Rastislav "Rastko" Nemanjić | Origin of Street Names

Rubric dedicated to giants - domestic and foreign personalities whose works, personal and social engagement had a civilizational significance and after whom streets and squares across our country are named

Rastislav "Rastko" Nemanjić (around 1175 - 1236) was the youngest son of the Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja and a prince who voluntarily renounced noble privileges in his early youth for the sake of spiritual elevation and enlightening mission that would make him the guiding star of the believing Serbs to this day.

He was born in Ras, the capital of the Rascian župa over eight centuries ago, but the exact date and year of Rastko Nemanjić's birth are unknown.

Being the third son and the youngest child of his parents, Nemanja and Ana, Rastko showed a completely different nature from his older brothers and peers from an early age. Intrigued by the monastic views of the world, merciful, beloved, quiet, and unassuming, he never had a desire for power and ruling over the territories that were "owed" to him by status and inheritance rights (Zahumlje). On the contrary, it was as if he had been destined for greater deeds from an early age.

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Studying the Holy Scriptures, regularly attending worship services, reading religious and historical writings on parchment were the main preoccupations of the young Rastko, who, despite his parents' plans for him to marry and start a family, decided to leave secular life and dedicate himself to spiritual development at the age of 17. Having a strong desire for spiritual elevation and knowing that his parents would not be favorable to such a decision, Rastko, along with a group of black-robed monks, fled the court one night and set off for Mount Athos, which was then, as it is today, the center of the Orthodox world.

Even the great efforts of Stefan Nemanja to bring him back and "set him straight" were in vain. Rastko became a monk in the Monastery of Rusik (today a skete of the Russian Monastery of St. Panteleimon), took the monastic name Sava, and thus took a lifelong vow of celibacy and service to God.

Recognizing the steadfastness of their son, Nemanja and Ana accepted the fact that their darling had become a monk and, with parental blessing, sent material assistance to Sava, which he selflessly distributed to the monasteries of Mount Athos, primarily to Vatopedi, where he himself spent several years.

News about the monastic prince spread, were retold, and evoked disbelief and admiration, both on Mount Athos itself and throughout the Byzantine Empire.

A larger number of Serbian monks, encouraged by Sava's actions, arrived on Mount Athos in the following years (including Sava's father, now monk Simeon), dreaming of establishing a Serbian monastery among the monasteries of Mount Athos.

Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos granted Sava's request and, with a solemn charter in 1198, allowed Serbian monks to establish their own monastery on the foundations of an ancient Greek monastery - Hilandar. Thus, Sava and Simeon became patrons of the first and only Serbian monastery on Mount Athos, which also became one of the most influential on the Athos peninsula.

However, fate did not want Sava to remain on Mount Athos forever. Due to conflicts among his older brothers over the throne, he returned to Raska in 1208, carrying with him the relics of his late father. On his father's bier, he succeeded in reconciling his brothers after years of mutual warfare.

After this event, Sava remained permanently connected to Raska and worked intensively on the enlightenment and spiritual elevation of his people, striving to embody all the Christian teachings he believed in through his personal example.

Through his personal influence, respect, and admiration enjoyed in Constantinople, he managed to elevate the Serbian church to the rank of an archbishopric in 1219. In 1346, under Emperor Dušan, it would receive the highest status - a patriarchate.

The longtime abbot of Studenica Monastery, , the founder of the Serbian church, and the first Serbian archbishop with his seat in Zica, spent several pilgrimages to the Holy Land and Jerusalem throughout his life. Upon his return from one such journey, physically weak and exhausted, he passed away in 1236 in Trnovo, Bulgaria, and his relics were later transferred to Mileseva Monastery.

Considered a saint even during his lifetime, Sava Nemanjic was officially proclaimed a saint of the Serbian Orthodox Church one year after his death. His day is celebrated as the school patron saint on 27th January every year.

Even the burning of his relics during the height of Ottoman slavery in 1594, with the intention of forever breaking the spirit of the Serbian people, did not weaken the power of Saint Sava's character and deeds. On the contrary!

Symbolically, today hundreds of schools and churches throughout Serbia bear the name of Saint Sava, and along with Vuk Karadzic, the name of Rastko Nemanjic is carried by the largest number of streets in Serbia.

In addition, one of the largest Orthodox temples in the world is dedicated to none other than Saint Sava.