St. Sava, Archbishop of Serbia

The son of Stefan Nemanja, the great Serbian national leader, he was born in 1169. As a young man he yearned for the spiritual life, which led him to flee to the Holy Mountain of Mt. Athos, where he became a monk and with rare zeal followed all ascetic practices. Nemanja followed his son's example and himself went to the Holy Mountain, where he lived and ended his days as the monk Simeon. Sava obtained independence of the Serbian Church from the Emperor and the Patriarch, and became the first archbishop. He, together with his father, built the monastery of Hilandar and after that many other monasteries, churches, and schools throughout the land of Serbia.

Sava traveled to the Holy Land on two occasions, on pilgrimage to the holy places there. He made peace among his brothers, who were in conflict over their rights, and also between the Serbs and their neighbors. In creating the Serbian Church, he created the Serbian state and the Serbian culture along with it. He brought peace to all the Balkan peoples, working for the good of all, for which he was venerated and loved by all on the Balkan peninsular. He gave a Christian soul to the people of Serbia, which survived the fall of the Serbian state. He died in Trnovo in the reign of King Asen, being taken ill after the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of Theophany in 1236.

King Vladislav took his body to Mileseva where it was buried. In the time of the Turkish occupation, the Serbian people gathered together around the relics of their saint, to seek support and healing. Fearing that a rebellion against the Turks might be stirred up in that place, Sinan Pasha of Belgrade commanded that St. Sava's relics be brought to Belgrade and burned there at Vracar. This was done on April 27th, 1594. But, with the burning of the saint's relics, the wicked Pasha did not burn the saint, who remains alive before the throne of God in heaven and in the hearts of his people on earth.

From the Prologue From Ochrid, St. Nicholas of South Canaan