samedi 14 janvier 2017

Saint SAVA (SABAS) de SERBIE, archevêque





Saint Sava, fresque, XIIIe siècle,  monastère de Mileševa


Sava Nemanjić - Saint Sava (1175 - 1235)
Prince et moine, anachorète et archevêque, contemplatif et homme d’action, évangélisateur et maître à penser, pèlerin et diplomate, bâtisseur et amateur des arts, organisateur et gestionnaire, homme de lettres et législateur, le personnage de Sava Ier, dit Saint Sava, est d’une envergure universelle, et son destin hors du commun déborde le cadre local et national, religieux et confessionnel. Sa vie et son œuvre constituent un patrimoine incomparable dans l’histoire serbe et balkanique, sud-est européenne et jusqu’en Russie.
Sava Ier — Archevêque de Serbie (1219-1234)
Né en 1175, Rastko, troisième fils du grand joupan de Serbie, Stefan Nemanja (1167-1196), quitte la région de Hum vers 1191 pour se rendre au Mont Athos afin de se faire moine. Le jeune prince avait, selon ses biographes, quitté la principauté de Hum, qui lui avait été confiée par son père en 1190, pour suivre, à l’insu de ses parents, un moine athonite qui était venu en Serbie faire la quête pour son monastère. Le prince Rastko s’était installé dans un premier temps au monastère russe, où il avait fait ses premiers pas dans la vie monastique, avant de se rendre dans le grand monastère athonite de Vatopédi (fondé en 985) où il avait prononcé ses vœux sous le nom de Sava(1).
Avec son père, le moine Siméon(2), qui l’avait rejoint le 2 novembre 1197 à Vatopédi, il fonde le monastère serbe du Mont Athos, Chilandar, en 1198(3). En 1204 ou 1205, Sava est ordonné archimandrite par le très influent métropolite de Thessalonique, Constantin Mesopothamite.   
A l’occasion de la translation des reliques de son père(4), décédé à Chilandar le 13 février 1199, Sava rentre en Serbie en 1207 où il devient higoumène de Studenica. Il se consacre à la propagation du monachisme en Serbie, à la fondation des couvents et à la construction de l’église monumentale de Žiča, future chaire de l’archevêque de Serbie. Son frère, le grand joupan de Serbie, Stefan Nemanjić est sacré roi de Serbie, en 1217, avec une couronne envoyée par le pape Honorius III (1216-1227), le sacre royal ayant été prodigué vraisemblablement par un cardinal. Deux ans plus tard (1220), Sava se rend à Nicée, afin d’être consacré premier Archevêque de Serbie par le patriarche œcuménique Manuel Ier Sarentenos (1217-1222), avec l’approbation de l’empereur Théodore Ier Lascaris (1204-1222).
Sava se consacre désormais à l’organisation de la jeune Église autocéphale et déploie une importante activité évangélisatrice et législative. Lors de l’Assemblé (Sbor) de Serbie en 1200 à Žiča, siège de l’archevêché, il procède à l’ordination des évêques dont les onze évêchés se repartissent sur le royaume de Serbie, depuis le littoral adriatique jusque dans le Kosovo. Avec une architecture et une décoration intérieure résolument byzantines, l’église de Žiča devient le modèle de l’architecture et de l’art ecclésiastique en Serbie, une évolution en faveur du modèle byzantin par opposition à Studenica avec sa plastique en marbre faite sur le modèle occidental.
Sava se distingue par ses missions diplomatiques et autres médiations de réconciliation, comme celles concernant le baron rebellé macédonien Dobromir Strez, vers 1212, ainsi que la réconciliation réussie entre les rois de Hongrie et de Serbie en 1220. De même qu’il s’emploie à l’éradication du mouvement hérétique dualiste que son père n’avait pas réussi à complètement extirper de Serbie.
Alternant vie contemplative et importante activité d’organisation et de gestion de la vie monastique en Serbie, Sava revient périodiquement aux séjours dans les ermitages de Studenica et de Karyès, qu’il fonda au Mont Athos près de son chef-lieu, pour se consacrer à une pratique d’ascèse et de prière du cœur. C’est ainsi qu’il se trouve au Mont Athos en 1217-1218, alors que le couronnement de son frère Stefan, consenti par le pape Honorius III, marque l’adhésion du royaume serbe à une obédience romaine. Ce qui favorisa la création de l’Église autocéphale de Serbie en 1219, avec la consécration de Sava comme son premier archevêque, par le patriarche œcuménique Manuel Sarantenos, réfugié avec l’empereur byzantin à Nicée.
En 1229-1230, l’archevêque Sava entreprend un premier pèlerinage en Terre Sainte et dans le Proche-Orient. Avant son deuxième voyage en Palestine (1234-1235), il abdique en transmettant sa chaire à son disciple Arsène Ier (1234-1263/1266). Sur le chemin de retour, alors que via Nicée il s’était rendu en Bulgarie en accomplissant ,semble-t-il ,une importante mission diplomatique dans le but de reconnaissance de l’autocéphalie de l’Église de Bulgarie, il meurt le 14 janvier 1335 à Tirnovo, capitale du deuxième royaume bulgare. Ensevelies dans l’église des Quarente-Martyrs de Tirnovo, ses reliques furent transférées en 1237 en Serbie par les soins du roi Vladislav (1234-1243), pour reposer désormais dans l’église du monastère de Mileševa, fondation pieuse de son neveu,  le roi Vladislav (1233-1242), deuxième fils de Stefan Nemanjić (1197-1228), dit Prvovenčani (le Premier Couronné, en 1217).
Une œuvre fondatrice et civilisatrice déterminante à l’échelle de la longue durée
