Saint Sava

Saint Sava^[b] (1169 or 1174 – 14 January 1235/6), known as the Enlightener or the Illuminator, was a Serbian prince and Orthodox monk who became the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church. He was also a writer, diplomat, and the founder of Serbian law.

Sava, born as Rastko Nemanjić (Serbian Cyrillic: Растко Немањић), was the youngest son of Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja (founder of the Nemanjić dynasty), and ruled the appanage of Zachlumia briefly in 1190–92. He then left for Mount Athos, where he became a monk and took the monastic name Sava (Sabbas). At Athos he established the monastery of Hilandar, which became one of the most important cultural and religious centres of the Serbian people. In 1219 the Patriarchate exiled in Nicea recognized him as the first Serbian Archbishop, and in the same year he authored the oldest known constitution of Serbia, the Zakonopravilo nomocanon, thus securing full religious and political independence. Sava is regarded as the greatest figure of Serbian medieval literature., and author of the first Serbian "biography". Specifically, he wrote the life of his father, the Serbian ruler Stefan Nemanja.

Saint Sava is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church on January 27 [O.S. January 14]. Many artistic works from the Middle Ages to modern times have interpreted his life. He is the patron saint of Serbia, Serbs, Serbian education and medicine. The Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade is dedicated to him, built on the site where the Ottomans burnt his remains in 1594, during an uprising in which Serbs used icons of Sava as their war flags; the church is one of the largest church buildings in the world.

In order to distinguish him from other saints and canonized Serbian archbishops of the same name, he is also posthumously titled Saint Sava I of Serbia.