On Expatriation and Voluntary Exile. 1

Two descendants of royalty were John and his son Euthymios, the builder of the Holy Monastery of Iviron. They flourished from 960 to 980 A.D. and were students of St. Athanasios the Athonite.

Holy Euthymios, while still living in the world, had quar­relled with and killed a Jew who had blasphemed the Lord Jesus' name. After that he fell gravely ill but was cured by the Theotokos. Then he went to Mount Athos to be under obedience to the great cenobitic Athonite Athanasios. The monks of Iviron called Euthymios the new Chrysostoni, for he translated the entire Bible and other books from Greek into the Iberian language.

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St. Sawas the Serbian was a crown prince. His name before he was a professed monk was Rastko, and his father was Stephanos Nemania, King of Serbia. His whole family were very pious. Since childhood this saint loved the angelic monastic life. When some monks from Mount Athos vis­ited his country, among them was a very pious Russian elder. After he heard from him about the holy monastic life on the Mount Athos, the prince was struck by divine love. With tears of piety he asked the elder to take him along with them on their way back to the Holy Mountain.

"1 see, Father, that God, Who knows the depths of my heart, sent you to me, a sinner, to guide me to the divine path. So I beg you, teach me how to avoid the vanity of the world and to succeed in a holy life like yours. For soon my parents are planning to marry me off. That is why I have decided to depart from here as soon as possible."

The elder accepted him as a travelling companion and guide, for he realized that it was God's will, since he saw Rastko's soul burning with desire for God while preparing for his escape.

In the Russian monastery Rastko trained in all monastic labours like a good soldier and athlete. His parents, how­ever, were inconsolable. His father sent men everywhere to look for him, for Rastko was not only his well-behaved, beau­tiful son, but also his heir to the throne.

Finally three Serbian noblemen heard that Rastko was staying in the Russian monastery and went there to bring him back. Novice Rastko pleaded with his elders to tonsure him immediately and that night hid himself in the monas­tery's tower.

Then he wrote a letter to his parents describing the last judgment and eternal hell. The letter touched them so deeply that they decided to become monastics themselves. His mother received the schema in a monastery where she la­boured, pleasing God, and there she reposed in the Lord. His father gave up his kingdom and passed the throne to his other son, Stephanos. Then he went to Mount Athos where he met with his son Sawas. The joy and piety they felt when they met cannot be described. The former king requested to be tonsured a monk and received the name of Simeon. Thus the natural father became the spiritual son of his own natural son. In 1198 the father and son built the famous Serbian monastery of Chilandari on land donated to them by the holy monastery of Vatopedi, a grant under the golden seal of the Emperor Alexios III. There in Chilandari both the father and the son were later canon­ized.

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