Jovan Vladimir
Encyclopedia
Jovan Vladimir or John Vladimir (Serbian Cyrillic
: Јован Владимир; died 22 May 1016) was ruler of Duklja
, the most powerful Serbian
principality of the time, from around 1000 to 1016. He ruled during the protracted war between the Byzantine Empire
and the First Bulgarian Empire
. His close relationship with Byzantium did not save Duklja from the expansionist Tsar
Samuel of Bulgaria, who conquered the principality in around 1010 and took Jovan Vladimir prisoner. A medieval chronicle asserts that Samuel's daughter, Theodora Kosara
, fell in love with Vladimir and begged her father for his hand. The tsar allowed the marriage and returned Duklja to Vladimir, who ruled as his vassal
.
Vladimir was acknowledged as a pious, just, and peaceful ruler. He took no part in his father-in-law's war efforts. The warfare culminated with Samuel's defeat by the Byzantines in 1014; the tsar died soon afterward. In 1016 Vladimir fell victim to a plot by Ivan Vladislav
, the last ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire. He was beheaded in front of a church in Prespa
, the empire's capital, and was buried there. He was soon recognized as a martyr
and saint
; his feast day is celebrated on 22 May
. His widow, Kosara, reburied him in the Prečista Krajinska Church, near his court in southeastern Duklja. In 1381 his remains were preserved in the Church of Saint Jovan Vladimir near Elbasan
, and since 1995 they have been kept in the Orthodox
cathedral
of Tirana
, Albania
. The saint's remains are considered relics, and attract many believers, especially on his feast day, when the relics are taken to the church near Elbasan for a celebration.
The cross Vladimir held when he was beheaded is also regarded as a relic. Traditionally under the care of the Andrović family from the village of Velji Mikulići in southeastern Montenegro
, the cross is only shown to believers on the Feast of Pentecost
, when it is carried in a procession to the summit of Mount Rumija
. Jovan Vladimir is regarded as the first Serbian saint
and the patron saint
of the town of Bar
in Montenegro. His earliest, lost hagiography
was probably written sometime between 1075 and 1089; a shortened version, written in Latin, is preserved in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
. His hagiography in Greek, composed from oral traditions, was first published in 1690, and a translation into Church Slavonic was published, with some corrections, in 1802. The saint is classically depicted on icon
s as a monarch wearing a crown and regal clothes, with a cross in his right hand and his own head in his left hand. He is fabled to have carried his severed head to his place of burial.
principality whose borders coincided for the most part with present-day Montenegro
. The state rose greatly in power after the disintegration of Serbia that followed the death of its ruler, Prince Časlav
, in around 943. Though the extent of Časlav's Serbia is uncertain, it is known that it included Raška
(now part of Central Serbia
) and Bosnia
. Raška had subsequently come under Duklja's political dominance, along with the neighboring Serbian principalities of Travunia
and Zachlumia
(in present-day Herzegovina
and south Dalmatia
). Byzantines often referred to Duklja as Serbia.
Around 1000, Vladimir, still a boy, succeeded his father Petrislav as the ruler of Duklja. Petrislav is regarded as the earliest ruler of Duklja whose existence can be confirmed by primary historical sources
, which also indicate that he was in close relations with Byzantium. The principality consisted of two provinces: Zenta in the south and Podgoria in the north. A local tradition has it that Vladimir's court was situated on the hillock called Kraljič, at the village of Koštanjica near Lake Skadar, in the Krajina
region of southeastern Montenegro. Near Kraljič lie the ruins of the Prečista Krajinska Church (dedicated to Theotokos
), which already existed in Vladimir's time.
Vladimir's reign is recounted in Chapter 36 of the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
, completed between 1299 and 1301; Chapters 34 and 35 deal with his father and uncles. These three chapters of the chronicle are most likely based on a lost biography of Vladimir written in Duklja sometime between 1075 and 1089. Both the chronicle and the 11th-century Byzantine historian John Skylitzes
described Vladimir as a wise, pious, just, and peaceful ruler.
Vladimir's reign coincided with a protracted war between the Byzantine Emperor Basil II
(r. 976–1025) and the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
, Tsar Samuel (r. 980–1014). Basil II might have sought the support of other Balkan
rulers for his fight against Samuel, and he intensified diplomatic contacts with Duklja for this purpose. A Serbian diplomatic mission, most likely sent from Duklja, arrived in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople
in 992 and was recorded in a charter of the Great Lavra Monastery, written in 993.
In 1004 or 1005, Emperor Basil recovered from Samuel the city of Dyrrhachium, the major stronghold on the Adriatic
coast, south of Duklja. Since 1005, Basil had also controlled the coastal lands north and south of that city, parts of the Byzantine Theme of Dyrrhachium
. Byzantium thus established a territorial contact with Prince Vladimir's Duklja, which was in turn connected to the Byzantine Theme of Dalmatia
, consisting of Adriatic towns northwest of Duklja. The Republic of Venice
, an ally of Byzantium, militarily intervened in Dalmatia in 1000 to protect the towns from attacks by Croats
and Narentines. Venetian rule over Dalmatia on behalf of Basil was confirmed by the emperor in 1004 or 1005. Svetislav Surinja, a Venetian ally, was crowned Croatian king. Venice, the Dalmatian towns, Croatia, and Vladimir's Duklja, were thus aligned in a compact pro-Byzantine bloc connected to Byzantium via Dyrrhachium.
The close relations with Byzantium, however, did not help Prince Vladimir. Samuel attacked Duklja in 1009 or 1010, as part of his campaign aimed at breaking up that pro-Byzantine bloc, which could pose a threat to him. Vladimir retreated with his army and many of his people to his fortress on a hill named Oblik, close to the southeastern tip of Lake Skadar. According to the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, he performed a miracle there: the hill was infested with venomous snakes, but when he offered up a prayer to the Lord, their bites became harmless.
Part of Samuel's army lay siege to the hill, and the remainder attacked the nearby coastal town of Ulcinj
, which was part of the fortification system of the Theme of Dyrrhachium. Vladimir eventually surrendered, a decision the chronicle attributed to his wish to deliver his people from famine and the sword. He was sent to a prison in Samuel's capital of Prespa
, located in western Macedonia
. Having failed to conquer Ulcinj, which received men and supplies by sea from Dalmatian towns, the tsar directed his forces toward Dalmatia
. There he burned the towns of Kotor
and Dubrovnik
, and ravaged the region as far northwest as Zadar
. He then returned to Bulgaria via Bosnia and Raška. A consequence of this campaign was the Bulgarian occupation of Duklja, Travunia, Zachlumia, Bosnia, and Raška. Venetian, and indirectly Byzantine power in Dalmatia was weakened. Samuel succeeded to break up the pro-Byzantine bloc.
The chronicle states that while Vladimir languished in the Prespa prison, praying day and night, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and foretold that he would shortly be freed, but that he would die a martyr's death. His fate in captivity was described in a romantic story involving him and Theodora Kosara
, Tsar Samuel's daughter. This is the chronicle's description of how they met:
Kosara then begged her father for Vladimir's hand, and the tsar granted her request. He restored his new son-in-law to the throne of Duklja. In reality, the marriage was probably a result of Samuel's political assessment: he may have decided that Vladimir would be a more loyal vassal if he was married to his daughter. Resolving thus the question of Duklja, Samuel could concentrate more troops in Macedonia and Thessaly
, the main site of his conflict with Byzantium. The chronicle claims that the tsar also gave Vladimir the whole territory of Dyrrachium. The prince could in fact have been given a northern part of that territory, which was partially under Samuel's rule. A brief note on Vladimir by John Skylitzes may indicate that the prince also received some territory in Raška. His paternal uncle Dragimir, ruler of Travunia and Zachlumia, who had retreated before Samuel's army, was given back his lands to rule, also as the tsar's vassal.