L’organisation de l’Église de Serbie et de la vie monastique exigeait un important travail de rédaction et de composition, de compilation et de traduction. L’œuvre de Sava dans ce domaine est d’une importance majeure puisqu’elle marque les débuts de l’activité législatrice et littéraire au fondement de la civilisation serbe du Moyen Age. Sava apparaît ainsi comme le premier législateur et hymnographe, tout à la fois le premier et l’un des plus importants créateurs dans plusieurs domaines de la jeune littérature serbo-slave.
Parmi ses écrits relevant de la littérature proprement dite, la place centrale appartient sans conteste à La Vie de Saint Siméon-Nemanja (Žitije svetog Simeona Nemanje), oeuvre fondatrice de la littérature hagiographique, à l’origine du premier culte de saint de l’Église serbe, ainsi que de l’idéologie dynastique de la Serbie médiévale. Cette Vita consacrée à son père Siméon le Myroblyte, celui qui fut le grand prince de Serbie Stefan Nemanja, demeure – par l’authenticité de ces sentiments filiaux, dépouillée de rhétorique édifiante et des procédés propres aux écrits ecclésiastiques de l’époque – l’une des plus remarquables créations de la littérature serbe. D’une gravité succincte, la narration du trépas, de l’issue ultime de la vie de l’ex souverain, allongé sur une paillasse de simple moine hagiorite, atteint ici une valeur au-delà du témoignage authentique d’un fils qui accompagne les derniers instants de son géniteur, une œuvre majeure d’expression écrite. D’autant que cette Vita se situe à l’origine d’une longue série de biographies royales et archevêquales qui singularisent un genre propre à la littérature médiévale serbe, à la croisée de la biographie et de l’autobiographie, de l’historiographie et de l’hagiographie à la fois sacrée et profane. Il s’agit d’un genre aussi littéraire qu’historiographique, aussi biographique qu’hagiographique, qui représente la contribution majeure de la Serbie à la littérature de l’Europe médiévale(5).
A part La Vie de Saint Siméon-Nemanja, Sava est également l’auteur de plusieurs chartes, textes liturgiques et épistolaires ainsi que d’ouvrages législateurs. Citons en les plus importants : La charte de fondation de Chilandar, Le Typikon de Karyès, Le Typikon de Chilandar, Le Typikon de Studenica, L’office de Saint Siméon-Nemanja et  Le Nomocanon de Sava Ier. Enfin, il faut préciser que Sava est également à l’origine de traductions de textes byzantins indispensables pour l’organisation de l’Église et pour son activité pastorale. 
Un destin, une œuvre hors du commun
Canonisé sept ans après son trépas à Tirnovo, Sava appelé désormais Saint Sava, fut rapidement objet de culte dans la laure royale de Mileševo, où le premier roi de Bosnie, Tvrtko Ier (1377-1391), organisa son sacre royal. Ce sont ses reliques qui y furent objet de vénération, y compris par des populations catholiques et même musulmanes, ce qui incita le grand vizir Sinan Pasha à les incinérer à Belgrade en 1594, en signe de représailles pour les révoltes des chrétiens asservis qui portaient l’effigie de ce saint sur leurs étendards. Depuis, l’absence du locus ne fit que généraliser son culte et sa légende qui acquit des formes multiples, populaires et ecclésiastiques, locales et internationales, hagiographiques et folkloriques, chrétiennes et païennes. C’est ainsi que le grand poète serbe d’origine roumaine, Vasko Popa, publie un cycle de poèmes intitulé « La source de Saint Sava », où ce saint chrétien est présenté comme protecteur et thaumaturge, le guide et chef des filles des loups, selon la projection de l’imagerie païenne attribuée aux Serbes(6). Il est à signaler également qu’une de ses vies de saint fut ainsi écrite en latin, par un évêque catholique croate, Ivan Tomko Mrnavić(7), au XVIIe siècle.   
Alors que les Serbes partageaient le destin des autres populations asservies, séparés durant des siècles par des frontières et autres clivages politiques et confessionnels, administratifs et juridictionnels, culturels et civilisationnels, Saint Sava demeura leur ultime dénominateur commun. Dans les régions les plus reculées on trouvera toujours une source, un pic, une légende locale, une église ou monastère, un lieu de dévotion, une coutume, un chant…,  liés à sa mémoire. A ce propos, il suffit de rappeler le constat de T. Bremer : « De toutes les Eglises orthodoxes, aucune n’entretient un lien aussi vivace avec son histoire et une figure historique (…), comme l’Eglise serbe, par la vénération de Saint Sava »(8). À l’instar du roman de Sidartha, version christianisée du récit du jeune prince qui deviendra Buda, fort apprécié en Serbie médiévale(9), le destin de cet enfant prodigue du fondateur de la Serbie du Moyen Age avait frappé les esprits et marqué la mémoire sur la longue durée.   
Partagé entre son amour filial et sa vocation spirituelle, son amour du Christ et celui du commun des mortels, l’amour de sa patrie et l’élan d’aller au-devant de l’autre et du Monde dans sa diversité, fils d’un souverain, frère de deux et oncle de trois rois, côtoyant les empereurs et les sultans, les patriarches et les califes, ayant la trempe de ses grands contemporains comme Friedrich II et Saint François d’Assise, dans la mémoire de son peuple, dans le patrimoine historique et culturel de son pays, Saint Sava demeure une valeur inégalée, d’envergure nationale et universelle à la fois. Dans le sud-est et même dans l’est européen, bien peu sont ceux qui ont pu accomplir une œuvre aussi riche et variée, d’une portée aussi universelle qu’authentique, avec autant d’élégance et d’humilité majestueuse, de réussite dans la durée, de valeur éthique et d’éclat.
