Stefan Lazarević

Saint Stefan Lazarević, the Blessed, called Stefan the Tall, was the son of Saint Prince Lazar of Serbia and of Milica. He ruled Serbia from 1389 until his death in 1427, first as prince and then as despot, and he was a founder of monasteries, a lawgiver and a writer. The Serbian Orthodox Church canonized him on 1 August 1927, five hundred years after his death. He is commemorated on 19 July by the old calendar (1 August by the new).

Youth and the throne

He was born around 1374 to 1377 at Kruševac. His father, Prince Lazar, fell at the Battle of Kosovo on 15 June 1389, and Stefan became ruler while still a minor under the regency of his mother, Milica, of the Nemanjić line. She made peace with Sultan Bayezid, by which Serbia became a vassal state, paying tribute and sending troops. Stefan came of age in 1393, and Milica withdrew to the monastery of Ljubostinja, where she took the monastic name Eugenia.

As a vassal, Stefan fought on the Ottoman side at Rovine in Wallachia (1395) and at Nicopolis (1396), where his heavy cavalry had a part in the defeat of the crusaders. Chroniclers of the time praise his courage.

The despot

At the Battle of Ankara on 28 July 1402, Bayezid was defeated by Timur. Stefan, who commanded the right wing, fought bravely and tried to rescue the sultan. He then went to Constantinople, where in August 1402 John VII Palaiologos gave him the title of despot. He returned home, defeated his rivals at Tripolje, and regained his throne.

In 1403 or early 1404 he made an agreement with King Sigismund of Hungary, from whom he received Belgrade. He rebuilt its fortress and made Belgrade the capital of Serbia in 1405. He was the first on the list of the Order of the Dragon, founded in 1408. He had no children, and in 1426 he named his nephew Đurađ Branković as heir.

Builder and writer

In 1407 he began the monastery of Manasija (Resava) near Despotovac, completed in 1418, a foundation strengthened with walls and towers. There the Resava school of copyists and translators arose, in which Constantine the Philosopher, a Bulgarian-⁠born scholar, set out a rule of Slavonic spelling. Stefan wrote himself: his works include "A Homage to Love," a poetic letter to his brother Vuk (1409), and an inscription on the marble pillar at Kosovo. In 1412 he issued the Code of Mines for Novo Brdo, which supported silver mining, the economic foundation of the country. He gave shelter to scholars and refugees from lands that had fallen to the Ottomans.

Death and veneration

Stefan died on 19 July 1427. According to the account of Constantine the Philosopher, he was out hunting at a place called Glavica on Mount Kosmaj, near Belgrade. He was buried at Manasija. Some scholars think he suffered a stroke or heart attack, and others suspect poisoning, but there is no firm proof.

The Serbian Orthodox Church canonized him on 1 August 1927 as Saint Despot Stefan of Serbia. His feast is kept on 19 July by the old calendar, together with his mother, Saint Eugenia (Milica). His relics are kept, according to the Serbian Church's tradition, in the monastery of Koporin, in a reliquary opened twice a year. In 2023 he was chosen as patron of the Serbian Armed Forces.