Thereafter, as recorded in the chronicle, "Vladimir lived with his wife Cossara in all sanctity and chastity, worshipping God and serving him night and day, and he ruled the people entrusted to him in a Godfearing and just manner." There are no indications that Vladimir took any part in his father-in-law's war efforts. The warfare culminated with Samuel's disastrous defeat
by the Byzantines in 1014, and in the same year, on 6 October, the tsar died of a heart attack. He was succeeded by his son, Gavril Radomir
, whose reign was short: his cousin Ivan Vladislav
killed him in 1015 and ruled in his stead. Vladislav sent messengers to Vladimir demanding his attendance at the court in Prespa, but Kosara advised him not to go and went there herself instead. Vladislav received her with honor and urged Vladimir to come as well, sending him a golden cross as a token of safe conduct. The chronicle relates the prince's reply:
Two bishops and a hermit came to Vladimir, gave him a wooden cross, and confirmed that the tsar had made a pledge of faith on it. Vladimir kissed the cross and clutched it to his chest, collected a few followers, and set off for Prespa. As he arrived, on 22 May 1016, he went into a church to pray. When he exited the church, he was struck down by Vladislav's soldiers and beheaded. According to Skylitzes, Vladimir believed Vladislav's pledge, told to him by the Bulgarian archbishop David. He then allowed himself to fall into Vladislav's hands, and was executed. The motivation behind the murder is unclear. Since Samuel's defeat in 1014, the Bulgarians had been losing battle after battle, and Vladislav probably suspected or was informed that Vladimir planned to restore Duklja's alliance with Byzantium. This alliance would be particularly disturbing for Tsar Vladislav because of the proximity of Duklja to Dyrrhachium, which was a target of the tsar's war efforts.
In early 1018 Vladislav led an unsuccessful attack against Dyrrhachium, outside whose walls he found his death. In the same year, the Byzantine army—led by the victorious Emperor Basil—terminated the First Bulgarian Empire. As Vladimir and Kosara had no children, his successor was his uncle Dragimir, ruler of Travunia and Zachlumia. Accompanied by soldiers, he set off for Duklja to establish himself as its ruler, probably in the first half of 1018. When he came to Kotor
, the town's inhabitants ambushed and killed him after inviting him to a banquet, and his soldiers returned to Travunia. Duklja was not mentioned again in the sources until the 1030s. Some scholars believe that it was placed under direct Byzantine rule around 1018, while others believe it remained a Byzantine vassal state under an unknown native ruler.
. Vladimir was the first ruler of a Serbian state who was elevated to sainthood. The rulers from the House of Nemanjić
, who reigned over the Serbian state which grew around Raška, would almost all be canonized—starting with Nemanja
, the saintly founder of the dynasty.
Several years after his burial, Kosara transported the remains to Duklja. She interred him in the Prečista Krajinska Church, near his court, in the region of Krajina
. The relics drew many devotees to the church, which became a center of pilgrimage
. Kosara did not remarry; at her request, she was interred in Prečista Krajinska, at the feet of her husband. In around 1215—when Krajina was under the rule of Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanjić—the relics were presumably removed from this church and transported to Dyrrhachium by the troops of Michael I
, the despot of Epirus
. At that time Despot Michael had briefly captured from Serbia the city of Skadar, which is only about 20 km (12.4 mi) east of the church. Jovan Vladimir was mentioned as the patron saint of Dyrrhachium in a Greek liturgical
text.
In 1368 Dyrrhachium was taken from the Angevins by Karlo Thopia, an Albanian
lord. In 1381 he rebuilt, in Byzantine style, a church ruined in an earthquake near the town of Elbasan, in the narrow valley of the stream Kusha, a tributary of the Shkumbin
River. The church was dedicated to Saint Jovan Vladimir, as the inscription which Thopia placed above its south entrance declared in Greek, Latin, and Serbian. The saint's relics were kept in a reliquary
, a wooden casket, which was enclosed in a shrine
, 3 m (9.8 ft) in height, within the church.
Serbian scholar Stojan Novaković
theorized that Vladimir was buried near Elbasan immediately after his death. Novaković conjectured that the earthquake which ruined the old church happened during Thopia's rule, and that Thopia reinstated the relics in the rebuilt church. If Vladimir was previously buried in Duklja, Novaković reasoned, he would not be absent, as he was, from Serbian sources written during the reign of the Nemanjić dynasty, who ruled over Duklja (later named Zeta) from 1186 to 1371. Novaković did not consider the idea that the relics might have been removed from Duklja to Dyrrhachium in around 1215. He commented on the chronicle's account that Kosara transported Vladimir's body "to a place known as Krajina, where his court was": While his court was possibly in the region of Krajina before his captivity, after he married Kosara it could have been near Elbasan, in the territory of Dyrrachium he received from Tsar Samuel. He was interred near the latter court, which was replaced in the chronicle with the former.
An Orthodox monastery grew around the church near Elbasan, and became the see of the newly founded Archdiocese of Dyrrhachium in the 18th century. In more recent times the monastery fell into disrepair, and in the 1960s it was closed by the Communist authorities of Albania; in 1967 the reliquary with the saint's relics was moved to Saint Mary's Church in Elbasan. The dilapidated monastery was returned to the Church in the 1990s. The restoration of its church and other buildings was completed in 2005. Since around 1995 the relics have been kept in the Orthodox cathedral of Tirana
, the capital of Albania, and are brought back to the monastery only for the saint's feast day.
Each year on the Feast of Saint Jovan Vladimir, a great number of devotees come to the monastery, popularly known as Shingjon among Albanians. In the morning, the reliquary is placed at the center of the church under a canopy, before being opened. After the morning liturgy has been celebrated, chanting priests carry the reliquary three times around the church, followed by the devotees, who hold lit candles. The reliquary is then placed in front of the church, to be kissed by the believers. The priests give them pieces of cotton that have been kept inside the reliquary since the previous feast. There are numerous stories about people, both Christians and Muslims, who were healed after they prayed before the saint's relics.
Saint Jovan Vladimir is the patron saint of the modern-day town of Bar
in south Montenegro, built at its present location in 1976 about 4 km (2.5 mi) from the site of the old town of Bar, which was destroyed in a war and abandoned in 1878. A religious procession celebrating the saint passes on his feast day through the town's streets with church banners and icons. The procession is usually led by the Serbian Orthodox
Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral
. The bronze sculpture King Jovan Vladimir, 4 m (13.1 ft) in height, was installed at the central square of Bar in 2001; it is a work by sculptor Nenad Šoškić. Although Vladimir was only a prince, he is referred to as "king" in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, as well as among people of southeastern Montenegro; hence the hillock thought to be the site of his court is named Kraljič (kralj means "king").
plated with silver, with a brass ball attached to its lower arm, into which a stick is inserted when the cross is carried. The cross is 45 cm (17.7 in) high, 38 cm (15 in) wide, and 2.5 cm (0.984251968503937 in) thick.
According to Russian scholars Ivan Yastrebov and Pavel Rovinski, the cross was originally kept in the Prečista Krajinska Church, in which Kosara had interred Vladimir. At the peak of Islamization
of the Krajina region in the 18th century, the church was torn down and the cross was given to the people of the region. They believed that it could protect against evil and ensure a rich harvest, and kept it as sacred, although they had converted to Islam. Yastrebov and Rovinski relate that the cross was later taken from them by the neighboring clan
of Mrkojevići
. When they too converted to Islam, they entrusted the cross to the Andrović family—their Orthodox Christian neighbors.
The cross, followed by a religious procession, is carried each year on the Feast of Pentecost
from Velji Mikulići to the summit of Mount Rumija
. The procession is preceded by a midnight liturgy
in the village's Church of Saint Nicholas. After the liturgy, the ascent begins up a steep path to the 1593 m (5,226.4 ft) summit of Rumija. The cross, carried by a member of the Andrović family, leads the procession, followed by an Orthodox priest and the other participants. Catholics and Muslims of the region have traditionally participated in the procession. It is carefully observed that no one precedes the cross; to do so is considered a bad omen. The ascending devotees sing:
In the past, the standard-bearer
of the Mrkojevići clan, a Muslim, walked next to the cross with a flag in his left and a knife in his right hand, ready to use it if anyone attempted to take the cross. The clan especially feared that the participants from Krajina might try to recover the sacred object. At the end of 19th century the number of Muslims in the procession dropped as their religious and political leaders disapproved of their participation in it. After World War II, Yugoslavia's socialist government
discouraged public religious celebrations, and the procession was not held between 1959 and 1984.