Notes
(1) D. OBOLENSKY, « Sava of Serbia », in Id., Six Byzantine Portraits, Oxford 1988, p. 115-172 ; B. I. BOJOVIĆ, L’idéologie monarchique dans les hagio-biographies dynastiques du Moyen-Age serbe, “Orientalia Christiana Analecta”, Rome 1995, p. 46-59, 71-76, 156-159, 311-345 ; G. PODSKALSKY, Theologichte Literatur des Mittelalters in Bulgarien und Serbien 865-1459, C. H. Beck’sche Verlagsbushhandlung, Munich 2000, p. 115-120.
(2) Le grand joupan de Serbie, Stefan Nemanja (1165/6-1196) avait abdiqué en mars 1196 en faveur de son deuxième fils Stefan, gendre de l’empereur byzantin Alexis III Ange (1195-1203), pour se faire moine sous le nom de Siméon dans sa fondation pieuse, le monastère de Studenica. Sur l’abdication de Nemanja, sous l’angle de l’accession au trône byzantin d’Alexis III, le beau-père du fils et héritier de Nemanja, Stefan, cf. G. OSTROGORSKY, Histoire de l’Empire byzantin, Paris 1983, p. 432-433.
(3) En raison d’importantes donations qu’ils avaient faites aux monastères athonites, Siméon et Sava étaient considérés comme ctitores (grands donateurs et protecteurs) de six autres monastères du Mont Athos, ceux de la Grande Laure, d’Iviron, de Karakalou, de Ksiropotamou et de Philoteo, ainsi que de l’église cathédrale de Karies, de l’église de Prosphoras (= Ouranoupolis), où ils bâtirent une imposante tour défensive, D. OBOLENSKY, « Sava of Serbia », in Id., Six Byzantines Portraits, Oxford 1988, p. 131 ; Mirjana Zivojinović, « Ktitorska delatnost Svetog Save », Sava Nemanjić – Sveti Sava, Belgrade 1979, p. 15-16, 19-20.
(4) Pour reposer dans l’église du monastère de Sudenica, bâtie entre 1183 et 1196, qui devient ainsi mausolée du fondateur de la dynastie némanide et mère des églises et monastères serbes, cf. Studenica (groupe d’auteurs), Belgrade 1968 ; M. KAŠANIN, Milka ČANAK-MEDIĆ, Jovanka MAKSIMOVIĆ, B. TODIĆ, Mirjana ŠAKOTA, Manastir Studenica, Belgrade 1986 ; Osam vekova Studenice, Zbornik Radova, Belgrade 1986.
(5) Inspiré du modèle à la fois biblique et évangélique, corollaire à une continuité et une cohérence politique et culturelle de plus de trois siècles, cette création littéraire est empeignée de théologie politique issue d’une idéologie dynastique sans commune mesure dans le monde slavo-byzantin. Synthèses de chronique et de généalogie princière, de biographie politique et d’historiographie ecclésiastique, d’idées politiques, énoncées dès les premières chartes fondatrices de Chilandar, ces œuvres d’auteurs de talent, de styles et de facture fort différenciés, représentent une contribution significative à la littérature médiévale, B. I. BOJOVIĆ, L’idéologie monarchique dans les hagio-biographies dynastiques du Moyen-Age serbe, “Orientalia Christiana Analecta”, PONTIFICIUM INSTITUTUM ORIENTALIUM STUDIORUM, Rome 1995.
(6) Earth Erect, tr. Anne Pennington, Londres 1973. Sur l’image de Saint Sava dans la poésie épique, cf. S. KOLJEVIĆ, The Epic in the Making, Oxford, 1980.
(7) Regia Sanctitatis illyricana foecunditas, A Ioanne Tomco Marnavitio, Bosnensi edita, Roma 1930 ; puis : De Vita & Scriptis Joannis Tomci Marnavitii : Paulovich Lucich. J. J., Vita S. Sabbae abbatis Stephani Nemaniae Rasciae Regis Filij auctore Joanne Tomco Marnavitio. Opera & Studio…, Venise, 1789, p. 9-21 ; sur cet ouvrage et son auteur, voir I. KUKULJEVIĆ-SAKCINSKI, “Književnici u Hrvatah s ove strane Velebita živevši u prvoj polovini XVII vieka : Ivan Tomko MRNAVIĆ” (Les écrivains croates de ce coté de Velebit au XVIIe siècle), Arkiv, 9 (1868), p. 242-265 ; N. RADOJČIĆ, “O životu Svetoga Save od Ivana Tomka Marnavića” (Sur la Vie de saint Sava par Ivan Tomko Marnaviç), in Svetosavski Zbornik, t. I, Belgrade 1936, p. 3-66 + VI pl.
(8) T. BREMER, Vera, kultura, politika, Niš 1997, p. 237 (titre original : Ekklesiale Struktur und Ekklesiologie in der Serbischen Orthodoxen Kirshe im 19. Und 20. Jahrhundert, Wurzburg 1991). Voir aussi : J. MATL, « Der heilige Sawa als Begründer der serbischen Nationalkirche : seine Leistung und Bedeutung für den Kulturaufbrau Europas », Südslawische Studien (1965), 33-35.
(9) G. R. Wooodward, H. Mattingly St. John Damascene, Barlaam and Ioasaph (Cambridge, Mass,: Harvard University Press, The Loeb Classical Library 1953 ; H. G. BECK, Geschichte der byzantinischen Volksliteratur, Byzantinisches Handbuch II. 3, Munich, 1971, p. 35-41 ; The Hilander Serbian Povest'o Varlaame i Ioasafe by Maxine Evelyn Lowe Lebo, a dissertation submitted to the University of Washington in 1979 ; D. MILIVOJEVIĆ, « Buddhist Themes in Medieval, Serbian & Russian Literature: the Manuscript of Barlaam and Ioasaph », Acta Slavica Iaponica 6 (1988), Buddhist Themes in Medieval, Serbian & Russian Literature - The Manuscript of Barlaam and Ioasaph, Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers, 68-72 ; Irina N. LEBEDEVA, Povest’ o Varlaame i Iosafe - pamjatnik drevnerus. perevodnoj literatury XI - XII vv., Izdat. Nauka, Leningrad 1985 ; Žitije Varlaama i Joasafa (Vie de Barlaam et Joasaph), priredio T. JOVANOVIĆ, Stara srpska književnost u 24 knjige, n° 22, Srpska književna zadruga, Beograd 2005.
Boško I. Bojović




