Saint Sava of Serbia

Saint Sava : National Teacher and Enlightener

Even in early Christian times, a Byzantine emperor said:

“The greatness of a nation is not judged by the number of people or the size of its territory, but by how many saints and God-pleasers it has brought forth.”

If we take this as a standard, then the Serbian people are indeed a great and God-given nation. For the holy lineage of the Nemanjić dynasty gave great Saints and Enlighteners, and thus brought the Serbian people to God and to the knowledge of God.

The founder of the Serbian state idea is Stefan Nemanja (Saint Simeon), and its spiritual and intellectual creator is Saint Sava. Read everything about the work, efforts, and immeasurable importance of Saint Sava for Serbian culture.

Beginnings of Saint Sava's Work

Saint Sava’s work in enlightening the Serbian people began with his return from Mount Athos to Serbia, that is, with the transfer of the relics of his father, Saint Simeon, from Hilandar Monastery to Studenica Monastery. From that time, Studenica became the center of Serbian church and educational life.

Everything began to revolve around the person of Saint Sava, whose image gained more fullness and his personality greater significance. In the eyes of the people, whom he increasingly approached—seeing each person as made in the image of God—a legend was created based on his godly life, portraying Saint Sava as a saint who could do all things and whose prayer was miraculous.

His strict monastic life, especially in the Studenica Hermitage, his missionary travels and tireless zeal for the faith, made people see in him a true enlightener and saint. Therefore, his biographer Domentijan wrote:

“For the time he remained there (in Serbia), he did not cease teaching day and night, strengthening all in the fear of God, speaking and showing by his own example the models of virtue, choosing better godly understanding and offering all this to the children of his homeland, leading them to the love of God, and driving away the deceit of sin which destroys the soul, desiring by God’s will to guide everyone into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Missionary Work of Saint Sava

The missionary work of Saint Sava and his method of preparing the younger generation reveals a clear intention and defined goal. When he helped to stabilize the state and when he had studied the circumstances in the land, he gave himself entirely to the work of creating the independence of the Serbian Church. Saint Sava understood well what it meant for Serbs to have their own, independent Church, because he also knew perfectly well that without the Church there could be no true enlightenment, nor sanctification of the Serbian people.

Speaking about Sava’s efforts to gain independence for the Serbian Church, Stevan Dimitrijevic said:

“In his educational work, that was the most important time. Then, still unbound and canonically unrestricted, limited mainly to his archdiocese, he traveled as a constant missionary across every corner of his land, teaching faith and good deeds and everything he had learned in the East, on Mount Athos, in Thessaloniki and Constantinople—everything his eyes had seen, his ears heard, and what he had learned from books.”

And so, without exaggeration, Saint Sava is one of the greatest and most radiant personalities in the history of the Serbian people. He is great through his god-pleasing and godlike life, through his work, and through what the people felt in his deeds. He is great and nearly unmatched in all areas of our national and cultural life, and this is confirmed not only by written sources and monuments, but also by oral tradition.

The Role of Saint Sava in Orthodoxy and the Culture of Our Land

Thus, our early historiographers presented the life and work of Saint Sava as a true gracious gift of God for the entire Serbian nation. Saint Sava is a national teacher and enlightener, advisor and torchbearer of the Serbian spiritual being. He embodies everything that is the best and most sublime in the Serbian people. Even though he lives in every Serbian soul, he is especially glorified through the Church and school, and in these institutions Saint Sava has gained his true significance.

According to his merits and according to his God-enlightening work, he has rightly been called a national teacher and enlightener.In church hymns and troparia composed in his honor, this is emphasized most strongly. Saint Sava is portrayed in them as the “instructor, first enthroned and teacher of the path that leads to life,” as the teacher of Orthodoxy, the teacher of piety and purity, and as the “light of the universe,” who “with his teaching enlightened the Fatherland, renewing it through the Holy Spirit.”

