OUR Saints

Saint Arsenije Sremac (1219 – 1266), the great hierarch, the second Archbishop of the Serbian Church and successor of great Saint Sava, was born in the village of Dabar, near Stari Slankamen in Srem, Serbia. The exact date of his birth is unknown. Very early in his life, Arsenije took monastic vows, in St. Demetrius Monastery in today's Sremska Mitrovica. When Arsenije heard of St. Sava's work, he was impressed and left for the Monastery of Zica, where Arsenije soon became St. Sava's disciple and his syncellos. Because of his religious life and his devotion to God, Arsenije was appointed as the ecclesiarch of the monastery and later Archimandrite of Zica.

When Serbia was invaded by Hungary, St. Sava sent Arsenije to find a safer place in the south to establish a new episcopal. Arsenije chose Pec, where he built the Monastery and the Church which was at first dedicated to the Holy Apostles, and was later called the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Arsenije wisely administered the Serbian Church for thirty years (until 1263). Arsenije was consecrated bishop. He was able to continue in the work of his predecessor Saint Sava. Besides building Monastery of Pec and orchestrating the translation of St. Sava's sacred bones from Trnovo to the Monastery of Mileseva, Arsenije crowned King Stefan Uros I. He also helped King Stefan Uroš I and Queen St. Helene in building the monasteries Sopocani and Gradac.

He suffered a stroke in 1263, after which he was succeeded by Saint Sava II, nephew of Saint Sava. Arsenije died on October 28, 1266. He was buried in Monastery of Pec, where on its altar wall stands written: “Lord God our saviour, visit and bless this temple ... In your prayers, mention me the sinful Arsenije.”

In 1737, Ottoman Turks attacked the Pec Patriarchate and they set the temple on fire. Because of that, the relics of St. Arsenije, the sacred bones, were taken away by monks from the Monastery of Pec. To protect Arseinje’s relics, monks took different routes while escaping from Turks and eventually arrived at the Zdrebaonik Monastery near Danilovgrad, where they buried the sacred bones again. Relics of Saint Arsenije Sremac are still located at Zdrebaonik Monastery. In 1933, after the blessing of the Serbian Patriarch and the Holy Synod, the Russian Archbishop Nestor took part of the holy Arsenije relics and carried them to Beijing (China) and to Harbin (in Manchuria), when the Orthodox Churches were founded there.