Sava of Serbia B (AC)
(also known as Sabas)

Born in Serbia, in 1174; died at Trnovo (Tirnovo), Bulgaria, January 14, 1237. Ratsko (Rastho) was the youngest of three sons of Stephen I, founder of the Serbian dynasty of the Nemanydes. He became a monk on the Greek peninsula of Mount Athos at age 17 (1191) and took the name Sabas (Sava in Serbian). He was later joined there by his father, who abdicated in 1196 and took the name Simeon. They founded Khilandari Monastery for Serbian monks on Mount Athos, which remains one of the 17 ruling monasteries of the Holy Mountain. During the Middle Ages, it was the center of Serbian culture.


Sava became abbot, and he was known for is gentleness and skill in training novices. He began to translate books into Serbian, and there is at Khilandari a psalter and ritual that are signed by the copier, "I, the unworthy, lazy monk Sava." (It should be noted that several sources, with less reliable dates, say that Sava was nearly 70 before anything that follows happened. I think it's more judicious to trust the dates given.)

In 1207 he returned home when his brothers, Stephen II and Vulkan, began to quarrel and civil war broke out. He also found the country in a state of religious disorder. Clergy were scattered and mostly illiterate. Sava sent the monks who had accompanied him to do missionary and pastoral work. (Farmer says that Sava brought back to Studenitsa Monastery his father's relics in 1208.)

