Deževa, Raška District, Serbia, May 5, 2025
Photo: spc.rs
The Serbian Orthodox Church festively marked the 850th anniversary of the great St. Sava last week.
The main celebration was led by His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije on Friday, May 2, at the Church of St. Sava in Deževa in southwestern Serbia, where the Holy Hierarch was born and hwere his father, St. Stefan Nemanja (St. Simeon the Myrrh-Streaming) established the first Serbian state, reports the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Pat. Porfirije was concelebrated by three hierarchs and a host of clergy from several dioceses of the Serbian Church, “with the prayerful participation of numerous faithful people from all parts of the Raška region.”
The Patriarch emphasized that St. Sava introduced Serbs to the mystery of the Cross and Christ’s Resurrection, and that Deževa is therefore the birthplace of all Orthodox Serbs:
Photo: spc.rs
St. Sava was born here 850 years ago, this is his jubilee and our jubilee. And from here he began to grow into a true man of God, a spiritual giant. He traveled to all parts of the world—to Egypt, to the Caliph of Baghdad, went to the West, established bridges of friendship and brotherly relations with everyone, and again in this way, showed that love is the meaning of our existence and that it sooner or later wins every battle and triumphs. And that it must be ready to accept belittlement and rejection and persecution, to bear the Cross. For the Cross is crucifixion, and in the Cross, as in Christ’s Crucifixion, is contained His victory.
St. Sava was born here and, brothers and sisters, you who are from here, you should be proud. You are blessed because here we were all born, all Orthodox Serbs. This is the birthplace of each of us! And that is why we have come to you as brothers and sisters by birth, to be strengthened by your love, your faith, and to pray together with you that the Lord may give us all peace and joy, love and understanding toward one another, but also to send His blessing, peace, joy, and unity to our entire people, wherever they may be—that we may all be one in faith, in virtue, in goodness, that we may not be divided.
Pat. Porfirije and the other hierarchs then visited the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Ras, where they venerated the relics and consecrated and laid the foundation stone for a new residence.
Photo: spc.rs
Later that day, a session of the Serbian Holy Synod was held at the Đurđevi Stupovi Monastery.
***
According to tradition, Rastko Nemanjić—St. Sava, the first Serbian Archbishop, was born in 1175 in the then Serbian capital Ras, at the site of today’s village of Mišćiće near Novi Pazar, in Deževa at the foot of Mt. Golija. For centuries, the people of that area celebrated St. Sava’s Day on a meadow in the middle of the village near a metal cross and a young oak tree where it is believed that Stefan Nemanja’s youngest son, Rastko, was born. Legend says that this place is precisely in Miščić because Stefan Nemanja endearingly called his youngest son “my little mouse” (mišče moje malo), and thus the village received its name.
This area was once adorned by the cathedral church where, at the Deževa Assembly in 1282, King Dragutin renounced the throne in favor of his brother Milutin. Today, the splendor of the Nemanjić state is evidenced by the nearby St. Peter’s Church where Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja was baptized and where, at the assembly in 1196, he renounced the throne and went to Hilandar, as well as the magnificent Đurđevi Stupovi, one of Nemanja’s most significant endowments.
Having established their lives on the spiritual foundations left to them by their glorious ancestors, in 2012, the Orthodox Serbs of the Deževa Valley laid the foundation stone for the Church of St. Sava at the site of the ancient cathedral church.
Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
