Žiča

     Žiča is an early 13th century Serb Orthodox Monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia. The monastery, together with the Church of the Holy Dormition, was built by the first King of Serbia, Stefan the First-Crowned and the first Head of the Serbian church, Saint Sava.

     Žiča was the seat of the Archbishop (1219–1253), and by tradition the coronational church of the Serbian kings, although a king could be crowned in any Serbian church, he was never considered a true king until he was anointed in Žiča.

     Žiča was declared as Cultural Monument of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Serbia. In 2008, Žiča celebrated 800 years of existence.

     The Serbs were intially under the jurisdiction of the Archbischopic of Ohrid, under the tutelage of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinopole.

      Rastko Nemanjić, the son of Stefan Nemanja, ruled as Grand Prince of Hum 1190-1192, previously held by Grand Prince Miroslav. In the autumn of 1192 (or shortly thereafter) Rastko joins a Russian monks and travels to Mount Atos where he takes monastic vows and spends several years, in 1195 his father joined him, and together they founded the Hilandar, as the base of Serbian religion. His father dies in Hilandar on February 13, 1199, he is canonised, as Saint Simeon. Rastko built a church and cell at Karyes, where he stayed for some years, becoming a Hieromonk, then an Archimandrite in 1201. He writes the Karyes Typicon during his stay there.

 

     He returns to Serbia in 1207, taking the remains of his father with him, which he relocates to the Studenica monastery, after reconcileing Stefan II with Vukan, who had earlier been in a successation feud (civil war). Stefan II asks him to remain in Serbia with his clerics, which he does, starting a widespread pastoral and educational duty to the people of Serbia. He founds several churches and monasteries, among them the Žiča monastery.

 

Archimandrite Rastko (future Saint Sava) brings the regal crown from Rome, crowning his older brother Stefan Prvovenčani "King of All Serbia" in the Žiča monastery in 1217. In 1219, the Serbian Church gains autocephaly, by Emperor Theodore I Laskaris and Patriarch Manuel I of Constantinopole, Sava becomes the first Archbishop. The monastery acts as the seat of the Archbishop of all Serbian lands.

In 1221, a synod was held in the monastery, condemning Bogomilism.

When Serbia was invaded by Hungary, Saint Sava sent Arsenije I Sremac to find a safer place in the south to establish a new episcopal See. In 1253 the see was transferred to the Archbishopric of Peć (future Patriarchate) by Arsenije. The Serbian primates had since moved between the two.

In 1289-1290, the chief treasures of the ruined monastery, including the remains of Sain Jevstatije I, were transferred to Peć.

Sometime between 1276-1292 the Cumans burned the monastery, and King Stefan Milutin renovated it in 1292-1309, during the office of Jevstatije II.

Patriarch Nikon joined Despot Đurađ Branković when the capital was moved to Smederevo, following Turkish-Hungarian wars in the territory of Serbia in the 1430s.

After the First Serbian Uprising, the Ottoman destroyed the monastery.