Sava al Serbiei

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Sf. Sava al Serbiei

Cel întru sfinți Părintele nostru Sava al Serbiei (sau Sava Athonitul) a fost primul Arhiepiscop al Bisericii Serbiei care se bucură de o deosebită cinstire în această Biserică. Prăznuirea sa se face pe 12 și pe 14 ianuarie.

Viața

Fiu al Marelui Jupan (Prinț) Ștefan Nemania, întemeietorul regatului sîrb medieval independent, prințul Rastko Nemanici s-a născut în anul 1175 sau 1176. Fratele său, Ștefan Prvovenciani a fost primul rege sârb. La începutul anilor 1190, tânărul Rastko a plecat de acasă spre Mubntele Athos pentru a intra în monahism. A intrat mai întâi în mănăstirea rusească a Sf. Pantelimon unde a depus voturile monahale, primind numele de Sava (în cinstea Sfântului Sava cel Sfințit). De acolo a plecat la mănăstirea grecească Vatopedi.

La sfârșitul anului 1197, Marele Cneaz Ștefan Nemania, tatăl său i s-a alăturat, intrând și el în monahism. Mai târziu, la depunerea voturilor monahale, avea să primească numele de Simeon. Cei doi s-au mutat în 1198 la Mănăstirea Hilandar, pe atunci abandonată și au reîntemeiat-o, aceasta devenind de atunci centrul monahismului ortodox sârb. Simeon a murit aici pe 12 februarie 1200.

După moartea tatălui său, cuviosul Sava s-a retras din mănăstire într-o chilie zidită de el la Careia în anul 1199. A fost hiritonit preot (ieromonah), iar în anul 1201 a primit rangul de arhimandrit. El a scris și Tipicon-ul (regulile de viață mănăstirească) mănăstirii Hilandar, precum și al chiliei sale de la Careia. Tipiconul de la Careia a rpmas înscris pe o placă de marmură înăuntrul chiliei.

Cuviosul Sava a rămas la Muntele Athos până în anul 1207, când s-a întors înapoi în Serbia. Potrivit tradiției, tatăl său, Simeon (Ștefan Nemania) i se arătase în vis descoperindu-i tulburările în care se zbătea țara sa natală). La întoarcerea sa, a găsit statul sârb împărțit în două. Vukan, cel mai mare dintre fiii lui Ștefan Nemania, nemulțumit de hotărârea tatălui său de a lăsa domnia fratelui său mai mic, Ștefan a purtat negocieri secrete cu Regatul Ungariei și cu Papa Inocent al III-lea, reușind astfel să strângă o armată și să cucerească fortăreața Zeta. De acolo, s-a pregătit să atace Raška, care se afla în posesia lui Ștefan. Războiul civil sârb era doar ecoul și parte a conflictului pe scară mai largă declanșat prin Cruciada a IV-a, care s-a încheiat cu cucerirea Constantinopolului și a unei mari părți a teritoriilor bizantine (inclusiv Sfântul Munte) de către latini și cu instituirea unor jurisdicții ale Bisericii Romei în teritoriile ocupate de cruciați. În 1205, Muntele Athos a fost pus oficial sub autoritatea și jurisdicția unui episcop latin. Se crede că decizia lui Sava de a se întoarce în Serbia a fost influențată în mod hotărâtor de aceste evenimente.

La întoarcerea sa, în încercarea de a pacifica situația, Sava a adus cu sine moaștele tatălui său, Simeon Izvorâtorul de Mir (principele Ștefan Nemania) și le-a așezat în Mănăstirea Studenica, ctitoria acestuia. I-a chemat apoi pe cei doi frați ai săi, Vukan și Ștefan la un parastas în memoria tatălui său. Când sicriul acestuia a fost deschis, aceștia au văzut că trupul lui Simeon era neputrezit și izvora ulei și mir binemirositor. Închinarea la moașteke tatălui lor a fost primul pas în vindecarea rupturii dintre Vukan și Marele Principe Ștefan. La scurt timp după aceea, aceștia au pus capăt războiului și au încheiat un acord de pace, restabilind regatul Serbiei așa cum era pe vremea tatălui lor, sub autoritatea lui Ștefan.