From his headquarters at Studenitsa Monastery, where he had settled, Sava founded a number of smaller monasteries near the inhabited areas and began the reformation and education of his homeland. He was sent by his brother, Stephen II, to Nicaea to see the Eastern emperor and patriarch, who had sought a harbor there from the Frankish invaders at Constantinople.

He succeeded in obtaining Serbian emancipation from the jurisdiction of the Greek archbishop of Okhrida in Bulgaria. Sava himself was designated the first metropolitan of the new Serbian hierarchy by Emperor Theodore II Laskaris (related to Sava's family) at Nicaea; and was ordained, though for political reasons unwillingly, by the exiled Byzantine Patriarch Manuel I (or Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople) in 1219 at Nicaea.

He returned home by way of Mount Athos, bringing books and more monks with him. He set about reforming and organizing the Church and, in 1222, Sava crowned his brother Stephen II, King of Serbia. (Stephen II had already been crowned by a papal legate in 1217; but this time Pope Honorius III sent a crown in response to a request from Sava, who had informed the Holy See of his episcopal ordination.) Through his efforts, Sava finished the uniting of his people that had been begun by his father. Serbs, Greeks, and Latin-speaking natives learned to live together under his leadership.

He is credited with giving the Serbians bishops and clergy of their own nationality, founded eight bishoprics, built churches in Zica, (his cathedral), Pec, Milesevo, and others. He also did much to further education in that country, including the translation of religious works into Serbian and the establishment of schools. He composed two Typica or Rules for his monastery, wrote a vita and Office of his father Simeon (canonized in 1216), and penned the Law of Simeon and Sava, which provides us with some insights regarding the Serbian peasantry. He also commissioned translations of Greek religious works, which propounded doctrinal orthodoxy and refuted the errors of the Bogomils.
Even with all this activity, Sava was always a monk at heart. He had left Mount Athos simply for the sake of his countrymen: "If you listen to me, and if God enables me to do good among you, if you become holy and one in God, there will be twofold gain and salvation will be ours."

From time to time he would retire to an inaccessible hermitage near Studenitsa to gain strength for perseverance in the tasks he had set himself. He made two trips to Palestine and the Near East. On his way home from the second trip (1230), during which he had founded a hospice for Serbian pilgrims to Jerusalem, built the monastery of Saint John there, and arranged for the reception of Serbian monks at Mount Sinai and other distant monasteries, he was taken ill and died at Trnovo in Bulgaria. His people called him 'Saint Sava the Enlightener.'

When he died his followers attributed to him all manner of wisdom. The most delightful is that he taught the Serbs that they could plough a field both ways, instead of dragging the plough backwards after each furrow to start again from the same end of the field, as they did before. King Ladislaus translated his relics to Milesevo in 1237, where they were destroyed by the Turks in 1594. Nevertheless, his cultus continued to spread through the rich iconographical tradition and by the revival of Serbian nationalism in the 19th century.

Sava promoted worship in the vernacular, which sometimes is read as though he deliberately sought separation from Rome; however, his feast is still kept in Latin as well as Orthodox calendars in Croatia and Serbia, where he is venerated as the patron saint of Serbia (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer, Walsh, White). 




St. Sava I, First Archbishop of Serbia

Saint Sava, First Archbishop of Serbia, in the world Rostislav (Rastko), was a son of the Serbian king Stephen Nemanya and Anna, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Romanus. From his early years he fervently attended church services and had a special love for icons.

At seventeen years of age, Rostislav met a monk from Mount Athos, secretly left his father’s house and set off for the Saint Panteleimon monastery. (By divine Providence in 1169, the year of the saint’s birth, the ancient monastery of the Great Martyr and healer Panteleimon was given to Russian monks.)

Knowing that his son was on Athos, his father mobilized his retainers headed by a faithful voevod and wrote to the governor of the district which included Athos, saying that if his son were not returned to him, he would go to war against the Greeks. When they arrived at the monastery, the voevod was ordered not to take his eyes off Rostislav. During the evening services, when the soldiers had fallen asleep under the influence of wine, Rostislav received monastic tonsure (in 1186) and sent to his parents his worldly clothes, his hair and a letter. Saint Sava sought to persuade his powerful parents to accept monasticism. The monk’s father (in monasticism Simeon. He is commemorated on February 13) and his son pursued asceticism at the Vatopedi monastery. On Athos they established the Serbian Hilandar monastery, and this monastery received its name by imperial grant. At Hilandar monastery, Saint Sava was ordained to the diaconate and then presbyter. His mother Anna became a nun with the name Anastasia (June 21).

For his holy life and virtuous deeds on Mount Athos, the monk was made an archimandrite at Thessalonica. At Nicea in the year 1219 on the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Ecumenical Patriarch Germanus consecrated Archimandrite Sava as Archbishop of Serbia. The saint petitioned the Byzantine Emperor to grant permission for Serbian bishops to elect their own Archbishop in future. This was a very important consideration in a time of frequent wars between the eastern and western powers.