This special emphasis on the work of Saint Sava in enlightening the people has been considered, since ancient times, as his greatest merit. His work and strict monastic life elevated and placed him among the apostles, giving his life a Gospel character in shaping our national and cultural life.

Saint Sava’s Enlightenment Work

With his diligent, devoted, and humble efforts, Saint Sava helped the poor, rebuked the lazy, shamed the improper, denounced liars and oath-breakers—thus establishing moral codes of behavior that were the only proper path to eternal life.

His enlightening work, in both its content and its aims and methods, is in many ways different from what is today meant by the term “education.” European enlightenment has reduced education more or less to school-based instruction, pragmatic knowledge, and concrete learning.

The Svetosava-type of education differs from this type of education and concept of upbringing not only by placing exceptional importance on moral education and shaping of human personality but also in its very foundations of upbringing, in its view of the human person and community, and their ultimate purpose. For the Svetosava enlightenment teaching is based on the foundations of Christ’s doctrine.

Reason as an Important Principle in Saint Sava’s Teaching

What was meant by the concept of education in medieval Serbia can be seen in the text of monk Grigorije (15th century), in which it is demanded:

“Not from writings or books shall one be enlightened, but by having a pure mind sanctified through the grace of the Spirit, and just as books are written in ink, so must our hearts be inscribed with the Holy Spirit.”

For Saint Sava, education does not mean, as it does today, the acquisition of knowledge, but the renewal in us of the image of the Triune Divinity by the power of the Holy Spirit. From there, the essential foundations of Saint Sava’s enlightenment of the Serbian people were Faith and Truth.

Saint Sava bases his work on Faith and Truth, as shown in the Studenica and Žiča Charters, where he calls upon brothers and friends, fathers and children, to incline their God-loving hearts to hear the words of holy truths, to place them in their hearts, in the conscience of their souls, before the eyes of their minds, and to understand them.Then the Saint continues:

“Therefore, brothers and children, I first beg you to place all hope in God and, before all, hold to His true faith.”Clearly, the starting point for Saint Sava is Truth received through Faith, what he in the same place calls “Holy words.” Saint Sava tells the people to have pure faith and frequent prayer, truth in everything, bodily purity and spiritual restraint, keeping the reason of Holy Baptism and God’s enlightenment, and always loving repentance and confession of sins so that they may gain spiritual peace.“For,” he says, “spiritual knowledge is not play, nor the foolish words of human minds, but the proclaimed Holy Faith of God, on which are founded the holy ranks in Christ Jesus our Lord, whom the prophets foretold by the Holy Spirit, the apostles taught, the martyrs confessed, and all the Saints preserved…”

Faith and Truth as Foundations of Saint Sava's Teaching

The Faith and Truth of Saint Sava are a fire that fills and inflames the soul when it touches it. And it touches the soul when the soul ardently desires it and seeks it. They are a personal call to communion, they possess a wondrous enlightening effect, they reveal themselves as love before our love, for “we love Him because He first loved us.”

Saint Sava insists on the “Reason” of Holy Baptism—that is, enlightenment; this reason should be guarded as the apple of one’s eye, for it reveals to human reason its origin, its measure, and its meaning, enlightening it; it reveals the rational meaning of nature and elevates it to its God-given purpose. This reason is neither solely divine nor solely human: it is Trinitarian and Theanthropic (God-human); it hides within itself the mystery of the Triune God.

What is finite and imperfect can never be the measure and criterion of what is infinite and all-perfect. For enlightenment to reveal itself and its meaning and to encounter the Eternal, it must accept the Eternal within itself.

There is no true enlightenment without the knowledge of the eternal Truth of all that exists, and there is no eternal truth of the world and man without their liberation from corruption and death. And all of this is not possible without the incarnate and resurrected God-Man Christ. Everything that is enlightened and sanctified by Him remains eternal and unshaken.