Tradition has it that a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity stood at the summit until it was razed by the Ottomans
; in another version, the church crumbled after a boy and a girl sinned within. Before 2005, there was a custom to pick up a stone at a certain distance from the peak and carry it to the supposed site of the church in the belief that when a sufficient quantity of stones were collected, the church would rebuild itself. A new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity was consecrated on the site by the Serbian Orthodox Church
on 31 July 2005.
The procession arrives at the peak before dawn, and at sunrise the morning liturgy begins. After prayers have been offered, the procession goes back to Velji Mikulići, again following the cross. The participants would formerly gather on a flat area 300 m (984.3 ft) from the peak, where they would spend some five or six hours in a joyous celebration and sports, and have a communal meal. On the way back, some people pick the so-called herb of Rumija (Onosma visianii), whose root is reputed for its medicinal properties. The procession ends at the Church of Saint Nicholas, and folk festivities at Velji Mikulići continue into the night. Until the next Feast of Pentecost, the cross is kept at a secret location. It was formerly known only to two oldest male members of the Andrović family, and since around 2000 the Androvićs have appointed a committee to keep the cross.
of Saint Jovan Vladimir is contained in Chapter 36 of the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
. This chronicle, written in Latin, was completed between 1299 and 1301 in the town of Bar, then part of the Serbian Kingdom. Its author was Rudger, the Catholic Archbishop of Bar
, who was probably of Czech origin. He wrote Chapter 36 as a summary of an older hagiography of Vladimir, written in Duklja most likely sometime between 1075 and 1089. This is the period when Duklja's rulers from the House of Vojislavljević
endeavored to obtain the royal insignia from the Pope, and to elevate the Bar Bishopric to an archbishopric. They represented Prince Vladimir as the saintly founder of their dynasty; they were, according to the chronicle, descendants of his uncle Dragimir. The Vojislavljevićs succeeded in those endeavors, though Vladimir was not recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Despite its hagiographic nature, Chapter 36 contains a lot of reliable historical data. Chapters 34 and 35, which deal with Vladimir's father and uncles, are probably based on the prologue of the 11th-century hagiography. Chapters 1–33 of the chronicle are based on oral traditions and its author's constructions, and are for the most part dismissed by historians.
The hagiography in the chronicle is the source for the "Poem of King Vladimir" composed in the 18th century by a Franciscan
monk from Dalmatia, Andrija Kačić Miošić
. The poem is part of Miošić's history of the South Slavs
in prose and verse, written in the Croatian
vernacular of Dalmatia. This book was first printed in Venice in 1756 and was soon read beyond Dalmatia, including Serbia and Bulgaria (then under Ottoman
rule, as was most of the Balkans
). The "Poem of King Vladimir" is composed in a manner derived from the style of the South Slavic oral epics. It describes Vladimir's captivity in Bulgaria, the love between Kosara and him, Tsar Samuel's blessing of their marriage, and their wedding. It concludes with the newlyweds setting off for Vladimir's court, which Miošić places in the Herzegovinian city of Trebinje
.
The Greek akolouthia on Saint Jovan Vladimir, containing his hagiography and hymns to be chanted in churches at canonical hours during his feast day, was printed in Venice in 1690. The book was reprinted with small changes in 1774 and 1858. It was written from oral traditions by the deputy of the Orthodox Archbishop of Ohrid, Cosmas, who resided at the Monastery of Saint Jovan Vladimir, near Elbasan. Copies of the book were distributed to other Orthodox churches and individuals. The akolouthia was also published in 1741 in Moscopole
, an Aromanian
center in southeastern Albania, as part of a compilation dedicated to saints popular in that region. A shorter hagiography of the saint, based on his life contained in this akolouthia, was included in the Synaxarium
composed by Nicodemus the Hagiorite, printed in Venice (1819) and Athens (1868). Cosmas's text was the basis for the Church Slavonic akolouthias on the saint, which appeared in Venice (1802) and Belgrade (1861). The latter was printed as part of the third edition of Srbljak, a compendium of akolouthias on Serb saints, published by the Serbian Orthodox Church. The saint's life in English, translated from Church Slavonic, appeared in the book Lives of the Serbian Saints, published in London in 1921 by the Anglican Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
In Cosmas's writing, the saint was named "Jovan from Vladimir"; his father was Nemanja
(historically, Grand Prince of Raška from 1166 to 1196), and his grandfather was Simeon
(Bulgarian Tsar from 893 to 927). He married a daughter of Samuel, the tsar of Bulgaria and Ohrid
. He succeeded his father as emperor of Albania, Illyria, and Dalmatia. After Byzantine Emperor Basil defeated Tsar Samuel, Emperor Jovan defeated Basil. He also fought against the Bogomil
and Messalian heretics. From his early youth, Jovan Vladimir longed for the Kingdom of God. After he was married, he prayed day and night, and abstained from intercourse with his wife. She was a heretic like her brother, whom she incited to kill Jovan. When the two brothers-in-law rode together, accompanied by soldiers, the heretic suddenly struck Jovan with a sword at a mountain pass
named Derven, but could not cut him. Only when Jovan gave him his own sword was the murderer able to cut off his head. Jovan caught it in the air and rode on to the church he had built near Elbasan. There he put his head down, saying, "Lord Jesus Christ, in your hands I place my spirit," and died; it was 899. He was buried in the church, which then became the scene of many miracles. The saint's beneficent power is described in the hagiography:
The kontakion
which is contained, among other hymns, in the Church Slavonic akolouthia published as part of Srbljak, praises the saint:
A classical example of the iconography
of Saint Jovan Vladimir appears in the 1858 edition of his Greek akolouthia. The illustration shows the saint wearing a crown with a double lily wreath, his right foot on a sword. He holds a cross, a sceptre
, and an olive
branch in his right hand, while his crowned severed head is in his left hand. He wears an ermine cloak and a robe with floral designs, adorned with large gems surrounded by pearls. The Greek text beneath the illustration names the saint as Jovan Vladimir, the pious Emperor of all Albania and Bulgaria, the graceful Wonderworker
and Great Martyr
, and true Myrrh
-gusher. In his hagiography included in the Synaxarium of Nicodemus the Hagiorite, the saint is referred to as Emperor of the Serbs (τῶν Σέρβων βασιλεύς).
Saint Jovan Vladimir is represented on frescos and icons in three monasteries of Mount Athos
: Hilandar
, Zograf
, and Philotheou
; three Bulgarian monasteries: Rila
, Troyan
, and Lozen; in the Ardenica Monastery
in Albania; and in the Saint Catherine's Monastery
on the Sinai Peninsula
. Hristofor Zhefarovich
, an engraver and painter from Macedonia
, created in 1742 in Vienna
a copperplate depicting the saint's miracles. Its printed impressions were disseminated to a great number of Orthodox Christian homes throughout the Balkans. The same author included him among the rulers and saints whom he illustrated in his Stemmatographia. The cult of Saint Jovan Vladimir was popular in Macedonia, especially during the 18th century, when he was often depicted on frescoes and icons in Macedonian churches.
. On a hill above the village of Pesočani in the Municipality of Debarca
, there is a locality called Vladimirovo, at which some ruins can be seen. The locals claimed that Vladimir was born there, and brought his severed head there. The Church of Saint Athanasius near Pesočani, now in ruins, is reputed to have been built by Vladimir. People from the region gathered there each year on the eve of his feast day. They lit candles on the remains of the church's walls, and prayed to the saint. Tradition has it that the Monastery of Saint Naum near Ohrid
had a bell tower
named after the saint, in the foundation of which a portion of his relics was placed.