Having returned to the Holy Mountain from Nicea, the saint visited all the monasteries for the last time. He made prostrations in all the churches and, calling to mind the blessed lives of the wilderness Fathers, he made his farewells to the ascetics with deep remorse, “leaving the Holy Mountain, as if from Paradise.”

Saddened by his separation from the Holy Mountain, the saint went along the path from Athos just barely moving. The Most Holy Theotokos spoke to the saint in a dream, “Having My Patronage, why do you remain sorrowful?” These words roused him from despondency, changing his sorrow into joy. In memory of this appearance, the saint commissioned large icons of the Savior and of the Mother of God at Thessalonica, and put them in a church.

In Serbia, the activity of the Hierarch in organizing the work of his native Church was accompanied by numerous signs and miracles. During the Liturgy and the all-night Vigil, when the saint came to cense the grave of his father the monk Simeon, the holy relics exuded fragrant myrrh.

Being in charge of negotiations with the Hungarian King Vladislav, who had declared war on Serbia, the holy bishop not only brought about the desired peace for his country, but he also brought the Hungarian monarch to Orthodoxy. Thus he facilitated the start of the historical existence of the autonomous Serbian Church, Saint Sava contributed also to strengthening the Serbian state. In order to insure the independence of the Serbian state, Archbishop Sava crowned his powerful brother Stephen as king. Upon the death of Stephen, his eldest son Radislav was crowned king, and Saint Sava set off to the Holy Land “to worship at the holy tomb of Christ and fearsome Golgotha.”

When he returned to his native land, the saint blessed and crowned Vladislav as king. To further strengthen the Serbian throne, he betrothed him to the daughter of the Bulgarian prince Asan. The holy hierarch visited churches all across Serbia, he reformed monastic rules on the model of Athos and Palestine, and he established and consecrated many churches, strengthening the Orthodox in their faith. Having finished his work in his native land, the saint appointed the hieromonk Arsenius as his successor, consecrating him bishop and giving his blessing to all.

He then set off on a journey of no return, desiring “to end his days as a wanderer in a foreign land.” He passed through Palestine, Syria and Persia, Babylon, Egypt and Anatolia, everywhere visiting the holy places, conversing with great ascetics, and collecting the holy relics of saints. The saint finished his wanderings at Trnovo in Bulgaria at the home of his kinsman Asan, where with spiritual joy he gave up his soul to the Lord (+ 1237).

At the time of transfer of the holy relics of Saint Sava to Serbia in 1237, there were so many healings that the Bulgarians began to complain about Asan, “because he had given up such a treasure.” In the saint’s own country, his venerable relics were placed in the Church of Mileshevo, bestowing healing on all who approached with faith. The inhabitants of Trnovo continued to receive healing from the remnants of the saint’s coffin, which Asan ordered to be gathered together and placed in a newly built sarcophagus.

The legacy of Saint Sava lives on in the Orthodox Church traditions of the Slavic nations. He is associated with the introduction of the Jerusalem Typikon as the basis for Slavic Monastic Rules. The Serbian Hilandar monastery on Mt. Athos lives by the Typikon of Saint Sava to this day. Editions of The Rudder (a collection of church canons) of Saint Sava, with commentary by Alexis Aristines, are the most widely disseminated in the Russian Church. In 1270 the first copy of The Rudder of Saint Sava was sent from Bulgaria to Metropolitan Cyril of Kiev. From this was copied one of the most ancient of the Russian Rudders, the Ryazan Rudder of 1284. It in turn was the source for a printed Rudder published in 1653, and since that time often reprinted by the Russian Church. Such was the legacy of Saint Sava to the canonical treasury of Orthodoxy.


San Saba Arcivescovo di Serbia


Serbia, 1174 ca. – Turnovo (Bulgaria), 14 gennaio 1235

Emblema: Bastone pastorale

Saba è senz’altro uno dei più illustri personaggi della vita religiosa, culturale e politica della Serbia medioevale; e oggi si dispone di numerose ed autentiche fonti storiche, che testimoniano la sua grandezza; fra cui in primo piano gli scritti dello stesso s. Saba, frutto di una discreta attività letteraria. 

Esistono una decina di ‘Vite’ o di accenni del santo in biografie di altri personaggi, scritte in tempi diversi, che comunque vanno dal 1200 al 1350, con forme letterarie più o meno dense di dettagli. 

Il santo vescovo fondatore della Chiesa Serba autonoma, nacque verso il 1174-75, terzogenito del principe Stefano Nemanja e di sua moglie Anna; alla nascita ebbe il nome slavo abbastanza popolare di Rastko (in latino Crescenzo) e da bambino ebbe una buona istruzione. 