These are, in short, the principles of Svetosava Tradition and Enlightenment. These spiritual principles remained, despite all changes and historical hardships, fully alive—in the Serbia of the Lazarević and Branković dynasties. These principles of Saint Sava live on in the Serbian person, despite the efforts of what we hope is now the former godless regime that marginalized the Serbian Church and Svetosavlje as the sole act of enlightenment, trying thereby to remove from Serbian consciousness Saint Sava and Svetosava Enlightenment. But, as we see, all that is not built upon eternal truth and faith is doomed to wither.

Problems of the Serbian State During Saint Sava’s Enlightenment Efforts

The work of Saint Sava in enlightening the people occurred during a complex time. At the very beginning, this small Serbian state was faced with many problems. Into its still-weak structure, various (non-Orthodox) missionaries began to penetrate, including heretics. The Roman Catholic Church also had significant influence on Serbian lands through its efforts to subject Orthodoxy in this region to Rome via its missionaries.

This Roman influence was most strongly exerted through the Archbishopric of Bar, which aimed to extend its authority over the “Bosnian and Serbian Church” with the goal of uniting Bosnia and Raška with Zeta and the Littoral under Western ecclesiastical control.

Writing about Roman Catholic influence on the Serbian people, Josif Stojanović observed that even Saint Sava:

“Clearly saw that Roman Catholic agitators had developed a strong propaganda campaign in Serbia, that the Serbian people were insufficiently enlightened in Orthodoxy, and that Serbia lacked enough Serbian pastors raised in the Serbian spirit.”

That is why Saint Sava, from Mount Athos, assured his brother Stefan that Serbia could not progress without Orthodox enlightenment of the Serbian people.

In addition to this Roman Catholic influence, even before Saint Sava’s time, there was also strong influence from the Bogomil heresy. By adapting “false tales” to Christian doctrine and old Slavic mythology about good and evil gods, this heresy became attractive to the masses and began to displace true Church teaching. Even Nemanja, who worked tirelessly to eradicate this heresy, did not fully succeed.

A Turning Point in the Life of the Serbian People Through the Enlightening Work of Saint Sava

To completely eliminate the Bogomil heresy, enlightenment of the people and a fight against “human ignorance” was necessary. Such remedies could be offered only by an educated figure such as Saint Sava. A true turning point in the life of the Serbian people occurred with Saint Sava and his educational mission.

He understood the Christian teaching about the unity of the people with the “living Church.” Saint Sava grasped the full depth of this Christian truth and therefore worked diligently to strengthen and organize church and educational life, creating within the people a solid foundation for spiritual unity—without which there could be no true enlightenment.

A new form of popular education arose when Saint Sava returned from Mount Athos and brought the relics of his father, Saint Simeon. Over his father's body, Sava reconciled his quarreling brothers. The very act of reconciliation, and the speech he gave at that occasion, clearly defined the purpose of Sava’s work in Serbia.

As an archimandrite, Saint Sava governed Studenica for ten years, which became a cradle of spiritual culture in Serbia.“In Studenica,” wrote Stanoje Stanojević,

“Sava transitioned from a hermit to a man working among the people and for the people, without ever abandoning his asceticism.”

As abbot of Studenica, he traveled throughout the land of his homeland, preaching the Gospel like an apostle. Thus, his homeland became “adorned with customs and the law of men glorified for the sake of Christ.” His biographers Domentijan and Teodosije write that the “homeland of Saint Sava was adorned with all good faith, just as the sky is adorned with stars.”

Saint Sava strove to ensure that no place was without a house of worship. Where he could not build a church,

“he would place a cross there,”so that God’s name would be glorified in every place of his homeland.

All his efforts in establishing “true faith” are dated in historical sources to the period of his stay at Studenica. During that time, Sava tirelessly traveled through Serbian lands, from village to town, from hermitage to monastery, teaching the people, priests, and monks what, when, and how to act to live a god-pleasing life and bring about national enlightenment.