In the western fringe of Macedonia, which is now part of Albania, Jovan Vladimir was remembered as a saintly ruler, cut down by his father-in-law, an emperor, who believed some slander that he was a womanizer. The enraged emperor, accompanied by soldiers, found Vladimir on a mountain pass named Qafë Thanë (also known as Derven), on the road between the Macedonian town of Struga
and Elbasan. He struck his son-in-law with a sword, but could not cut him. Only when Vladimir gave him his own sword was the emperor able to cut off his head. Vladimir took his severed head and went toward Elbasan. He fell under an oak, after the tree bowed down before him. The saint was interred in the church which was subsequently built at that place and dedicated to him.
According to a legend recorded in the Greek hagiography, Jovan Vladimir built the church near Elbasan. Its location, deep in a dense forest, was chosen by God, and an eagle with a shining cross on its head showed it to Vladimir. After the saint was decapitated, he brought his head to the church, and was buried inside. A group of Franks
once stole the casket with his miraculous relics. The casket turned out to be extremely heavy, breaking the backs of hinnies on which the Franks carried it. They eventually put it in the Shkumbin River to take it to the sea, but the river flooded, and the casket—radiating light—went back upstream toward the church. The inhabitants of that area took it out of the water and returned it to the church in a festive procession.
A group of thieves stole, on a summer day, horses that belonged to the Monastery of Saint Jovan Vladimir. When they came to the nearby stream of Kusha to take the horses across, it appeared to them like an enormous river. They moved away from it in fear, but when they looked back from a distance, the stream appeared small. As they approached it again, the Kusha again became huge and impassable. After several such attempts to cross the stream, the thieves realized that this was a miracle of the saint, so they released the monastery's horses and ran away in horror.
A possible legend of Prince Vladimir was recorded by Branislav Nušić
in the 19th century in the city of Korçë
, southeastern Albania, close to Macedonia. Ruins on top of a hill above Korçë were said to be remains of the court of a Latin (Catholic) king, whose kingdom neighbored the state of an Orthodox emperor. The king asked the hand of the emperor's daughter, who agreed to become his wife only if he built an Orthodox church. He did so, and she married him, but on the first night of marriage she killed him. She then became a nun, and the king's body was taken somewhere—he was not buried near his court. Macedonian Slavs inhabiting Saint Achillius Island in the Small Prespa Lake
in Greece told of an emperor named Mirče. He lived on their island, where he was killed by a cousin of his out of jealousy, and his body was taken via Ohrid to Albania.
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...
: Јован Владимир; died 22 May 1016) was ruler of Duklja
Duklja
Doclea or Duklja was a medieval state with hereditary lands roughly encompassing the territories of present-day southeastern Montenegro, from Kotor on the west to the river Bojana on the east and to the sources of Zeta and Morača rivers on the north....
, the most powerful Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
principality of the time, from around 1000 to 1016. He ruled during the protracted war between the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and the First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
. His close relationship with Byzantium did not save Duklja from the expansionist Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
Samuel of Bulgaria, who conquered the principality in around 1010 and took Jovan Vladimir prisoner. A medieval chronicle asserts that Samuel's daughter, Theodora Kosara
Theodora Kosara of Bulgaria
Theodora Kosara of Bulgaria was the daughter of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria and Kosara of Bulgaria.Theodora Kosara fell in love with Jovan Vladimir of Doclea who was prisoner of her father Samuil...
, fell in love with Vladimir and begged her father for his hand. The tsar allowed the marriage and returned Duklja to Vladimir, who ruled as his vassal
Vassal state
A vassal state is any state that is subordinate to another. The vassal in these cases is the ruler, rather than the state itself. Being a vassal most commonly implies providing military assistance to the dominant state when requested to do so; it sometimes implies paying tribute, but a state which...
.
Vladimir was acknowledged as a pious, just, and peaceful ruler. He took no part in his father-in-law's war efforts. The warfare culminated with Samuel's defeat by the Byzantines in 1014; the tsar died soon afterward. In 1016 Vladimir fell victim to a plot by Ivan Vladislav
Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that....
, the last ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire. He was beheaded in front of a church in Prespa
Prespa (medieval town)
Prespa was a medieval town, situated in the homonymous area in south-western Macedonia. It was a residence and burial place of the Bulgarian emperor Samuel and according to some sources capital of the First Bulgarian Empire and seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate in the last decades of the 10th...
, the empire's capital, and was buried there. He was soon recognized as a martyr
Christian martyrs
A Christian martyr is one who is killed for following Christianity, through stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake or other forms of torture and capital punishment. The word "martyr" comes from the Greek word μάρτυς, mártys, which means "witness."...
and saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
; his feast day is celebrated on 22 May
May 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
May 21 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 23All fixed commemorations below celebrated on June 4 by Old Calendarists-Saints:* Righteous Melchizedek, King of Salem...
. His widow, Kosara, reburied him in the Prečista Krajinska Church, near his court in southeastern Duklja. In 1381 his remains were preserved in the Church of Saint Jovan Vladimir near Elbasan
Elbasan
Elbasan is a city in central Albania. It is located on the Shkumbin River in the District of Elbasan and the County of Elbasan, at...
, and since 1995 they have been kept in the Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
of Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
. The saint's remains are considered relics, and attract many believers, especially on his feast day, when the relics are taken to the church near Elbasan for a celebration.
The cross Vladimir held when he was beheaded is also regarded as a relic. Traditionally under the care of the Andrović family from the village of Velji Mikulići in southeastern Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, the cross is only shown to believers on the Feast of Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
, when it is carried in a procession to the summit of Mount Rumija
Rumija
Rumija is a mountain in South Montenegro. The highest point of Rumija Mountain is Rumija, which is high.Rumija rises above the town of Bar, and is a natural Dinaric barrier, separating Adriatic Sea from Skadar Lake basin....
. Jovan Vladimir is regarded as the first Serbian saint
Serbian Saints
Over the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the church has had many people who were venerated to sainthood. The list below is made up of Holy Serbs and their feast days - according to the Gregorian calendar.-Serbian Saints:...
and the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of the town of Bar
Bar, Montenegro
Bar is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has a population of 17,727...
in Montenegro. His earliest, lost hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
was probably written sometime between 1075 and 1089; a shortened version, written in Latin, is preserved in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja is a medieval chronicle originally written by a Catholic monk of the Cistercian order by the name of Roger for the Croatian Ban Paul Šubić because an order form by Ban Šubić and a quote of Catholic monk have been discovered...
. His hagiography in Greek, composed from oral traditions, was first published in 1690, and a translation into Church Slavonic was published, with some corrections, in 1802. The saint is classically depicted on icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
s as a monarch wearing a crown and regal clothes, with a cross in his right hand and his own head in his left hand. He is fabled to have carried his severed head to his place of burial.
Life
Duklja was an early medieval SerbianSerbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
principality whose borders coincided for the most part with present-day Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
. The state rose greatly in power after the disintegration of Serbia that followed the death of its ruler, Prince Časlav
Caslav Klonimirovic
Časlav Klonimirović or Časlav of Serbia was Prince of the Serbs from ca. 927 until his death in 960. He significantly expanded the Serbian Principality when he managed to unite several Slavic tribes, stretching his realm over the shores of the Adriatic Sea, the Sava river and the Morava valley...
, in around 943. Though the extent of Časlav's Serbia is uncertain, it is known that it included Raška
Raška (region)
Raška is a region in south-central Serbia and northern Montenegro. It is mostly situated in the Raška District. The southern part of Raška is also known as Sandžak and is divided between Serbia and Montenegro....
(now part of Central Serbia
Central Serbia
Central Serbia , also referred to as Serbia proper , was the region of Serbia from 1945 to 2009. It included central parts of Serbia outside of the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. The region of Central Serbia was not an administrative division of Serbia as such; it was under the...
) and Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
. Raška had subsequently come under Duklja's political dominance, along with the neighboring Serbian principalities of Travunia
Travunia
Travunia was a medieval region, administrative unit and principality, which was part of Medieval Serbia , and in its last years, the Bosnian Kingdom . The county became hereditary in a number of noble houses, often kin to the ruling dynasty. The region came under Ottoman rule in 1482...
and Zachlumia
Zachlumia
Zachlumia or Zahumlje was a medieval principality located in modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia...
