MESSAGE OF SAINT SAVA IS STILL CLEAR TODAY

BIJELJINA, JANUARY 27 /SRNA/ - The message of Saint Sava is still clear today - a nation that nurtures its education system, culture, and moral values can survive even under the most difficult historical circumstances, Professor of Serbian Language Marko Lješević told SRNA.

Lješević pointed out that in a time of modern challenges, when identity is often relativized and knowledge reduced to mere formality, recalling Saint Sava's work carries particular weight. "For this reason, the celebration of Saint Sava's Day in schools is not merely a symbolic tradition, but a reaffirmation of a historical truth of exceptional importance for all Serbs. Every school that marks this day stands on the foundations laid by the one who first understood that without an educated people there can be neither a strong state nor culture, nor freedom," Lješević emphasized. He added that Saint Sava's Day is not only a school patron-saint celebration, but a day on which Serbs remember their first and most important educator, who laid the foundations of education, culture, and state consciousness among the Serbian people. "At a time when the Serbian state still lacked a clearly defined structure, Saint Sava understood what few could grasp then - that a people without schools, books, and spiritual support cannot survive. Saint Sava knew that a nation’s identity is preserved through literacy, knowledge, and moral principles, not by the sword. In this way, he became the first organizer of education, a legislator, a diplomat, and a builder of Serbian culture," Lješević said. He noted that by founding the autocephalous Serbian Church, Saint Sava not only ensured spiritual independence but also created the institutional framework within which education, literature, and legislation would develop. "The monasteries he founded were places of prayer, but also the first schools, scriptoria, and centers of culture and knowledge, where reading and writing were taught alongside an understanding of one's own identity," Lješević emphasized. He stressed that Saint Sava introduced the Serbian people to the idea that education is not a privilege but a necessity. "Saint Sava's Zakonopravilo /Nomocanon/ represents the first serious legal and cultural foundation of the Serbian state. Through it, the first Serbian educator established standards of order, justice, and literacy that shaped Serbian society for centuries," Lješević said. The Serbian Orthodox Church today celebrates Saint Sava, the founder of the Serbian Church, statehood, and education. Saint Sava's Day is observed in all schools in Serbia and Republika Srpska as the school's patron saint day.