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, where he became a monk and with
rare zeal followed all the 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 the independence of the Serbian
Church from the Emperor and the Patriarch, and became its 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. He travelled 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 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 the Theophany in 1236. King Vladislav took his
body to Mileseva, whence Sinan Pasha removed it, burning it at Vracar
in Belgrade on April 27th, 1595.
Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic,
"The Prologue from Ochrid", January 14th.