(in present-day Herzegovina
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
and south Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
). Byzantines often referred to Duklja as Serbia.
Around 1000, Vladimir, still a boy, succeeded his father Petrislav as the ruler of Duklja. Petrislav is regarded as the earliest ruler of Duklja whose existence can be confirmed by primary historical sources
Primary source
Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied....
, which also indicate that he was in close relations with Byzantium. The principality consisted of two provinces: Zenta in the south and Podgoria in the north. A local tradition has it that Vladimir's court was situated on the hillock called Kraljič, at the village of Koštanjica near Lake Skadar, in the Krajina
Krajina, Montenegro
Krajina or Kraja is an area in southeastern Montenegro stretching from the southern coast of Lake Skadar to the mountain of Rumija, comprising several villages. It is inhabited mainly by Albanians and Montenegrins, which make up most of population...
region of southeastern Montenegro. Near Kraljič lie the ruins of the Prečista Krajinska Church (dedicated to Theotokos
Theotokos
Theotokos is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God...
), which already existed in Vladimir's time.
Vladimir's reign is recounted in Chapter 36 of the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja is a medieval chronicle originally written by a Catholic monk of the Cistercian order by the name of Roger for the Croatian Ban Paul Šubić because an order form by Ban Šubić and a quote of Catholic monk have been discovered...
, completed between 1299 and 1301; Chapters 34 and 35 deal with his father and uncles. These three chapters of the chronicle are most likely based on a lost biography of Vladimir written in Duklja sometime between 1075 and 1089. Both the chronicle and the 11th-century Byzantine historian John Skylitzes
John Skylitzes
John Skylitzes, latinized as Ioannes Scylitzes was a Greek historian of the late 11th century. He was born in the beginning of 1040's and died after 1101.- Life :Very little is known about his life...
described Vladimir as a wise, pious, just, and peaceful ruler.
Vladimir's reign coincided with a protracted war between the Byzantine Emperor Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...
(r. 976–1025) and the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
, Tsar Samuel (r. 980–1014). Basil II might have sought the support of other Balkan
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
rulers for his fight against Samuel, and he intensified diplomatic contacts with Duklja for this purpose. A Serbian diplomatic mission, most likely sent from Duklja, arrived in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in 992 and was recorded in a charter of the Great Lavra Monastery, written in 993.
In 1004 or 1005, Emperor Basil recovered from Samuel the city of Dyrrhachium, the major stronghold on the Adriatic
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
coast, south of Duklja. Since 1005, Basil had also controlled the coastal lands north and south of that city, parts of the Byzantine Theme of Dyrrhachium
Dyrrhachium (theme)
The Theme of Dyrrhachium was a Byzantine military-civilian province located in modern Albania, covering the Adriatic coast of the country...
. Byzantium thus established a territorial contact with Prince Vladimir's Duklja, which was in turn connected to the Byzantine Theme of Dalmatia
Dalmatia (theme)
The Theme of Dalmatia was a Byzantine theme on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea in Southeastern Europe, headquartered at Zadar.- History :...
, consisting of Adriatic towns northwest of Duklja. The Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
, an ally of Byzantium, militarily intervened in Dalmatia in 1000 to protect the towns from attacks by Croats
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
The Kingdom of Croatia , also known as the Kingdom of the Croats , was a medieval kingdom covering most of what is today Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkans.Established in 925, it ruled as a sovereign state for almost two centuries...
and Narentines. Venetian rule over Dalmatia on behalf of Basil was confirmed by the emperor in 1004 or 1005. Svetislav Surinja, a Venetian ally, was crowned Croatian king. Venice, the Dalmatian towns, Croatia, and Vladimir's Duklja, were thus aligned in a compact pro-Byzantine bloc connected to Byzantium via Dyrrhachium.
The close relations with Byzantium, however, did not help Prince Vladimir. Samuel attacked Duklja in 1009 or 1010, as part of his campaign aimed at breaking up that pro-Byzantine bloc, which could pose a threat to him. Vladimir retreated with his army and many of his people to his fortress on a hill named Oblik, close to the southeastern tip of Lake Skadar. According to the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, he performed a miracle there: the hill was infested with venomous snakes, but when he offered up a prayer to the Lord, their bites became harmless.
Part of Samuel's army lay siege to the hill, and the remainder attacked the nearby coastal town of Ulcinj
Ulcinj
Ulcinj is a coastal resort town and municipality in Montenegro. The town of Ulcinj has a population of 10,828 of which the majority are Albanians...
, which was part of the fortification system of the Theme of Dyrrhachium. Vladimir eventually surrendered, a decision the chronicle attributed to his wish to deliver his people from famine and the sword. He was sent to a prison in Samuel's capital of Prespa
Prespa (medieval town)
Prespa was a medieval town, situated in the homonymous area in south-western Macedonia. It was a residence and burial place of the Bulgarian emperor Samuel and according to some sources capital of the First Bulgarian Empire and seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate in the last decades of the 10th...
, located in western Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
. Having failed to conquer Ulcinj, which received men and supplies by sea from Dalmatian towns, the tsar directed his forces toward Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
. There he burned the towns of Kotor
Kotor
Kotor is a coastal city in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Gulf of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative center of the municipality....
and Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
, and ravaged the region as far northwest as Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
. He then returned to Bulgaria via Bosnia and Raška. A consequence of this campaign was the Bulgarian occupation of Duklja, Travunia, Zachlumia, Bosnia, and Raška. Venetian, and indirectly Byzantine power in Dalmatia was weakened. Samuel succeeded to break up the pro-Byzantine bloc.
The chronicle states that while Vladimir languished in the Prespa prison, praying day and night, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and foretold that he would shortly be freed, but that he would die a martyr's death. His fate in captivity was described in a romantic story involving him and Theodora Kosara
Theodora Kosara of Bulgaria
Theodora Kosara of Bulgaria was the daughter of Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria and Kosara of Bulgaria.Theodora Kosara fell in love with Jovan Vladimir of Doclea who was prisoner of her father Samuil...
, Tsar Samuel's daughter. This is the chronicle's description of how they met:
It came to pass that Samuel's daughter, Cossara, was animated and inspired by a beatific soul. She approached her father and begged that she might go down with her maids and wash the head and feet of the chained captives. Her father granted her wish, so she descended and carried out her good work. Noticing Vladimir among the prisoners, she was struck by his handsome appearance, his humility, gentleness and modesty, and the fact that he was full of wisdom and knowledge of the Lord. She stopped to talk to him, and to her his speech seemed sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.
Kosara then begged her father for Vladimir's hand, and the tsar granted her request. He restored his new son-in-law to the throne of Duklja. In reality, the marriage was probably a result of Samuel's political assessment: he may have decided that Vladimir would be a more loyal vassal if he was married to his daughter. Resolving thus the question of Duklja, Samuel could concentrate more troops in Macedonia and Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, the main site of his conflict with Byzantium. The chronicle claims that the tsar also gave Vladimir the whole territory of Dyrrachium. The prince could in fact have been given a northern part of that territory, which was partially under Samuel's rule. A brief note on Vladimir by John Skylitzes may indicate that the prince also received some territory in Raška. His paternal uncle Dragimir, ruler of Travunia and Zachlumia, who had retreated before Samuel's army, was given back his lands to rule, also as the tsar's vassal.
Thereafter, as recorded in the chronicle, "Vladimir lived with his wife Cossara in all sanctity and chastity, worshipping God and serving him night and day, and he ruled the people entrusted to him in a Godfearing and just manner." There are no indications that Vladimir took any part in his father-in-law's war efforts. The warfare culminated with Samuel's disastrous defeat
Battle of Kleidion
The Battle of Kleidion took place on July 29, 1014 between the Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire...
by the Byzantines in 1014, and in the same year, on 6 October, the tsar died of a heart attack. He was succeeded by his son, Gavril Radomir
Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria
Gavril Radomir , normally rendered as Gabriel Radomir in English and Gavriil Romanos in Greek, was the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire from October 1014 to August or September 1015. He was the son of Samuel of Bulgaria. During his father's reign, his cousin Ivan Vladislav and Ivan's entire...
