Saints of the South Slavs
Святые южных славян
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A description of their life is written by Philaret, Archbishop of Chernigov. With drawings by academician F.G. Solntsev
I will bless your life, oh friends, how grateful I am. And I cry for my life, because it is indecent to eat
The devout writer of the lives of the saints of the Russian Church (St. Petersburg 1852–1859) included in his description several southern Slavic saints, but very few, no more than six. The Athos Patericon (St. Petersburg, 1860) describes the holy Slavs who labored on Athos. The most important publication for the history of the holy Slavs is Serbljak, Belgrade 1861. The publishers say that they have expanded the previous edition of Serbljak not only with synaxarions and two akathists, but also with new services. They have replaced the complete lives of the saints, known in the handwritten Serblyaki, with short ones. For their purpose this is necessary: but for many reasons it is to be regretted that complete lives have not been published. There is no mention of saints who lived before the 11th century, just like in those two editions. So here are all the printed descriptions of the holy South Slavs for now.
Meanwhile, the saints of the southern Slavs were born and raised by the same grace of Christ, which raised the saints of Greek Christians. Therefore, it is natural that some of them are as great and wondrous as the great ones of the Greek Church. Both the greatness of their characters and the greatness of God’s grace, which appeared in the Slavic saints, are completely worthy of study. For the Slavs, studying the life of the holy Slavs is especially necessary: in the life of the holy Slavs, Evangelical piety is applied to the conditions of Slavic life, to those conditions that are rare for a Greek and inevitable for a Slav; Slavic saints are the primary leaders in life for Slavic Christians.
And how many of these heavenly leaders are there along the earthly path! Far more than others think when they are not closely acquainted with the subject. We present a chronological index of the holy Slavs.
M. Enen, Nirin and Pen, Jan. 20.
Eusebius, bishop. Pannonian, Mar. 26.
Evangel, bishop. Tomsk, Epictetus and Astion, July. 8.
Irenaeus, bishop. Sremsky and Pullius, Mar. 26, 304
Dimitry Dabudsky, Nov. 15, 307
Ermilus and Stratonicus of Belgrade, January 13, 315
Filey, Zotik, Lukiyan and Elijah of Tomsk, September 13, 321
Emelian of Silistria, July. 18, 362
Vetran and Theotimus of Tomsk, April. 20.
Nikita bishop, June. 24, 423
Administrator-Justinian the Tsar, Nov. 14, 562
K. Boyan, priests Parod and Peter, Mar. 28, 827
Mikhail warrior, oct. 22, 866
Cyril and Methodius, Apr. 6, 885
Angelyar, Gorazd and Savva, July. 27, 887
K. Mikhail-Boris, May 2, 906
Andrey the Holy Fool, Oct. 2, 909
Bishop Clement and Nahum, Jul. 27, 916
K. Vyacheslav with grandmother Lyudmila, September. 16, 935
John of Rylsky, Aug. 18, 946
Prokhor Pshinsky, Jan. 15.
Gregory Bishop, Jan. 8, 1012
K. Vladimir Serbian, May 22, 1015
Ave. Gabriel Lesnovsky, Jan. 15.
Petka-Paraskeva Ave., Oct. 14.
Ave. Procopius of Bohemia, Sept. 16.
St. Joachim Osogovsky, Aug. 16, 1105
Hilarion Mglinsky, Oct. 21, 1164
Stefan Neemanya, Feb. 13, 1200
K. Stephen the First Crowned, Sept. 24, 1224
St. Savva, arch. Serb., Jan. 12, 1237
Arseny Serb., 1267, Oct. 28.
Ioannikiy Chernoretsky, Apr. 26.
K. Stefan Milutin, Oct. 29, 1320
Kozma Ave., Sept. 23, 1323
K. Stefan Dečanski, November. 11, 1336
Feodosius Ave., Feb. 27, 1362.
Prince Lazarus, June. 15, 1389
Spiridon and Ephraim p., Aug. 30.
Gregory Ave., Dec. 7, 1406
Stefan Lazarevich, Jul. 19, 1427
Nektariy Bitolsky Ave., Dec. 5, 1500
John the Despot, Dec. 10, 1503
Georgy Much., Feb. 11, 1515
Stefan Shchilyanovich, Oct. 4, 1515
Macarius arch., Aug. 30, 1570
Gabriel Patr., Aug. 30, 1659
Nicodemus, Jul. 11, 1722
Damascene, Jan. 16, 1771
Anastasius, Aug. 29, 1794
This list of saints is not yet complete. For example, in the service of St. to Stefan Dečanski (Belgrade 1850) the Dečan ascetics Euthymius and Nestor are mentioned; but nothing more is known about them yet. Serblyak also regrets that some saints are known only by their names.
In order to include the named saints of the Southern Slavs in any satisfactory manner, in addition to information about the saints themselves, information is required about both the civil and church life of the Southern Slavs. And how little of the civil and ecclesiastical history of the South Slavs has yet been processed! Therefore, one can think that they will not be too strict in court about the shortcomings of the proposed description.
New discoveries and research may be published subsequently as a supplement.