John of Serbia

Holy Pious Prince John of Serbia, called king on the Azbyka page, is remembered above all through the story of his parents, Saint Stephen the Blind and Saint Angelina. Stephen Branković, lord of the despotate of Serbia of the Branković line, was born in 1417. In 1441 he was blinded by order of the Ottoman sultan Murad II, and so, when his father died in 1456, he could not claim the throne; his younger brother Lazar became despot. After the conquest of Serbia by the Turks in 1457, Stephen, known for his meek nature and good knowledge of Holy Scripture, went to the capital of Turkey following his sister, given as wife to the sultan Murad. Learning that the Turks had burned with fanatical cruelty the Mileševa monastery, the blessed Stephen rose to defend Serbia against the invaders.

In 1458 Lazar died without a male heir. The country was ruled by a triumvirate of regents: Stephen Branković, the widow Helen Palaiologina and the governor of Raška, Michael Anđelović. The partisans of the Turks at the Serbian court proclaimed despot the voivode Michael Anđelović, whose brother was vizier of Mehmed II, but the inhabitants of the capital, Smederevo, with the support of the pro-⁠Hungarian party, prevented this coup. Michael Anđelović was imprisoned, and Stephen the Blind remained ruler. Then, on the initiative of the kings of Hungary and Bosnia, the son of the king of Bosnia, Stephen Tomašević, was invited to Smederevo, who was to marry the daughter of the late ruler, Helen, and receive the title of despot. On 21 March 1459 the wedding was held and Stephen Tomašević mounted the throne of Serbia.

After his removal from the throne, the blessed Stephen the Blind lived for a time in Buda (his younger sister, Catherine, was the widow of the Hungarian noble Ulrich of Cilli), then in Dubrovnik. After that he went to Albania, to the lord Skanderbeg, where in 1460 he married Angelina, daughter of the Albanian prince George Arianiti. Once he was married to Angelina, the Turks threatened the blessed Stephen and his family with reprisal. With his wife and three children he had to hide first in Albania, then in Italy. He spent the rest of his life in Venice and died in 1476. The blessed Angelina moved her husband's remains to Kupinovo. Ruler of Serbia at the end of the fifteenth century became the son of the righteous Stephen and Angelina, the blessed John. The relics of the righteous John and of his parents later became glorified by many signs.

The Church commemorates him on 23 December, in the new style.