, whose reign was short: his cousin Ivan Vladislav
Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that....
killed him in 1015 and ruled in his stead. Vladislav sent messengers to Vladimir demanding his attendance at the court in Prespa, but Kosara advised him not to go and went there herself instead. Vladislav received her with honor and urged Vladimir to come as well, sending him a golden cross as a token of safe conduct. The chronicle relates the prince's reply:
We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, was suspended not on a golden cross, but on a wooden one. Therefore, if both your faith and your words are true, send me a wooden cross in the hands of religious men, then in accordance with the belief and conviction of the Lord Jesus Christ, I will have faith in the life-giving cross and holy wood. I will come.
Two bishops and a hermit came to Vladimir, gave him a wooden cross, and confirmed that the tsar had made a pledge of faith on it. Vladimir kissed the cross and clutched it to his chest, collected a few followers, and set off for Prespa. As he arrived, on 22 May 1016, he went into a church to pray. When he exited the church, he was struck down by Vladislav's soldiers and beheaded. According to Skylitzes, Vladimir believed Vladislav's pledge, told to him by the Bulgarian archbishop David. He then allowed himself to fall into Vladislav's hands, and was executed. The motivation behind the murder is unclear. Since Samuel's defeat in 1014, the Bulgarians had been losing battle after battle, and Vladislav probably suspected or was informed that Vladimir planned to restore Duklja's alliance with Byzantium. This alliance would be particularly disturbing for Tsar Vladislav because of the proximity of Duklja to Dyrrhachium, which was a target of the tsar's war efforts.
In early 1018 Vladislav led an unsuccessful attack against Dyrrhachium, outside whose walls he found his death. In the same year, the Byzantine army—led by the victorious Emperor Basil—terminated the First Bulgarian Empire. As Vladimir and Kosara had no children, his successor was his uncle Dragimir, ruler of Travunia and Zachlumia. Accompanied by soldiers, he set off for Duklja to establish himself as its ruler, probably in the first half of 1018. When he came to Kotor
Kotor
Kotor is a coastal city in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Gulf of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative center of the municipality....
, the town's inhabitants ambushed and killed him after inviting him to a banquet, and his soldiers returned to Travunia. Duklja was not mentioned again in the sources until the 1030s. Some scholars believe that it was placed under direct Byzantine rule around 1018, while others believe it remained a Byzantine vassal state under an unknown native ruler.
Cult
Jovan Vladimir was buried in Prespa, in the same church in front of which he was martyred. His relics soon became famous as miraculously healing, attracting many people to his tomb. Shortly after his death he was recognized as a martyr and saint, being commemorated on 22 May. At that time, saints were recognized without any formal rite of canonizationCanonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
. Vladimir was the first ruler of a Serbian state who was elevated to sainthood. The rulers from the House of Nemanjić
House of Nemanjic
The Nemanjić was the most important dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages, and one of the most important in Southeastern Europe. The royal house produced eleven Serbian monarchs between 1166 and 1371. It's progenitor was Stephen Nemanja, who descended from a cadet line of the Vukanović dynasty...
, who reigned over the Serbian state which grew around Raška, would almost all be canonized—starting with Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja was the Grand Prince of the Grand Principality of Serbia from 1166 to 1196, a heir of the Vukanović dynasty that marked the beginning of a greater Serbian realm .He is remembered for his contributions to Serbian culture and...
, the saintly founder of the dynasty.
Several years after his burial, Kosara transported the remains to Duklja. She interred him in the Prečista Krajinska Church, near his court, in the region of Krajina
Krajina, Montenegro
Krajina or Kraja is an area in southeastern Montenegro stretching from the southern coast of Lake Skadar to the mountain of Rumija, comprising several villages. It is inhabited mainly by Albanians and Montenegrins, which make up most of population...
. The relics drew many devotees to the church, which became a center of pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
. Kosara did not remarry; at her request, she was interred in Prečista Krajinska, at the feet of her husband. In around 1215—when Krajina was under the rule of Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanjić—the relics were presumably removed from this church and transported to Dyrrhachium by the troops of Michael I
Michael I Komnenos Doukas
Michael I Komnenos Doukas or Comnenus Ducas , often inaccurately called Michael Angelos , was the founder and first ruler of the principality of Epirus from 1205 until his death in 1215.-Life:...
, the despot of Epirus
Despotate of Epirus
The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond...
. At that time Despot Michael had briefly captured from Serbia the city of Skadar, which is only about 20 km (12.4 mi) east of the church. Jovan Vladimir was mentioned as the patron saint of Dyrrhachium in a Greek liturgical
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
text.
In 1368 Dyrrhachium was taken from the Angevins by Karlo Thopia, an Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
lord. In 1381 he rebuilt, in Byzantine style, a church ruined in an earthquake near the town of Elbasan, in the narrow valley of the stream Kusha, a tributary of the Shkumbin
Shkumbin
Shkumbin is a river in central Albania, flowing into the Adriatic Sea. It is considered the dividing line for the two dialects of the Albanian language: Tosk and Gheg ....
River. The church was dedicated to Saint Jovan Vladimir, as the inscription which Thopia placed above its south entrance declared in Greek, Latin, and Serbian. The saint's relics were kept in a reliquary
Reliquary
A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
, a wooden casket, which was enclosed in a shrine
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....
, 3 m (9.8 ft) in height, within the church.
Serbian scholar Stojan Novaković
Stojan Novakovic
Stojan Novaković , was a Serbian literary critic, scholar, politician and diplomat, and the foremost Serbian historian of nineteenth century, holding the post of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia on two occasions.He was born in the western Serbian city of Šabac and died in the southern city of...
theorized that Vladimir was buried near Elbasan immediately after his death. Novaković conjectured that the earthquake which ruined the old church happened during Thopia's rule, and that Thopia reinstated the relics in the rebuilt church. If Vladimir was previously buried in Duklja, Novaković reasoned, he would not be absent, as he was, from Serbian sources written during the reign of the Nemanjić dynasty, who ruled over Duklja (later named Zeta) from 1186 to 1371. Novaković did not consider the idea that the relics might have been removed from Duklja to Dyrrhachium in around 1215. He commented on the chronicle's account that Kosara transported Vladimir's body "to a place known as Krajina, where his court was": While his court was possibly in the region of Krajina before his captivity, after he married Kosara it could have been near Elbasan, in the territory of Dyrrachium he received from Tsar Samuel. He was interred near the latter court, which was replaced in the chronicle with the former.
An Orthodox monastery grew around the church near Elbasan, and became the see of the newly founded Archdiocese of Dyrrhachium in the 18th century. In more recent times the monastery fell into disrepair, and in the 1960s it was closed by the Communist authorities of Albania; in 1967 the reliquary with the saint's relics was moved to Saint Mary's Church in Elbasan. The dilapidated monastery was returned to the Church in the 1990s. The restoration of its church and other buildings was completed in 2005. Since around 1995 the relics have been kept in the Orthodox cathedral of Tirana
Tirana
Tirana is the capital and the largest city of Albania. Modern Tirana was founded as an Ottoman town in 1614 by Sulejman Bargjini, a local ruler from Mullet, although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. Tirana became Albania's capital city in 1920 and has a population of over...
, the capital of Albania, and are brought back to the monastery only for the saint's feast day.
Each year on the Feast of Saint Jovan Vladimir, a great number of devotees come to the monastery, popularly known as Shingjon among Albanians. In the morning, the reliquary is placed at the center of the church under a canopy, before being opened. After the morning liturgy has been celebrated, chanting priests carry the reliquary three times around the church, followed by the devotees, who hold lit candles. The reliquary is then placed in front of the church, to be kissed by the believers. The priests give them pieces of cotton that have been kept inside the reliquary since the previous feast. There are numerous stories about people, both Christians and Muslims, who were healed after they prayed before the saint's relics.