Saint Sava in National Memory

His close and distant followers embraced his powerful and morally flawless personality as a spiritual rebuilder, because he had an exceptional gift for connecting people’s daily problems with their religious life, to advise them in work and instruct them in faith. When he discovered human weaknesses or saw what troubles plagued them, Saint Sava knew how to find warm, brotherly words, to comfort and heal through prayer.

He gathered the people and enjoyed their immense trust, because the principles of his morality were also the principles of his life.His educational work also included the internal organization of monasticism and his literary activity.

It is well known that in those times, educating the people was unimaginable without monasticism. The spiritual life cultivated by Serbian monks—as a life of deep and elevated content—inevitably contributed to the elevation, enrichment, and transformation of the national consciousness and conscience, as well as the life, art, education, language, and overall culture of the Orthodox people.

The Literary Work of Saint Sava

Saint Sava himself did not write much; instead, he encouraged others to write. But from the few writings that we do have by Saint Sava, it is clear that he had true literary talent.

His writings, such as the “Life and Service to Saint Simeon”, form the foundation of our old literature, and even of folk poetry, which began to increasingly define the Serbian people as a cultural factor of a higher order.

Additionally, through his literary work, Saint Sava set the direction for the development of a new Serbian orthography.

His work on the enlightenment of the people was diverse and complex. It encompassed all areas of national life. Yet, despite its variety, his work remained focused especially on realizing heavenly and eternal goods—that which should be attained in life through enlightenment.

Saint Sava lived in holiness and perfection, in the “angelic life for Christ’s sake.” Therefore, he wished to align his life with those eternal ideals and to teach others the same.

His saintliness and his life “for Christ’s sake” did not result from abstract mystical or merely practical rational concerns. They were the expression of his deep piety, from which radiated everything necessary for enlightening and improving both himself and other people.

The people, in turn, recognized the spirit and power of Saint Sava’s enlightening mission. They felt that these came from the heavenly heights and offered them only what was “holy and honorable,” and that is why they followed him.

Union of Church and People – A Key Guideline in Saint Sava’s Work

By the strength of his spirituality and tireless work, Saint Sava succeeded in uniting the Church with the people, so that the Serbian people became the true Church. For this, we must thank Sava’s patriotism.

The idea of Christian brotherhood among people, united with deep faith in higher justice, gave meaning to human life such that people did not know chauvinism, hegemony, statism, or unitarism. These concepts were not part of the foundations of the national Serbian Church and state, because Serbian Orthodoxy was illuminated by the universality of Eastern Christianity.

From everyday, profane worries and tasks, Saint Sava turned human thought toward the God-man Christ and showed that earthly life must not be lived only for food and drink, but that the purpose of human existence must be found in the being of the God-like man, that is, in achieving the unity of God and man.

The holiness of Sava’s life and the fruits of his enlightenment in the Serbian people—and his overall personality—threatened his opponents, especially non-Orthodox ones, who tried to suppress and diminish the importance of his work. They even feared his very shadow, to the point that they burned his holy body, hoping to destroy faith in his miraculous power.

But the fire of the pyre only inflamed the people's love for their first teacher and enlightener, creating a cult that was preserved for centuries and grew into the idea of Svetosavlje (Savaism).

The Philosophy of Svetosavlje

By Svetosavlje we mean:

The realized ideal of Orthodox spirituality imbued with national experience.

Put more simply: Svetosavlje is Serbian Orthodoxy, which in essence does not differ dogmatically or ritually from other Orthodox Churches, for all uphold the same ecclesiastical and dogmatic teaching which proclaims the uncorrupted word of Christ and honors every human being, because the Gospel is intended for all nations (cf. Matthew 28:18).

In the complete personality of Saint Sava—as a devoted monk, diligent legislator, significant writer, creator of new ideals, capable statesman, greatest enlightener, and Christian philosopher—we can see the clear, radiant, and powerful idea of Svetosavlje. Only such an idea could survive all eras of godlessness, dehumanization, and spiritual decline.

