St. Sava of Serbia

“I beg you all to keep firmly all that you have seen and heard from me, that is, to look after your own lives first with repentance and improvement according to your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and then to teach the people confided to your care.”

– St. Sava to the Serbian faithful
The Life of St. Sava by Nicholai Velimirovich, p126)

“Surveying the deplorable position of the Orthodox Church as a whole, Sava sorrowfully implored God to show him the true path for the constructive unity of the Orthodox world and the good will and cooperation of all heads of the divided church. The Pathseeker became the Pathfinder as well.“

– Nicholai Velimirovich, The Life of St. Sava, p 73

Life

Writings

Karyes Typikon
Hilandar Typikon
Nomocanon
Hagiography of St. Simeon
The Rudder
Note: according to the OCA, since 1270, 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

Hymns

Troparion – Tone 3

Thou wast a guide to the Way of Life, a first Hierarch and a teacher;
thou didst come and enlighten thy home country, O Sava, and give it rebirth by the Holy Spirit.
Thou hast planted thy children like olive trees in the spiritual Paradise.
O Equal-to-the-Apostles and Saints, pray to Christ our God to grant us His great mercy.

Kontakion – Tone 8

As the first great hierarch and co-worker with the Apostles, the Church of thy people magnifies thee; and since thou hast found favor with Christ, save us by thy prayers from every calamity, so that we may proclaim to thee:
Rejoice, God-wise Father Sava

Troparion – Tone 8

O guide of Orthodoxy and blessed teacher of virtues, purifier and enlightener of thy homeland, beauty of monastics, most wise Father, Holy Sava, by thy teaching thou didst enlighten thy people,O flute of the Spirit, pray to Christ God for our souls

Feast Day(s)

January 12