Saint Jovan Vladimir is the patron saint of the modern-day town of Bar
Bar, Montenegro
Bar is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has a population of 17,727...
in south Montenegro, built at its present location in 1976 about 4 km (2.5 mi) from the site of the old town of Bar, which was destroyed in a war and abandoned in 1878. A religious procession celebrating the saint passes on his feast day through the town's streets with church banners and icons. The procession is usually led by the Serbian Orthodox
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral
Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral
The Metropolitanate of Montenegro is the largest diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro. Founded in 1219 by Saint Sava, it is now one of the most prominent dioceses in the Serbian Orthodox Church. The current Metropolitan is Amfilohije...
. The bronze sculpture King Jovan Vladimir, 4 m (13.1 ft) in height, was installed at the central square of Bar in 2001; it is a work by sculptor Nenad Šoškić. Although Vladimir was only a prince, he is referred to as "king" in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, as well as among people of southeastern Montenegro; hence the hillock thought to be the site of his court is named Kraljič (kralj means "king").
Cross of Vladimir
A cross, held by tradition to be the one that Jovan Vladimir received from Ivan Vladislav, and had in his hands when he was martyred, is a highly valued relic. It is under the care of the Andrović family from the village of Velji Mikulići near Bar and, according to the Androvićs, has been for centuries. The cross is made of yew woodTaxus baccata
Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...
plated with silver, with a brass ball attached to its lower arm, into which a stick is inserted when the cross is carried. The cross is 45 cm (17.7 in) high, 38 cm (15 in) wide, and 2.5 cm (0.984251968503937 in) thick.
According to Russian scholars Ivan Yastrebov and Pavel Rovinski, the cross was originally kept in the Prečista Krajinska Church, in which Kosara had interred Vladimir. At the peak of Islamization
Islamization
Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...
of the Krajina region in the 18th century, the church was torn down and the cross was given to the people of the region. They believed that it could protect against evil and ensure a rich harvest, and kept it as sacred, although they had converted to Islam. Yastrebov and Rovinski relate that the cross was later taken from them by the neighboring clan
Serb clans
Serb clans is a general term referring to what are known as plemena and bratstva , traditional geo-political units of the Western Balkans that now richly attest social anthropology and family history . The descendants of the clans are divided by regional and lately, national affiliation...
of Mrkojevići
Mrkojevici
Mrkovići is a clan and region in Montenegro. They are located right in between Bar and Ulcinj, bordering Montenegrin Krajina to the east. Some of its members consider themselves Serbs, Muslims or Bosniaks, while most consider themselves exclusively Montenegrin.The region of Mrkovići is located in...
. When they too converted to Islam, they entrusted the cross to the Andrović family—their Orthodox Christian neighbors.
The cross, followed by a religious procession, is carried each year on the Feast of Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
from Velji Mikulići to the summit of Mount Rumija
Rumija
Rumija is a mountain in South Montenegro. The highest point of Rumija Mountain is Rumija, which is high.Rumija rises above the town of Bar, and is a natural Dinaric barrier, separating Adriatic Sea from Skadar Lake basin....
. The procession is preceded by a midnight liturgy
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
in the village's Church of Saint Nicholas. After the liturgy, the ascent begins up a steep path to the 1593 m (5,226.4 ft) summit of Rumija. The cross, carried by a member of the Andrović family, leads the procession, followed by an Orthodox priest and the other participants. Catholics and Muslims of the region have traditionally participated in the procession. It is carefully observed that no one precedes the cross; to do so is considered a bad omen. The ascending devotees sing:
Krste nosim, Boga molim, Gospodi pomiluj. |
I carry the cross, I pray to God, Lord, have mercy. |
In the past, the standard-bearer
Standard-bearer
A standard-bearer is a person who bears an emblem called an ensign or standard, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used as a formal, visual symbol of a state, prince, military unit, etc.This can either be an occasional duty, often seen as an honour , or a...
of the Mrkojevići clan, a Muslim, walked next to the cross with a flag in his left and a knife in his right hand, ready to use it if anyone attempted to take the cross. The clan especially feared that the participants from Krajina might try to recover the sacred object. At the end of 19th century the number of Muslims in the procession dropped as their religious and political leaders disapproved of their participation in it. After World War II, Yugoslavia's socialist government
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
discouraged public religious celebrations, and the procession was not held between 1959 and 1984.
Tradition has it that a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity stood at the summit until it was razed by the Ottomans
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
; in another version, the church crumbled after a boy and a girl sinned within. Before 2005, there was a custom to pick up a stone at a certain distance from the peak and carry it to the supposed site of the church in the belief that when a sufficient quantity of stones were collected, the church would rebuild itself. A new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity was consecrated on the site by the Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
on 31 July 2005.
The procession arrives at the peak before dawn, and at sunrise the morning liturgy begins. After prayers have been offered, the procession goes back to Velji Mikulići, again following the cross. The participants would formerly gather on a flat area 300 m (984.3 ft) from the peak, where they would spend some five or six hours in a joyous celebration and sports, and have a communal meal. On the way back, some people pick the so-called herb of Rumija (Onosma visianii), whose root is reputed for its medicinal properties. The procession ends at the Church of Saint Nicholas, and folk festivities at Velji Mikulići continue into the night. Until the next Feast of Pentecost, the cross is kept at a secret location. It was formerly known only to two oldest male members of the Andrović family, and since around 2000 the Androvićs have appointed a committee to keep the cross.
Hagiography and iconography
The oldest preserved hagiographyHagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
of Saint Jovan Vladimir is contained in Chapter 36 of the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja is a medieval chronicle originally written by a Catholic monk of the Cistercian order by the name of Roger for the Croatian Ban Paul Šubić because an order form by Ban Šubić and a quote of Catholic monk have been discovered...
. This chronicle, written in Latin, was completed between 1299 and 1301 in the town of Bar, then part of the Serbian Kingdom. Its author was Rudger, the Catholic Archbishop of Bar
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bar
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bar is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Montenegro. It is centred in the city of Bar . It was erected as a diocese in the 9th century and elevated to an archdiocese in 1089...
, who was probably of Czech origin. He wrote Chapter 36 as a summary of an older hagiography of Vladimir, written in Duklja most likely sometime between 1075 and 1089. This is the period when Duklja's rulers from the House of Vojislavljević
House of Vojislavljevic
The Vojislavljević was the second Serb medieval dynasty, named after archon Stefan Vojislav, who wrestled the region from Byzantine hands in the 1040s...
endeavored to obtain the royal insignia from the Pope, and to elevate the Bar Bishopric to an archbishopric. They represented Prince Vladimir as the saintly founder of their dynasty; they were, according to the chronicle, descendants of his uncle Dragimir. The Vojislavljevićs succeeded in those endeavors, though Vladimir was not recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Despite its hagiographic nature, Chapter 36 contains a lot of reliable historical data. Chapters 34 and 35, which deal with Vladimir's father and uncles, are probably based on the prologue of the 11th-century hagiography. Chapters 1–33 of the chronicle are based on oral traditions and its author's constructions, and are for the most part dismissed by historians.
The hagiography in the chronicle is the source for the "Poem of King Vladimir" composed in the 18th century by a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
monk from Dalmatia, Andrija Kačić Miošić
Andrija Kacic Miošic
Andrija Kačić Miošić was a Croatian poet and Franciscan monk.Born in Brist near Makarska, he became a Franciscan monk. He was educated in Zaostrog monastery and Buda...
. The poem is part of Miošić's history of the South Slavs
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
in prose and verse, written in the Croatian
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
vernacular of Dalmatia. This book was first printed in Venice in 1756 and was soon read beyond Dalmatia, including Serbia and Bulgaria (then under Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule, as was most of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
). The "Poem of King Vladimir" is composed in a manner derived from the style of the South Slavic oral epics. It describes Vladimir's captivity in Bulgaria, the love between Kosara and him, Tsar Samuel's blessing of their marriage, and their wedding. It concludes with the newlyweds setting off for Vladimir's court, which Miošić places in the Herzegovinian city of Trebinje
Trebinje
Trebinje is the southernmost municipality and town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is administratively part of the Republika Srpska entity and is located in southeastern Herzegovina, some from the Adriatic Sea....
.