A circa 17 anni il padre l’incaricò di governare la regione di Hum, ma egli già in quella giovane età manifestò un interessamento verso la vita religiosa, rifuggendo da quella mondana del suo aristocratico ambiente. Aveva già 17 anni quando il giovane principe, abbandonò la casa natia e senza avvertire i genitori si ritirò sul Monte Athos, il celebre Monte Santo (1935 m.) all’estremità sud-orientale della penisola calcidica, sede di numerosi monasteri e con una popolazione costituita esclusivamente da migliaia di monaci greco-ortodossi. 

Qui Rastko entrò nel monastero russo di S. Panteleimon, raggiunto in breve da emissari del padre per cercare di convincerlo a desistere dal suo proposito. Il giovane rifiutò l’invito e indossò la tonaca monastica prendendo il nome di Saba, in omaggio a s. Saba il Grande (434-532) fondatore del monachesimo in Palestina. 

Poi il giovane novizio si trasferì nel monastero greco di Vatopedi, sempre sulla penisola atonita, forse il nucleo più importante dell’intero complesso e dove poté istruirsi nella lingua e letteratura greca, patristica e bizantina, religiosa e liturgica. 

I suoi genitori proseguendo nei tentativi di riportarlo a casa, gli mandarono nello stesso tempo ‘molto oro’ sia per i propri bisogni, sia da distribuire alla Chiesa del Monte Athos ed ai poveri. Nel 1196, Saba fu raggiunto dal padre il principe Stefano Nemanja, il quale aveva abdicato, scegliendo di farsi anch’egli monaco, prendendo il nome di Simeone. 

Lo seguirono sul Monte Athos numerosi nobili serbi, dei quali alcuni divennero monaci e tutta la servitù; fu evidente con l’arrivo dei due principi e di tanti nobili, il benessere che arrivò alla Comunità monastica di tutto il Monte. 

Il monaco-principe Saba venne inviato a Costantinopoli, in missione diplomatica presso l’imperatore Alessio III Angelo (1195-1203) suocero del principe serbo Stefano re Protocoronato, figlio e successore di Stefano Nemanja. Grazie alla sua mediazione, i monaci serbi ricevettero dall’imperatore nel giugno 1198, il permesso di occupare il monastero diroccato di Chilandari e dipendente da Vatopedi, per ricostruirlo e occuparlo. 

Con questo monastero venne a costituirsi la grande comunità monastica di Chilandari, i cui primi monaci furono fra altri, proprio quei nobili serbi ed i servitori che accompagnarono l’ex principe Stefano Nemanja sul Monte Athos. Saba compose una nuova Regola in lingua serba, che doveva costituire il prototipo del nuovo monastero. 

Nel 1200 il monaco Simeone ex principe Stefano, morì e Saba suo figlio, secondo alcuni testimoni si prodigò per la sua canonizzazione come santo, componendo una ‘Vita’ e un Ufficio liturgico. In quegli stessi anni venne ordinato diacono e poi sacerdote e dopo molti anni trascorsi sul Monte Athos, fu nominato archimandrita (abate) dai tre vescovi della regione. 

Il Sacro Monte ebbe sconvolgimenti politici in seguito alla presa di Costantinopoli e alla caduta dell’Impero bizantino (1204) e la vita dei monaci ne risentì ampiamente. Su richiesta di suo fratello Stefano Prvovencani, Saba abbandonò il Monte Athos nel 1208, ritornando nel monastero di Studenica in Serbia, portando con sé le reliquie del padre e qui diventò egumeno (priore). 

In seguito fra i due fratelli sorsero delle divergenze, in quanto Saba era tenacemente fedele all’ortodossia bizantina, mentre il fratello principe Stefano, anche per motivi politici, tendeva ad avvicinarsi alla Chiesa di Roma, aveva anche sposata una nobile veneziana (nipote del doge Enrico Dandolo). 

A seguito di questo scontro tra fratelli, sia pure ideologico, Saba nel 1216 ritornò sul Monte Athos, dopo aver promosso la costruzione in Serbia, con la collaborazione del fratello, di Zica, città che in seguito accoglierà la sede dell’arcivescovado serbo. 

Nel 1219 l’abate Saba si diresse a Nicea in Asia Minore, dove si era stabilita la capitale dell’Impero Bizantino e lì fu consacrato arcivescovo della Serbia, per disposizione dell’imperatore Teodoro I Lascaris (†1222); con questo atto veniva ad istituirsi la Chiesa autonoma serba, distaccandola dalla giurisdizione dell’arcivescovo bulgaro di Ochrida, il cui vescovo Demetrio Comaziano († 1234) elevò formale protesta. 

Ripassando per i luoghi del suo monachesimo, Saba arrivò a stabilire la sua residenza di arcivescovo a Zica. Negli anni successivi si dedicò all’organizzazione amministrativa della nuova Chiesa Serba, istituendo sette nuove diocesi, oltre Reska e Prizzen; convocò un Concilio serbo condannando gli eretici seguaci del movimento dualistico dei Progomeli, provenienti dalla Bulgaria. 

