The Royal family of Serbia welcomed today in the Royal Palace in Belgrade the Most Reverend Archimandrite Sava, Father Superior of the Visoki Dečani Monastery, one of the greatest sanctuaries of our people in the southern Serbian province, Kosovo and Metohija.
Father Sava was accompanied by monk Amfilohije from Decani Monastery, and they used this opportunity to speak with Their Royal Highnesses about the centennial since the blessed King Alexander I, together with Queen Marija, the Serbian Patriarch, Bishops and dignitaries of the state, visited the Imperial Lavra of the Visoki Dečani Monastery and opened the Memorial Book with his signature, which was signed by all the guests who visited the monastery on that occasion. During Hereditary Prince Philip’s recent visits to Decani Monastery, Father Sava with great pleasure showed him this Book that the brotherhood keeps as one of the greatest treasures. It is symbolic that the Hereditary Prince’s second visit to this monastery was on the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia, the same occurrence as it was for his great-grandparents one hundred years ago.
The Abbot, as a special gift, gave HRH Crown Prince Alexander a phototype edition of the mentioned Memorial Book opened by his grandfather, which is the first ever copy of this book ever given to somebody.
“It was a great pleasure to greet Most Reverend Archimandrite Sava in the Royal Palace. Visoki Decani is one of the greatest sacred places and an inexhaustible source of spirituality of our people. It is one of the springs from which the soul of our people is fed, where we find our source, which gives us strength to endure all the difficulties.
We of course talked about the suffering of the Serbian people in our Holy Land, how much every support and help mean to them and how much solace they find in our holy church. I am very proud of my son Philip, for continuing my path, but also the path of all our ancestors from the Karadjordjevic Dynasty, being strongly dedicated to our people in Kosovo, to their wellbeing, and their survival in their centuries-old homes. I am also very grateful to Father Sava and the entire brotherhood for being one of the strongest pillars, together with all other sanctuaries of our church, of our people’s survival in Kosovo and Metohija”, stated HRH Crown Prince Alexander.
TM King Alexander I and Queen Maria visited Decani on 28 August 1924, following the enthronement of Patriarch Dimitrije in the renewed Patriarchate of Pec, after which Their Majesties together with His Holiness and other church and state officials visited the Visoki Dečani monastery. It should be mentioned that with his efforts, the Knightly King greatly contributed to the return of the Serbian Church to the rank of the Patriarchate.
On that occasion, King Alexander sat on the only preserved Royal Throne from the medieval Nemanjic period, known as the throne of Saint King Stefan Dečanski, which is still in the monastery church today. He also, together with his combat friends, officers who fought in the Balkan Wars and the Great War, lit votive candles of Princess Milica. Candles were lit for the memory of the souls of Prince Lazar and the old warriors of the Kosovo battle, and Princess Milica gave them to the Monastery at the end the 14th century with a vow that only the Liberator of Kosovo could light them.