Cu acordul și cu sprijinul acestora, cuviosul Sava a gotărât să rămână în Serbia și a inițiat un vast program misionar în ținuturile sârbești. Mănăstirea Studenica, unde au fost așezate moaștele lui Simeon Izvorâtorul de Mir a devenit centrul unui cult răspândit pe întreg teritoriul Serbiei. Sava a fost numit arhimandrit de Studenica și a scris și aici Tipiconul (Regula) acestei mănăstiri, pentru consolidarea vieții mănăstirești de aici.

Archbishop

St. Sava managed to persuade the Patriarch of Constantinople, who was residing in Nicea since Constantinople was under Latin rule until 1261, to establish the independence of the Serbian Church in the year of 1219. 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 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 autocephalous 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 autocephaly 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 the 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.

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 KormchajaKnjiga ("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 and several of the imperial edicts of the great Byzantine Emperor Justinian (6th century).

When he arrived in Serbia Sava decided that on the first day of his archepiscopacy in Žiča, the Feast of the Ascension, 1220, he would, as the as the newly consecrated Archbishop of Serbia, crown his brother Stephen as the first Serbian king. In 1228 he crowned his nephew Radoslav as king. 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 making a pilgrimage to the cradle of Christianity itself, Jerusalem, where the Lord first brought salvation to the world. When it was time for Sava to leave the Holy Land for Serbia, he decided to go by way of Nicea. 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.

In Serbia a new civil war broke out between Radoslav and his brother Vladislav. 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 "Jovan (John)."

Retirement

Sava abdicated from archepiscopal see in 1233 and appointed his most capable pupil St. Arsenije as Archbisop of Serbia (1233-1263). 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. Upon arrival in Jerusalem, Sava lodged at the St. George Monastery in Acre, 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 and patriarch of Trnovo.

Participating in a ceremony called Blessing of the Waters (Agiasmo) he developed a cough that progressed into pneumonia. He died from pneumonia in the evening between Saturday and Sunday, January 14, 1235. [1] He was buried at the Cathedral of the Holy Forty Martyrs in Trnovo where his body remained until May 6, 1237, when his sacred bones were moved to the monastery Mileseva in southern Serbia. 360 years later the Ottoman Turks dug up his relics and burned them in the main square in Belgrade.

Legacy

There were many miracles at the grave of St. Sava in the Mileševa monastery. Venetian diplomat Ramberty who visited Mileševa in 1534 wrote that not only Serbs, but also Turks and Jews were visiting the monastery and asking for healing. French diplomat Jacques de Chenoais wrote in 1547 that he saw uncorrupted relics of St. Sava; he also said that Turks and Jews were giving bigger donations than Christians themselves. Another passinger as Venetian Zen, and French Lescalonieur were reporting about similar events in 1550 and 1574. Lescalonieur wrote that the head of the saint was covered, because one Turk who saw it died a few decades later. Format:Citation

St. Sava is remembered as the founder of the independent Serbian Orthodox Church and is celebrated as the patron saint of education and medicine among Serbs. Prince Miloš of Serbia January 13 (Julian), 1830, proclaimed St. Sava the patron saint of Serb schools and schoolchildren. On his feast day, students partake in recitals in church.

The Temple of St. Sava in Belgrade, whose construction was planned to start in 1939 but actually began in 1985 and completed in 2004, is the largest active Orthodox temple in the world today. It was built on the place where the holy bones were burned.

Quotation

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 exclusively 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

Hymnography

Troparion - Tone 3

Thou wast a guide to the Way of Life, a first Hierarch and a teacher;

thou didst come and enlighten thy home country, O Sava,

and give it rebirth by the Holy Spirit.

Thou hast planted thy children like olive trees in the spiritual Paradise.

O Equal-to-the-Apostles and Saints, pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy. ^[2]

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.

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.

Source

• Saint Sava on Wikipedia

External links and references

• St. Sava I, First Archbishop of Serbia (OCA)
• Life of our Holy Father Sava I: Enlightener and First Archbishop of the Serbs (+1235)
• St Sava of Serbia (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia)
• Library Saint Sava - Online Library Cataloging System
• Collected works (in Serbian language)

Succesion

Casetă de succesiune: Sava al Serbiei
Precedat de: —	Arhiepiscop al Serbiei 1219-1233	Urmat de: Sf. Arsenie de Pec