The philosophy of Svetosavlje, with its methodological dimension, gives us a direction for resolving the existential problems of humans in a perfect society, because it emphasizes above all the duty of perfecting the human being toward the God-man.

This dimension was not foreign to the Serbian people even when the “Western flood” struck more forcefully. So, may God grant that every Serbian today becomes a true Svetosavac, Svetosava-enlightened.

Saint Sava in Serbian Literature

“The throne waited for him, he refused it,he loved something greater with his spirit,he answered a distant lament and cryand embraced the future of the Serbian people.”

These are the opening lines of a poem about Saint Sava written by Jovan Jovanović Zmaj. Though short, written in everyday language, easy to understand—they are real.

While European courts were torn by throne disputes between closest kin, in the Serbian court of old Raška, a fairy tale played out, witnessed only by the night. A prince renounced the throne—he preferred a wooden cup over a golden one. He exchanged his crown and royal garments for a simple monastic robe, which he never took off again, even in the prime of youth.

Calling himself a “lost lamb”, he sought salvation in the Church, unsatisfied with life as a spoiled court favorite. And so, that mysterious night, Rastko, the prince, became Sava, a monk content with simple things while his brothers fought for the crown.

That was the fairy tale—strange, but real.Do you want to know the end?

There is no end, because although Sava’s body is no longer among us, the story of him lives on and is never forgotten. His deeds changed Serbian history, and his legacy has been passed down for centuries.

The people believed in the stories. And in those stories, wherever Sava walked, a miracle happened. In these stories, Sava never left the court, and he still cared for his people, just like a true prince with a heavenly crown.

The stories don’t describe his traits in detail—they simply say he was wise and defeated even the devil with his mind. The people valued his deeds more than his miracles—and that is still true today.

From generation to generation, legends were passed down: Saint Sava makes impossible pacts, his servants are wolves, wherever he strikes his staff, water flows. These stories were born when times were hardest for Serbs. Listening to them, the people escaped harsh reality.

The most beautiful poems about Saint Sava were written long after his death. The authors—some of our most famous poets—imbued them with personal emotion, depicting Sava as learned, wise, noble, and above all, a man who spread Orthodoxy with sincere love for God and homeland.

In the poems of Desanka Maksimović, Vojislav Ilić, and Aleksa Šantić, we see depictions of Sava’s life at court, his escape to the monastery, and his death.

These poets believed that Sava’s inner virtues mattered more than his miracles, because few princes of noble blood abandon royal luxury to be reborn in a monastery as a servant of God, defending his people not with weapons, but with noble words—unlike other royal sons.

The Origin of the School Patron Celebration

In the Principality of Serbia, on January 14, 1840, Sava’s Day (Savindan) was proclaimed as the school patron day, in memory of the great Serbian enlightener and protector of education, Saint Sava, the father of Serbian statehood, the first Serbian archbishop, founder of Serbian diplomacy, literature, law, and healthcare.

The first celebration of Saint Sava as school patron was held in 1812 in Zemun, and quickly spread to all Serbian lands. The hymn to Saint Sava was first performed in 1839 in Szeged.

Saint Sava was officially declared the school’s patron saint on the proposal of Atanasije Nikolić, rector of the Lyceum in Kragujevac, on January 2, 1840, by decision of the Council of the Principality of Serbia, and celebrated that same year in Kragujevac and Belgrade.

The Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates January 27 (January 14 Julian calendar) as the day of its founder, of the state, and of education—Saint Sava.

Savindan is marked in all schools in Serbia and Republika Srpska as a working, but non-instructional day—school celebration.Students and educators celebrate Savindan with ceremonies, performances, and the cutting of the celebratory bread (slava cake).

Original source: https://hramsvetogsave.rs/znacaj-svetog-save/sveti-sava-narodni-ucitelj-i-prosvetitelj/

Translation provided by ChatGPT (OpenAI) for educational and informational purposes. Translated from Serbian to English.