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St. Sava, First Archbishop of Serbia

From the Prologue of Ohrid
                              Sv. Sava, Enlightener of the Serbian Peoples.

The son of Stefan Nemanja, the great Serbian national leader, 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.
   St. 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. Hilandar Serbian Monastery on Mount Athos
Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos                      
                               He 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 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 peninsula. 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, 1594.
To read more of Sv. Sava's Life

 

Sv. Sava, First Archbishop of Serba

 

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.


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.

 
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Prayer to St. Sava

Proto~Archbishop

of Serbia

 Icon of St. Sava cr. 1169 AD

Prayer I

Thou O' sacred head, most glorious wonder-worker, Sava, hierarch of Christ, thou first in rank among the bishops of Serbia, protector and enlightener, trustworthy intercessor for all Christians before the Lord: we fall down before thee and pray: grant us to partake of thy love for God and neighbor, the love with which, in life, thy holy soul overflowed.

Shed the rays of truth upon us, enlighten our mind and heart with the light of Divine teaching, teach us to be thy faithful in imitating thee, so as to love God and our neighbor and to perform the Lord's commandments without error, so that we too might be thy children not only in name, but in our whole life.

Pray, holy hierarch, for the holy Orthodox Church and for thy native land on earth, which honors thee always in love.

Look down in thy loving kindness on each and every soul of those who honor thee in faith, seeking thy mercy and help; be unto us all a healer in our infirmities, a consoler in our sorrows, a visitor in our grief, a helper in our troubles and needs, and in the hour of our death, a merciful protector and defender, so that, aided by thy holy prayers, we sinners might be vouchsafed to inherit the salvation of the faithful and the Kingdom of Christ.

Yea, O Saint of God, bring not our hope to shame, for we place it firmly on thee; but rather show us thy mighty intercession, that we may glorify and hymn God Who is wondrous in His Saints, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.

Amen.

A Baeutiful Serbian Boarder From the Middle Ages.

 

Prayer II


Thou great decoration among hierarchs, Father Sava, wise in God, we thy servants beseech thee and, falling down, cry out to thee: forsake not thy children, father, but be ever with us, as thou didst promise: so that we too might praise thee in songs as is right, might bless thee and glorify thy greatness and power, and offer thee a worthy song, crying out and saying:

    We praise thee, O' Hierarch!

    We sing of thee, O' Luminary!

    We fall down before thee, O' Father Sava!

   Pray, we beseech thee, for the salvation of      those that keep thy holy memory.

Amen.

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