346.) Thus, the situation was quite
favorable to all involved. At Patriarch Manuel's
request, Sava was selected to be elevated to Archbishop.
At first, Sava vehemently refused this offer on the
grounds that he felt he was truly unworthy for such a
position and calling. He offered several of the monks
from Hilandar who were present as potential candidates
for the position. In the end, Sava accepted and was
consecrated in Nicea on the Feast of St. Nicholas,
December 6, 1219, becoming the first Archbishop of the
newly autonomous Orthodox Church of Serbia. He was 44
years old at the time. The following are the exact words
of the Greek text of Patriarch Manuel's decree elevating
Sava to Archbishop, thus granting autonomy to the
Serbian Church:
I, Manuel, the Ecumenical Patriarch and the
Archbishop of the City of Consrantinople, New Rome, in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, have consecrated
Sava, Archbishop of all the Serbian lands, and have
given him in God's name the authority to consecrate
bishops, priests, and deacons within his country; to
bind and loose sins of men, and to teach all and to
baptize in rhe name of the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Therefore, all you Orthodox Christians,
obey him as you have obeyed me.
After his consecration, Sava returned to the Holy
Mountain in order to say farewell to Hilandar and to
receive the blessing and prayers of the entire monastic
community of the Holy Mountain. This was the most
emotional moment in Sava's life. To the Holy Mountain
(and Hilandar in particular), his true spiritual home,
the holy place where he had spent over twenty-five years
of his life and which he thought he would never leave,
Sava now had to bid farewell. Although the monks
welcomed him and treated him with the highest dignity
and respect accorded his ecclesiastical position, they
all nevertheless were saddened by the loss of their
beloved brother and friend, the simple monk Sava. And if
there is anything that shines forth and is easily
ascertained from Sava's personality and character, it is
precisely this: no matter what position or accolade or
accomplishment Sava attained or achieved, he never
forgot his spiritual core and roots, which were to love
and live with Christ in simplicity, in common friendship
and in humble love.
View of the holy peninsula and Aegeon from the peak of
Mount Athos
The
newly consecrated Archbishop Sava then traveled by boat
to Thessalonica, where he tarried awhile at Philokalos
Monastery. At Philokalos, he, along with a few others,
made a translation from Greek into Slavonic of the
Byzantine ecclesiastical law book The Rudder or
Nomocanon of St. Photios the Great (9th century). Called
Kormchaja
Knjiga (Book of the Pilot) in Slavonic, this translation
contained not only the ecclesiastical canons—including
the dogmatic decrees of the Seven Ecumenical
Councils—with commentaries by the best medieval Greek
canonists, but also numerous precepts of the Fathers of
the Church along with several of the imperial edicts of
the great Byzantine Emperor Justinian (6th century).
This work was one of Sava's greatest literary and
political feats, for it enabled the kingdom of Serbia to
be greatly influenced by the highly cultured and
civilized Byzantine state, whose vision of society and
human life was primarily motivated and governed by the
Orthodox faith. For example, Sava divided the kingdom
into nine dioceses according to the civil boundaries of
the land, which was the Byzantine way of ecclesiastical
division. Each episcopal seat was located in the capital
of the said territory, which enabled both the civil and
ecclesiastical leaders to work harmoniously for the
material and spiritual benefit of the Serbian people.
Each diocese residence was established in a monastery,
with the headquarters of the Archbishop at Zhicha
Monastery. (Also, it is worthy to note that this
Slavonic translation, St. Sava's Nomocanon, became the
basis of the civil and ecclesiastical constitution of
the kingdoms of Bulgaria and Russia throughout the
entire Middle Ages.)
When he arrived in Serbia, Sava, the first Archbishop of
the Serbs, was greeted with open arms by his brother
King Stephen and his nephews (Stephen's sons), Princes
Radislav (1228-1233) and Vladislav (1233-1243). Sava
went straightway to Studenitsa to venerate his father
Simeon's myrrh-flowing relics. After a short stay there,
he left in order to ascend his archiepiscopal throne in
the newly consecrated Zhicha Monastery, the foundational
monastery of King Stephen, located on the right bank of
the Ibar river only five miles southwest of Kraljevo.
