medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>Sava of Serbia (d. 1236) Sava was born in Bulgaria, the younger son of a
>prince. He became a monk at Mt Athos. In 1206 he returned to Serbia,
>where in 1219 he became bishop and first metropolitan of an independent
>Serbian Church. He was a very active church- and monastery-builder,
>furthered missionary work in his country, played a role in the development
>of Serbian literature, commissioned translations of Greek religious texts,
>and even found time for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His relics were
>burned by the Turks in 1594
Sava (the Serbian form of Saba) was his name in religion, and it is said he adopted it in commemoration of Saba/s, abbot of the monastery on Mount Sinai. Some Balkan scholars have claimed that in folklore he became conflated with a Slavonic deity called Sabaoth. Since this looks suspiciously like appropiation of the Hebrew epithet Sabaoth, and the supposed conflation crops up in a contribution to a book that I'm editing, I should be grateful for any guidance from fellow list-members who can explain the relationship between the name Saba/s (carried by thirteen saints at my last count) and the word Sabaoth. Perhaps 'Sabbath' is interposed; I ought to know this, so please forgive my ignorance.
Note, by the way, another case of relic burning. Sava certainly became a hero among the Serbs (which is why it was necessary to humiliate his remains, I imagine), so his standing in relation to folklore has real historical importance.
Best wishes to all
Graham (Jones)
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www.le.ac.uk/elh/grj1
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