St. Sava's Day marked in National Theater event

St. Sava's Day marked in National Theater event

BELGRADE -- A formal event celebrating the feast of St.Sava has been held at the National Theater in Belgrade, with President Tomislav Nikolic addressing the event.

According to Nikolic, "a nation's greatness was not measured by its size or territory, but by the number of enlightener it has."

St. Sava, born in 1175 as Rastko Nemanjic, the son of Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, was the first head of the autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church, the author of Serbia's first Constitution, a diplomat and writer who had great influence on the medieval Serbian literature.

He is the patron saint of Serbian schools and students and the day of his death in 1236, January 27, is marked as St. Sava's Day.

"St. Sava came from our people, but they perhaps do not realize his greatness in its full to this day. If only every person in the world would grow up following Sava's messages, there would be less evil, less ignorance, but more love and kindness," Nikolic told the gathering on Tuesday evening.

St. Sava was the first Serbian teacher, Nikolic stated, adding that he had worked to enlighten the people, built schools, hospitals, churches and monasteries and brought books from abroad to teach and enlighten the people.

"Commitment is a sum of noble Christian and human values, commitment is a study of the overall culture of living. It is more than just erudition - it is a system of values where the attitude to oneself and others is the attitude toward equals, an attitude of tolerance and acceptance of differences," Nikolic said.

Addressing teachers, President Nikolic said that anyone who decided to pursue the path of Saint Sava as their vocation and to work as a...