The architectural style of Zhicha Monastery was of the
school of Rashka or the Serbo-Byzantine style,
characterized by the semi-circular apse at the eastern
end of the main church, a separated narthex (entrance
area or vestibule on the west end where in the
monasteries the Divine Services of Compline, Midnight
Office, Hours and the Litya on the eve of Great
Feasts are said), along with a large dome joining the
two ends to focus the worshippers to the center of the
church. A unique feature of the main church of Christ
the Savior in Zhicha was the brick and stone
construction of the church which was plastered over and
colored red, after the model of the Holy Mountain
monasteries, symbolizing the blood which our Savior and
His beloved followers, the holy Martyrs, shed "for the
life of the world."
As the spiritual center of Serbian Orthodoxy, Zhicha
Monastery would once again lead the efforts toward the
total enculturation of the Serbian people into the
Orthodox vision and way of life. To establish Zhicha as
the religious and political center of the kingdom of
Serbia, Sava decided that on the first day of his
archiepiscopacy in Zhicha, the Feast of the Ascension,
1220, he would, as the newly consecrated Archbishop of
Serbia, coronate his brother Stephen as the first
Serbian King. Even though Stephen had previously assumed
the throne in 1 196 after his father Stephen Nemanja-St.
Simeon had abdicated, nonetheless his coronation at this
time officially proclaimed him, before all countries, as
the rightful Orthodox King of Serbia. This coronation
marked the end to any western ties by the Nemanja
dynasty. Accordingly, Stephen received the title "Kralj
Stephen Prvovenchani" (King Stephen the First-Crowned).
As during his earlier stay in Serbia, Sava met with
difficulties. The Roman Pope Callistus III as well as
Archbishop Demetrius Homatian of Ochrid were not
pleased, to say the least, with the elevation of Sava to
Archbishop and the new status of the Serbian Church.
Sava spent the first ten years of his archiepiscopacy
(1219-1229) primarily in organizing the Church, setting
up dioceses, renewing monasteries and strengthening the
populace against all pressures from both the Greeks and
the Latins. It must be noted that never once did Sava
call for any retaliation or hostilities against the
Greek or Roman dioceses in Serbia. Also, during this
time, Sava experienced another setback. His brother,
King Stephen the First-Crowned, fell asleep in the Lord
in late 1228. Prior to his death, Stephen received the
monastic tonsure and the name Simon. After the
King's death, his son Radislav came into power.
Unfortunately for the Serbs, Radislav favored his Greek
mother Eudokia's side. As a result, the newly coronated
King Radislav, against the wishes of Sava, called for a
return of the fledgling Serbian Church to the
protectorate of the Greek Archbishop of Ochrid. This
political maneuver was too much for Sava, and he once
again had thoughts of fleeing his homeland. But where
could he go? He was now their permanent Archbishop and
could not possibly go back to Hilandar. After some
deliberation, Venerable Sava decided to visit Jerusalem
and the Holy Land. Thus, in 1229, after ten years of
dedicated hard work and fruitful labor in the vineyard
of the Lord in his homeland, Sava decided to renew his
own spirit by pilgrimaging to the cradle of Christianity
itself, Jerusalem, where the Lord first brought
salvation to the world.
In Jerusalem, Sava purchased the house in which,
according to some records, Jesus Christ and His
disciples celebrated the Passover in the year he was
crucified. He bought it from a Moslem and returned it
safely into the hands of the Orthodox Church in
Jerusalem. Also, Sava made arrangements which
facilitated visitations by Serbian pilgrims to the Holy
Land. He paved the way for Serbian monastic colonies to
settle and flourish in Palestine and the surrounding
desert areas during the time of the Serbian Medieval
State (early 13th to mid l5th centuries). Sava also
built new churches, renewed existing ones, financed
monasteries, and spent many hours in conversation with
the great ascetics of the deserts of the Middle East,
learning more of the art of prayer, fasting, and the
taming of the passions of the flesh. In particular, Sava
visited the monastery of his namesake, St. Sava the
Sanctified of Jerusalem, where his episcopal ministry
was confirmed by his fulfilling a seven hundred-year-old
prophecy whereby he received two famous miraculous
icons, the Miraculous Icon of the Theotokos "With Three
Hands" (called "Troiruchica" in Slavonic; see July 12th)
and the Miraculous Icon of the Theotokos "The Nursing
Virgin" (see July 3rd), and brought it to Hilandar and
placed it in his typicaria.
