Sava II

Saint Sava II
Fresco depicting Sava II in the Visoki Dečani Monastery
List of heads of the Serbian Orthodox Church
Church	Serbian Orthodox Church
Installed	1263
Term ended	1271
Predecessor	Arsenije I
Successor	Danilo I
Personal details
Born	Predislav 1201 (1201) Ras
Died	1271 (aged 69–70)
Denomination	Eastern Orthodoxy
Sainthood
Canonized	by Serbian Orthodox Church

Saint Sava II (Serbian: Свети Сава II, romanized: Sveti Sava II; 1201–1271) was the third Serbian Archbishop, serving from 1263 until his death in 1271. He was the middle son of King Stefan the First-Crowned of the Nemanjić dynasty and his Byzantine wife Eudokia Angelina. He had two brothers, Stefan Radoslav and Stefan Vladislav, and a sister, Komnena. Predislav took the monastic name of Sava, after his uncle, Saint Sava, the first Serbian archbishop. The Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates him as a saint and his feast-day is 21 February.

Born as Predislav (Serbian Cyrillic: Предислав) in c. 1198, he was the middle son of King Stefan the First-Crowned and Eudokia Angelina. He had brothers Stefan Radoslav (b. 1192), Stefan Vladislav (b. 1198), and half-brother Stefan Uroš I (b. 1223). He also had two sisters, Komnena being the only one whose name is known.

King Stefan the First-Crowned, who had become ill, took monastic vows and died in 1227.¹ Radoslav who was the eldest son succeeded as King, crowned at Žiča by Archbishop Sava,¹ his uncle. The younger sons, Vladislav and Uroš I, received appanages.¹ Sava II (Predislav) was appointed bishop of Hum shortly thereafter, later serving as archbishop of Serbia (1263–1270).¹ The Church and state was thus dominated by the same family and the ties between the two as well as the family's role within the Church continued.²