Con la sua opera mediatrice ci fu un avvicinamento sia di Saba sia del fratello Prvovencani, verso la Santa Sede di Roma; per questo nel 1220 fu inviato al papa Onorio III il vescovo Metodio, per invocare la sua benedizione e il suo beneplacito all’incoronazione religiosa da parte della Chiesa Serba, del principe-re Stefano. Così avuto il consenso pontificio, l’arcivescovo Saba di Serbia, davanti ad un Sinodo convocato per lo scopo nel 1221, pose sul capo del fratello la corona di re di Serbia. 

L’arcivescovo fu incaricato verso il 1230 dal fratello re, di ristabilire i buoni rapporti presso il re d’Ungheria Andrea II (1205-1235) intenzionato ad invadere la Serbia. 

Saba nel 1229 partì per Gerusalemme dove visitò i Luoghi Santi, poi raggiunse Nicea dove incontrò l’imperatore bizantino Giovanni III Vatatzes e il patriarca di Nicea Germano II, dai quali ottenne un’ulteriore conferma dell’autonomia della Chiesa Serba. 

Ripassò per il Monte Athos, poi fu a Salonicco governata da Teodoro II Comneno e quindi ritornò nel monastero di Studenica e infine a Zica. Ma dopo la battaglia del 9-22 marzo 1230 presso Filippopoli, fra l’esercito bulgaro del re Giovanni II Asen (1218-1241) e quello serbo di Teodoro II Comneno, amico e parente di Saba, quest’ultimo fu totalmente sconfitto e la Bulgaria prese il potere dominante nella Penisola dei Balcani. 

Seguì l’abdicazione del re serbo Radislao che si rititò in un monastero; sul trono salì il fratello Vladislao (1233-1243) il quale sposata una figlia del re bulgaro, rafforzò l’influsso politico e religioso della Bulgaria sulla Serbia. Saba nel 1233 rinunziò alla sua carica, ormai di nuovo sotto la giurisdizione della sede bulgara di Ochride, fece eleggere al suo posto il discepolo Arsenio I (1234-1267) e s’incamminò in un nuovo viaggio in Oriente nell’autunno 1233. 

Visitò le città ed i patriarchi di Gerusalemme, Alessandria d’Egitto, Antiochia, Costantinopoli, i monaci ed eremiti della Tebaide, fino ai confini della Libia e del Sinai. Il lunghissimo e faticoso viaggio aveva senz’altro uno scopo anche diplomatico, suggerito da re bulgaro, affinché i tre grandi patriarchi dell’Oriente, dessero il consenso alla restaurazione del patriarcato bulgaro di Turnovo. 

È caratteristica di quell’epoca, l’interessamento del potere reale ed imperiale, nelle problematiche organizzative della Chiesa Orientale. Il patriarcato di Turnovo venne restaurato nel 1235 in un concilio nella città di Lampsaco tenutosi con il consenso del patriarca di Costantinopoli e dell’imperatore Giovanni III Vatatzes; nell’inverno del 1234-35 Saba, viaggiando per via mare, arrivò a Mesembria sul Mar Nero e da lì a Turnovo, che fu capitale della Bulgaria fino al 1393, accolto con cordialità, dal re Giovanni II Asen. 

E in questa città Saba si ammalò e morì il 14 gennaio 1235, il suo corpo venne sepolto nella chiesa dei Santi 40 Martiri, vicino alla reggia bulgara. Dopo due anni, su richiesta del clero e del principe serbo, le reliquie furono traslate nel monastero di Mjlesevo in Serbia, dove rimasero fino al 1594, quando il 27 aprile, furono depredate e incendiate dai Turchi. 

Non è certa la data della sua canonizzazione, avvenuta poco dopo la sua morte; questo grande personaggio del Medioevo serbo, è certamente uno dei più eminenti, non solo per la sua attività politica e di fondatore dell’autonomia della Chiesa Serba, nella costellazione delle Chiese Ortodosse Orientali; ma anche per la sua attività di scrittore, che per quell’epoca è da considerarsi eccezionale. 

Fu autore della ‘Vita’ di suo padre s. Simeone Stefano Nemanja e di molti ‘Tipici’ cioè Regole, per tutti i monasteri, destinati ai monaci serbi di quell’epoca; inoltre insieme ad altri, compilò le norme necessarie per regolare la vita della Chiesa Serba autonoma, allora istituita per sua opera e della quale è unanimemente riconosciuto come il primo arcivescovo e capo. 

È ancora oggi molto venerato in Serbia, oggetto di studi e manifestazioni, non soltanto nel campo religioso e letterario ma anche artistico.


Autore: Antonio Borrelli