When it was time for Sava to leave the Holy Land for
Serbia, he decided to go by way of Nicea. He did this to
further solidify the promise made by Patriarch Manuel in
1219 to keep the Serbian Church autonomous. There he met
with John, the new Emperor of Byzantium (1222-1254) now
residing in Nicea, who succeeded Theodore Laskaris. He
also met Germanus, the new Patriarch who succeeded the
late Patriarch Manuel. Irene, Emperor John's wife and
the daughter of the deceased Theodore Laskar, is, was
present at these meetings, and she recalled memories of
Sava's first visit to Nicea. Sava at this time
petitioned for autocephaly, i.e., the right of the
Serbian bishops to select and consecrate their own
Patriarch. This promise was made to Sava in 1219, and he
was in Nicea to renew this pledge. Although this latter
request was not granted, Sava nevertheless confirmed the
independence ofthe Serbian Church from the Archbishop of
Ochrid. Hence, the plans of the new King Radislav were
thwarted. Also, unfortunately for Radislav, his military
prowess waned as well, for in a fratricidal civil war
against his younger brother Vladislav during the summer
of 1233, he was defeated and exiled to Durazzo, Albania.
Although Sava was unsuccessful in reconciling these
brothers—who were both disloyal to their grandfather St.
Simeon's call for unity—nevertheless he knew it was
better for the country to be ruled by Vladislav. Several
years later, as a result of his negotiations with King
Vladislav, Sava was able to obtain safe conduct for
Radislav, who was allowed to return to Serbia.
Unfortunately again for Radislav, his wife had eloped
with a French duke during his exile in Albania. Radislav
then decided to become a monk, and Sava tonsured him,
giving him the name John.
Service in a Serb Orthodox Monastery
In the spring of 1234, Archbishop Sava, age 59, only
five years after his first trip to the Holy Land,
decided to make a second pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This
time he had particular goals in mind. He wanted to
garner support for the Bulgarians who were seeking the
ecclesiastical status of autocephaly. Previously, the
Imperial Patriarch residing in Nicea had recognized this
new situation in Bulgaria, but the Patriarchs of
Jerusalem, Alexandria and Antioch had not followed suit.
Sava also hoped to seek this same type of support from
these Patriarchs in behalf of his own autonomous Serbian
Orthodox Church. His mission was to promote the
federation of Orthodox sister churches with Jerusalem as
the eternal mother Church. There is no doubt that these
ecclesiastical missions demonstrated a far-reaching and
even prophetic insight on the part of Sava. For the
Serbs, he was setting in motion something which would
come about only one hundred years later—the autocephaly
of the Serbian Church. Sava was a man of his times with
a clear vision of the future! Yet there was something
even more special about Sava which was personally
exhibited by him just ptior to his second trip to the
Middle East. For no apparent reason, Sava decided to
abdicate his archiepiscopal throne. He appointed one of
his younger disciples, Arsenius, to be the Archbishop of
Serbia. In accordance with the canons of the Orthodox
Church, Arsenius was then elevated by the assembly of
bishops gathered at Zhicha. This was confirmed by the
Imperial Patriarch in Nicea. Sava, like the saints of
old, displayed prophetic insight far beyond human wisdom
and reason, as no one at this time realized that when
they escorted their beloved Saint to the Serbian
kingdom's border so that he could begin his trek to
Palestine, they would never again see him alive in this
world. Sava knew the Lord would soon call him home to
the Heavenly Mansions of the righteous, and thus, as a
good archpastor, he lovingly prepared his spiritual
children for their own future.
Sinan Pasha burns the relics of
St. Sava at Vracar, Belgrade,
1594
Upon arrival in Jerusalem, Sava lodged at the St. George
Monastery in Akre, a monastery he had purchased from the
Latins during his first pilgrimage. Sava visited
Patriarch Athanasius of Jerusalem and then went by boat
to Alexandria, Egypt, to meet with Pope Nicholas,
"Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa." He then went
to St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai, where he
spent Great Lent of 1234. This was a most blessed
Paschal journey for Sava, for he climbed the heights
where the great man of God, Moses the God-seer and
Deliverer of his people, had spent many hours speaking
to the Lord God face to face as a friend converses with
a friend. Sava, too, had been a "Moses" to his people,
pastoring, leading and organizing them into a community
of God. After the Paschal celebration of 1234, Sava
returned to Jerusalem and then traveled to Antioch.
After visiting Constantinople, Sava intended to visit
the Holy Mountain and Hilandar, but "it did not please
the Holy Spirit." Instead, he left for Trnovo, Bulgaria,
the capital of King Ivan Asen II's Bulgarian kingdom.
