Saint Arseny is a disciple and follower of Saint Sava I of Serbia, who entrusted Arseny with the abbotship of the Zhich monastery and relied on him in many church matters. When the constant attacks of the Vergre on the northern regions of Serbia showed St. Sava, that Žića was not protected enough to play the role of the capital of the Serbian Church, he instructed Arseniy to find an area where the church center could be moved. St. Arseny found a place in the valley of the Bystrica River, fenced by two high ridges, where his labors laid the foundation for the Peč Lavra, which became the center of the Serbian Church for many centuries.
When St. Savva went to Jerusalem for the first time; he left the affairs of the department in the hands of St. Arseny, and before his second trip to the Holy Land in 1233 or 1234 - dedicated to St. Arseny to the rank of archbishop and transferred to him control of the young Serbian Church.
Returning from Jerusalem, Saint Sava became seriously ill and gave his soul to God in the city of Tarnovo, Bulgaria. Saint Arsenios, as his successor and successor, convinced the Serbian King Vladislav to make every effort to transfer the holy relics to Serbia. King Vladislav, having personally gone to Bulgaria and begged his relative, the Bulgarian Tsar, returned the relics of the Serbian saint to his homeland, where St. Arseny gathered the clergy and nobility for their solemn meeting. The relics were placed by Saint Arseny in the Mileshevo monastery.
Saint Arseniy crowned King Uros I in 1242, under whom the Serbian land found peace from invasions. The saint devoted all his energies to the organization of church structure, education, the construction of monasteries and the organization of monastic life. Thanks to his opposition to the Bogomil heresy that had spread in the Balkans, Serbia avoided the religious unrest that befell neighboring countries.
The saint departed to the Lord in peace and silence on October 28, 1266. Three years before his death, he was struck by an illness, which he accepted with meekness and humility. His body was buried in the Pech monastery.
29 Prmch. Agathangel of Esphigmen († 1819, commemorated April 19, October 29