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