Sava arrived in Trnovo on January 1, 1235. He was
received with grcat honor and dignity, not only because
of his efforts on behalf of the Bulgarian ecclesiastical
authorities while in the Middle East, but more
importantly because he was truly the most respected and
venerated person of his era. At the request of King Ivan
Asen II, Sava stayed at the Royal Palace in Trnovo. Many
state dignitaries, monastics, clergy and pious faithful
came to venerate this holy pastor and to receive his
blessing. Sava officiated at the Divine Liturgy on
Epiphany, January 6, 1235, in the Royal Cathedral of the
Holy Forty Martyrs in Trnovo. As was the custom, he
participated in the service of the Blessing of the
Waters held outside the Cathedral, at the nearbyJantra
River. After the Divine Service, the Saint caught a cold
which developed into pneumonia, eventually causing his
death during the night between Saturday and Sunday,
January 14, 1235. He was 60 years of age.
The news of St. Sava's death was a shock for both the
Serbian and Bulgarian nations, as well as for the entire
Byzantine commonwealth. The saint received a most
honorable Christian burial and was laid to rest in the
Cathedral of the Holy Forty Martyrs in Trnovo. He
remained in Trnovo for over tWo years, until May 6, 1237
when, after the personal visit of the Serbian King
Vladislav, a solemn procession from Trnovo to Mileshevo
Monastery returned the Saint to his rightful homeland.
Mileshevo Monastery, located only a few miles east of
the Lim River near Prijepolje, was founded by King
Vladislav (1234-1243). Although renowned for its
beautiful icons and frescoes—the Angel at the Tomb of
Christ for example—the Monastery could never have
imagined the attention it would receive after the
placing of the body of Sava in the main church. Upon
opening the casket, Sava's body was found completely
intact, fragrant, exuding myrrh, looking simply as if he
was comfortably sleeping. Thousands of pilgrims—Serbs,
Roman Catholics, and even Jews—came to venerate the
divine Sava. To all, he was a source of unity, healing,
wisdom, joy, and spiritual strength, uniting the various
tribes of Serbs into a cohesive nation of Orthodox
believers. As a result, only eighteen years later, in
1253, the Orthodox Church of Serbia officially canonized
their beloved St. Sava (see April 27th and May 6th).
Mileseva Monastery - burial church of
St. Sava
As time passed, the tremendous legacy of holy leadership
on the part of the great Sava kept the Serbian people
united under one flag: the royal kingdom of Serbia which
avowed Orthodoxy and the way of Christ. He was the sole
person who was responsible for the transformation of the
Serbian people into a people of God. And their
allegiance to the way in which he lived was to the Serbs
the only true model and expression of religious,
political and cultural life. Hence, as in the case of
every great human being who inspires generations after
him to even greater heights of civilized life, so too
was it with Sava, for his ideal motivated the people of
Orthodox Serbia to become, in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, one of the most resplendent
kingdoms the world has ever known. Religious life peaked
as the monasteries in Serbia, the most beautiful being
based upon the Byzantine style, were crowded with
monastics who led an austere life, inspiring the Serbian
people to greater heights of humility, while also
leading them to exhibit the trait they were (and are to
this day) most recognized for—hospitality. And, as
mentioned, due to the astute ecclesiastical wisdom on
the part of Sava in 1219 in Nicea, the Serbian Church
was able, in 1346, to obtain her own autocephaly, i.e.,
her own Patriarch. Political and economic life also
flourished, following the example of the Christ-like
Sava, in the centuries following his repose in the Lord.
A unity among the Serbs, based on their adherence to
Orthodoxy and maintenance of the political ideals of
their beloved St. Sava, allowed them to develop into a
Balkan power to the point that in 1346 the Serbian King
Dushan the Powerful was given the title of "Emperor of
the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgars and Albanians."
In sum, after his death St. Sava was to the Serbs a type
of ideal and measuring rod of what it meant to be a true
Serb, which is, to be fully committed to Jesus Christ
and the way of Orthodoxy. Religiously, Sava was thought
of as an equal to St. Nicholas, the ideal and standard
of bishops; as a humane politician, Sava was considered
an equal to St. Constantine the Great, the founder of
the Byzantine Empire; and, as a Great Martyr later in
1595, Sava was considered an equal to the humble St.
