Tomorrow is Saint Sava's day! The prince and the saint who dedicated his life to serve God and his people instead of political power and wealth! This is why his name and his deed lives and is celebrated through centuries...

Saint Sava (Serbian: Свети Сава, Sveti Sava, pronounced [sʋɛ̂ːtiː sǎːʋa], also Saint Sabbas; 1174 – 14 January 1236) was aSerbian prince and Orthodox monk, the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church, the founder of Serbian law andliterature, and a diplomat. Sava was born Rastko Nemanjić (Растко Немањић, pronounced [râstkɔ nɛ̌maɲitɕ]), the youngest son ofSerbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja (founder of the Nemanjić dynasty), and ruled the appanage of Hum briefly in 1190–1192. Hebecame a monk in his youth, receiving the monastic name Sava (Sabbas), subsequently founding the monasteries of Hilandar onMount Athos, and Žiča. In 1219 he was recognized as the first Archbishop of Serbs, by the Patriarch of Constantinople, and in the same year he authored the oldest known constitution of Serbia, Zakonopravilo, thus securing full independence; both religious and political. Sava heavily influenced Serbian medieval literature.He is widely considered as one of the most important figures of Serbian history, and is canonized and venerated by the Serbian Orthodox Church, as its founder, on January 27 [O.S. January 14]. His life and has been interpreted in many artistic works from theMiddle Ages to modern times. He is the patron saint of Serbian schools and schoolchildren.
The Cathedral of Saint Sava in Belgrade is dedicated to him, it was built on the scene where the Ottoman Turks allegedly burnt his remains in the 16th century, following an uprising in which the Serbs used icon depictions of Sava as their war flags; the cathedral is currently the largest Eastern Christian church building in the world.

there are a lot of stories about his life, a lot of wisdom that he passed on. It was such a great personality that despite of many attempts to destroy his legacy and the memory of his name it was preserved in our nation. One of his messages which is always in my mind, probably because I am the teacher of language, is to keep the mother tongue. Territories may be lost and regained, but if one word of your native language is lost it cannot be restored. I like the differences! I appreciate the diversity of languages! I believe that the beauty of the world lies in those differences among us! So we have to accept them, understand and preserve them because that's what we are intended to do. That's what Saint Sava presents, that peace among different people, living different lives, speaking different languages and without being afraid of each other.


But since he is the patron of Serbian schools and hence teachers and pupils, I hereby wish you all  knowledge and wisdom, patience and tolerance, friendship and love through your hard times at school and through all your life!