Synaxis of the Holy Serbian Enlighteners and Teachers

Life

On this day are commemorated not all Serbian saints in general, but only certain archbishops and patriarchs, namely: Saint Sava, the first Serbian archbishop, called equal-to-the-apostles; Arsenius, the successor of Saint Sava, a great hierarch and wonderworker; Sava II, the son of the first-crowned King Stephen, who lived in Jerusalem for a long time and is called "like unto Moses in meekness" (Srbljak); Nicodemus, who practiced asceticism on the Holy Mountain and was abbot of Hilandar, then Archbishop "of all the Serbian and coastal lands"; Joannicius, first an archbishop and from 1346 a patriarch, who died in 1349; Ephraim, an ascetic, elected against his will as patriarch in the time of Prince Lazar in 1376, who also crowned Lazar, and afterward renounced the patriarchal throne and withdrew into solitude; Spyridon, the successor of Ephraim, who died in 1388; Macarius, who restored many ancient endowments, printed church books in Shkoder, Venice, Belgrade and other places, built the famous refectory at the Patriarchate of Pec, and did much for the advancement of the Church with the help of his brother, the Grand Vizier Mehmed Sokolovic, and reposed in 1574; Gabriel, a nobleman of the Rajic family by birth, who participated in the Moscow Council under Patriarch Nikon, for which the Turks tortured him for treason and hanged him in 1656. Besides these, the following are also commemorated: Eustathius, James, Daniel, Sava III, Gregory, John, Maximus and Nikon. Many of them practiced asceticism on the Holy Mountain, but all were "faithful servants and true, and good laborers of the vineyard of the Lord."

From the Hymn of Praise

Pleasers of God, Serbian saints,Wise teachers and enlighteners,Spiritual princes, glorious champions,Most good shepherds of the flock of Christ,