Polycarp of Smyrna, the first Great Martyr to be burned
to death (see April 27th, Burning of the Relics of St.
Sava). Bless the Lord God! All these Christian traits
and attainments manifested in one person! During the two
centuries following his death, the person of St. Sava
became the brightest star ever known to the Serbs,
inspiring them to a way of life which succeeding
generations have as yet been unable to recapture or
match.
This love for Sava continued unabated even during the
time of the barbaric Turkish occupation of the Serbian
lands, beginning with the Battle of Kosovo on June 15,
1389. On that day, the Serbs chose to remain faithful to
Christ, Orthodoxy, and the embodiment of their faith,
St. Sava. After receiving the Precious Body and Blood of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the eve of the
Battle on the Field of Blackbirds, the Serbian armies
went on victoriously to their martyrdom and
"crucifixion" at the hands of the ungodly Turks, proving
to history (and of course to themselves) that it is
better to die for Christ, the way and the truth and the
life, than to live for any earthly cause or dominion.
This martyrdom on Kosovo Polje, more than any other
event in the history of the Serbian race, proved their
allegiance to the way of life that St. Sava taught them,
that is, living with Christ the Lord in His Heavenly
Kingdom. It was this vision of life which sustained the
Orthodox Serbs during the oppressive times to follow. It
was this vision given to them by St. Sava which was
their hope. Not a vanquished hope or a defeated one, but
a hope that was alive, hallowing, sustaining, unifying,
strengthening, abiding, and truly a hope worth living
for, no matter what the costs. This vision was salvation
to the Serb!
No wonder the Turks, on Orthodox Holy Friday in 1595,
could not withstand this unifying force, the force of
committed life in Christ led by the example of St. Sava,
for they once again "cracked" under this pressure and,
to their eternal folly and damnation, incinerated the
life-giving body and relics of St. Sava (see April
27th). They believed they could kill the spirit along
with the body—something the unbelieving Jews thought
they could also do with Jesus on Golgotha—on that
glorious day on Savinac Hill in the district of Vrachar
in Belgrade. However, to their dismay, the Serbian
Orthodox spirit was only made stronger by this ungodly
act, for all pious Serbs at that time and to this day
believe in a Lord and Master, the Savior Christ, who was
savagely and brutally crucified and martyred for the
life of the world; and Who rose from the dead, trampling
down death by death, Whose victory and Kingdom will have
no end. This Great Martyrdom of St. Sava was not an end
for the Saint, but a beginning, for along with the title
of "Venerable Holy Father and First Archbishop and
Eternal Enlightener to the Serbs," he was granted, by
Divine Providence, the most wonderful title of "Great
Martyr," thus fulfilling a legacy that certainly will
last forever! And to his glory, on that very Savinac
Hill in Vrachar, a glorious Cathedral is being erected
to once and for all confirm his steadfast love and
example of unity, strength and piety that every Orthodox
Christian everywhere must follow in order to inherit
eternal life!
Reprint from The Serbian Patericon
by Fr. Daniel Rogich
Turks burn the holy relics of St. Sava at Vracar in
Belgrade 1594 - painting by Uros Predic
Holy Father Sava, we thy sinful servants ask
Lead us to give our hearts to God first,
Lead us to live for Chrisr rhe Lord first,
Lead us to seek His righteousness first,
Lead us to desire Orthodox truth firsr,
Lead us to remember the Saints firsr,
Lead us to cherish the Church first,
Lead us to love one another first,
Lead us to seek unity of all first;
Holy Father Sava, pray to God to save us.
TROPARION
Tone 8
O guide of Orthodoxy and blessed teacher of virtues,*
purifier and enlightener of thy homeland,* beauty of
monastics,* most wise Father, Holy Sava,* by thy
teaching thou didst enlighten thy people,* O flute of
the Spirit, pray to Christ God for our souls.
KONTAKION
Tone 8
As the first great hierarch and co-worker with the
Apostles,* the Church of thy people magnifies thee;* and
since thou hast found favor with Christ,* save us by thy
prayers from every calamity,* so that we may proclaim to
thee: Rejoice, God-wise Father Sava.
St. Sava's Cathedral built on the place where his relics
had been burned by Sinan Pasha
The largest Orthodox church in the world
Interior of the largest Orthodox church in the world
St. Sava's Cathedral, a detail
Bishop Artemije and the monks in front of St. Sava
Cathedral in Belgrade
Taken
from www.kosovo.net |
