Ștefan Uroș III al Serbiei
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Drept-credinciosul Ștefan de Decani, în sârbă: Свети краљ Стефан Дечански, a fost regele Serbiei din 1321 până în 1331. Este de asemenea cunoscut ca Ștefan Uroș III în cinstea Sf. Ștefan, sfântul protector al Serbiei, și Uroș în cinstea bunicului său Ștefan Uroș I. A fost proslăvit Sf. Ștefan de Decani, regele Serbiei. Praznicul său are loc pe 24 noiembrie.
Viața
Ștefan s-a născut în jurul anului 1285, fiind singurul fiu al regelui Milutin (Ștefan Uroș II) și al primei sale soții, Ana a Bulgariei. Crescut la curtea tatălui său, Ștefan a primit o educație bună, studiind limba și scrierile poporului său la fel de bine ca și Sfânta Scriptură și învățăturile credinței ortodoxe. Roadele educației sale s-au arătat când regele Milutin a fost forțat să-l trimită ca ostatic conducătorului tătarilor, hanul Nogai al Hoardei de Aur. În ciuda posibilelor pericole, Ștefan a fost supus voinței tatălui său și nu s-a împotrivit, încredințându-și viața Domnului, ceea ce n-a fost în zadar. S-a împrietenit cu unul dintre nobilii tătari, care a izbutit să-l asiste pentru întoarcerea sa cu bine acasă, după moartea lui Nogai în 1299.
Când Ștefan a atins majoratul, tatăl său a stabilit ca el să se căsătorească cu fiica regelui bulgar Smilatz, Teodora, iar tânărului cuplu i s-a dat ținutul Zeta, unde ei s-au stabilit până la momentul în care Ștefan va fi chemat să-l succeadă pe tatăl său la tron.
Între timp, regele Milutin s-a căsătorit și noua sa soție, Simonide, a urzit ca unul dintre frații ei să moștenească tronul. Pentru a realiza aceasta, l-a convins pe regele Milutin că Ștefan vrea să pună mâna pe tron înainte de vreme. Tatăl înșelat a ordonat ca fiul său să fie capturat, orbit pentru a asigura că nu va mai nutri vreo astfel de perfidie și să fie trimis ca prizonier la Constantinopol.
Luat împreună cu copiii săi, Dușan și Dușica, gărzile sale, folosind vătraiuri roșii și fierbinți, l-au orbit cum au trecut prin Ovcepole. În acea noapte, Sf. Nicolae i s-a arătat lui Ștefan într-un vis: „Nu te teme”, a spus el, „ochii tăi sunt în mâinile mele”. Mângâiat de această viziune, orbul Ștefan a ajuns la Constantinopol unde împăratului Andronic i s-a făcut milă de tânărul exilat și l-a primit în mod grațios. Ștefan s-a stabilit la mănăstirea Pantocrator, unde a impresionat monahii prin smerenia sa și acceptarea lungii suferințe, a încercării amare care venea prin propriul său tată. Five years passed and King Milutin was growing old. Having heard good reports about his son, his heart softened, and he called Stephen home to Serbia. Before leaving Constantinople, Stephen had a dream in which St. Nicholas again appeared to him, holding in his hand a pair of eyes. When Stephen awoke, his sight was restored.
Three years later, his father died, and Stephen, always popular with the people, was crowned King of Serbia by Archbishop Nikodim I in Peć Monastery on Theophany January 6, 1322. His royal title was Stephen Uros III King of Serbia and Coastlands. His brother Constantine, resenting this turn of events, raised an army in order to wrest the throne away from Stephen. Desiring to avoid bloodshed, King Stephen addressed a letter to his brother:
- "Put far from thee thy desire to come with a foreign people to make war on thine own countrymen; but let us meet one another, and thou shalt be second in my kingdom, for the land is great enough for me and thee to live. I am not Cain who slew his brother, but Joseph who loved him, and in his words I speak to thee. Fear not, for I am from the Lord. You prepared evil for me, but the Lord has given me good, as you now see."
Constantine was unmoved and gave orders to attack. In the ensuing battle, his army was defeated and he himself was slain.
For the next ten years, King Stephen ruled in relative peace, and the Serbian land prospered. His son Dusan proved to be an able military leader and was successful in battles with the Bulgarians and the Greeks, who became envious of the now powerful Serbian state and rose up against it. Grateful to the Lord for these victories, King Stephen set about with Archbishop Danilo II, Nikodim's successor, to find a place to build a church. They settled upon a place called Decani, and there, in 1327, King Stephen himself laid the cornerstone for what was to become one of the most magnificent and enduring specimens of Serbian church architecture. Inside, it was graced by splendid icons, to which more were added in the sixteenth century by the hand of the Slav iconographer, Longinos.
King Stephen gave generously to the needy. He also made generous donations to churches and monasteries on the Holy Mountain, in Jerusalem, Alexandria, and to the monastery of Pantocrator in Constantinople. He did not forget his debt to the wonderworker St. Nicholas as he commissioned a silver altar and sent it together with some icons to the church in Bari, Italy, where the St. Nicholas' holy relics are located.
Having in a true Christian manner endured the grievous trials and afflictions which he met through the years, the good king deserved to live out the rest of his life in peace. But it was only fitting that he who suffered as a martyr in life should be granted an opportunity to receive in death a martyr's crown. After he defeated the Bulgarians in famous Battle of Velbazhd in July 1330, Stephen did not want to take any Bulgarian territories.
His final trial was the most agonizing. His son Dusan's successes on the battle field gave him an appetite for power and glory. Encouraged by his entourage of nobles, Dusan decided to take the throne from his father. In 1331, King Stephen was taken as a prisoner to a fortress in the town of Zvecan and cruelly murdered by some nobles (some accounts say he was hung, another that he was strangled). His son did not know that these nobles wanted to kill his father, and soon the guilty were killed.
Almost immediately Dusan was struck by remorse. Earnestly and tearfully, he repented of his treachery. The following year, on the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, he had his father's remains transferred from Zvecan to Decani. There, they were placed in a marble tomb. In 1339, the tomb was opened and his body was found to be incorrupt. That same day saw many miracles of healing. The holy king has become a protector and healer of those who suffer with their sight, and at his relics blind people have received their sight.
| Ștefan Uroș III al Serbiei | ||
|---|---|---|
| Precedat de: Ștefan Uroș II Milutin |
Rege al Serbiei 1321-1331 |
Urmat de: Ștefan Uroș IV Dușan |