The Greek akolouthia on Saint Jovan Vladimir, containing his hagiography and hymns to be chanted in churches at canonical hours during his feast day, was printed in Venice in 1690. The book was reprinted with small changes in 1774 and 1858. It was written from oral traditions by the deputy of the Orthodox Archbishop of Ohrid, Cosmas, who resided at the Monastery of Saint Jovan Vladimir, near Elbasan. Copies of the book were distributed to other Orthodox churches and individuals. The akolouthia was also published in 1741 in Moscopole
Moscopole
Moscopole was a cultural and commercial center of the Aromanians, and now a small municipality in Korçë District, modern southeastern Albania. At its peak, in the mid 18th century, it hosted the first printing press in the Balkans outside Istanbul, educational institutions and numerous churches...
, an Aromanian
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
center in southeastern Albania, as part of a compilation dedicated to saints popular in that region. A shorter hagiography of the saint, based on his life contained in this akolouthia, was included in the Synaxarium
Synaxarium
Synaxarion, Synexarion, pl. Synaxaria —Latin: Synaxarium, Synexarium—the name given in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches to a compilation of hagiographies corresponding roughly to the martyrology of the Roman Church.There are two kinds of synaxaria:*Simple...
composed by Nicodemus the Hagiorite, printed in Venice (1819) and Athens (1868). Cosmas's text was the basis for the Church Slavonic akolouthias on the saint, which appeared in Venice (1802) and Belgrade (1861). The latter was printed as part of the third edition of Srbljak, a compendium of akolouthias on Serb saints, published by the Serbian Orthodox Church. The saint's life in English, translated from Church Slavonic, appeared in the book Lives of the Serbian Saints, published in London in 1921 by the Anglican Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
In Cosmas's writing, the saint was named "Jovan from Vladimir"; his father was Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja was the Grand Prince of the Grand Principality of Serbia from 1166 to 1196, a heir of the Vukanović dynasty that marked the beginning of a greater Serbian realm .He is remembered for his contributions to Serbian culture and...
(historically, Grand Prince of Raška from 1166 to 1196), and his grandfather was Simeon
Simeon I of Bulgaria
Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe...
(Bulgarian Tsar from 893 to 927). He married a daughter of Samuel, the tsar of Bulgaria and Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...
. He succeeded his father as emperor of Albania, Illyria, and Dalmatia. After Byzantine Emperor Basil defeated Tsar Samuel, Emperor Jovan defeated Basil. He also fought against the Bogomil
Bogomilism
Bogomilism was a Gnostic religiopolitical sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Petar I in the 10th century...
and Messalian heretics. From his early youth, Jovan Vladimir longed for the Kingdom of God. After he was married, he prayed day and night, and abstained from intercourse with his wife. She was a heretic like her brother, whom she incited to kill Jovan. When the two brothers-in-law rode together, accompanied by soldiers, the heretic suddenly struck Jovan with a sword at a mountain pass
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
named Derven, but could not cut him. Only when Jovan gave him his own sword was the murderer able to cut off his head. Jovan caught it in the air and rode on to the church he had built near Elbasan. There he put his head down, saying, "Lord Jesus Christ, in your hands I place my spirit," and died; it was 899. He was buried in the church, which then became the scene of many miracles. The saint's beneficent power is described in the hagiography:
ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ ὑπάρχει, καὶ ἐν ὅλω τῷ κόσμω ἐπικαλούμενος διάγει. ἐκεῖ ἐν τοῖς Οὐρανοῖς Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ παρίσταται, καὶ τῶν ἐνταῦθα οὐδ᾿ ὅλως ἀφίσταται. ἐκεῖ πρεσϐεύει, καὶ ὧδε ἡμῖν ϑριαμϐεύει. ἐκεῖ λειτουργεῖ, καὶ ὧδε ϑαυματουργεῖ. κοιμῶνται τὰ Λείψανα, καὶ κηρύττει τὰ πράγματα. ἡ γλῶσσα σιγᾷ, καὶ τὰ ϑαύματα κράζουσι. Τίς τοσαῦτα εἶδεν; ἢ τίς ποτε ἢκουσεν; ἐν τῷ τάφῳ τὰ ὀστέα κεκλεισμένα, καὶ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Κόσμῳ τὰ τεράστια ϑεωρούμενα. |
|
The kontakion
Kontakion
Kontakion is a form of hymn performed in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The word derives from the Greek word kontax , meaning pole, specifically the pole around which a scroll is wound. The term describes the way in which the words on a scroll unfurl as it is read...
which is contained, among other hymns, in the Church Slavonic akolouthia published as part of Srbljak, praises the saint:
|
A classical example of the iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
of Saint Jovan Vladimir appears in the 1858 edition of his Greek akolouthia. The illustration shows the saint wearing a crown with a double lily wreath, his right foot on a sword. He holds a cross, a sceptre
Sceptre
A sceptre is a symbolic ornamental rod or wand borne in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia.-Antiquity:...
, and an olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
branch in his right hand, while his crowned severed head is in his left hand. He wears an ermine cloak and a robe with floral designs, adorned with large gems surrounded by pearls. The Greek text beneath the illustration names the saint as Jovan Vladimir, the pious Emperor of all Albania and Bulgaria, the graceful Wonderworker
Thaumaturgy
Thaumaturgy is the capability of a saint or magician to work miracles. It is sometimes translated into English as wonderworking...
and Great Martyr
Great martyr
Great Martyr or Great-Martyr is a classification of saints who are venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Rite of Constantinople....
, and true Myrrh
Myrrh
Myrrh is the aromatic oleoresin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora, which grow in dry, stony soil. An oleoresin is a natural blend of an essential oil and a resin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum....
-gusher. In his hagiography included in the Synaxarium of Nicodemus the Hagiorite, the saint is referred to as Emperor of the Serbs (τῶν Σέρβων βασιλεύς).
Saint Jovan Vladimir is represented on frescos and icons in three monasteries of Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
: Hilandar
Hilandar
Hilandar Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. It was founded in 1198 by the first Serbian Archbishop Saint Sava and his father, Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja of the medieval Serbian principality of Raška...
, Zograf
Zograf Monastery
The Saint George the Zograf Monastery or Zograf Monastery is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos in Greece...
, and Philotheou
Philotheou monastery
Filotheou monastery is an Eastern Orthodox monastery at the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece. It stands on the north-eastern side of the peninsula.It was founded by the Blessed Philotheus, in the end of the 10th century...
; three Bulgarian monasteries: Rila
Rila Monastery
The Monastery of Saint Ivan of Rila, better known as the Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. It is situated in the southwestern Rila Mountains, south of the capital Sofia in the deep valley of the Rilska River at an elevation of above sea level...
, Troyan
Troyan Monastery
The Monastery of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God or, as it is more commonly called, the Troyan Monastery is the third largest monastery in Bulgaria...
, and Lozen; in the Ardenica Monastery
Ardenica Monastery
The Ardenica Monastery of Theotokos Mary is an Eastern Orthodox monastery, distant ten kilometers north of Fier, Albania, along the national road that links Fier to Lushnjë....
in Albania; and in the Saint Catherine's Monastery
Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai
Saint Catherine's Monastery lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai in the city of Saint Catherine in Egypt's South Sinai Governorate. The monastery is Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site...
on the Sinai Peninsula
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...
. Hristofor Zhefarovich
Hristofor Zhefarovich
Hristofor Zhefarovich was an 18th-century painter, engraver, writer and poet and a notable proponent of Pan-Slavism.- Biography :Born at the end of the 17th century,...
, an engraver and painter from Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
, created in 1742 in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
a copperplate depicting the saint's miracles. Its printed impressions were disseminated to a great number of Orthodox Christian homes throughout the Balkans. The same author included him among the rulers and saints whom he illustrated in his Stemmatographia. The cult of Saint Jovan Vladimir was popular in Macedonia, especially during the 18th century, when he was often depicted on frescoes and icons in Macedonian churches.
Legends
Several legends about Jovan Vladimir have been recorded in western Macedonia. One has it that, after he was beheaded, he brought his head to the Monastery of Saint John of BigorSaint Jovan Bigorski Monastery
The Monastery of Saint Jovan Bigorski is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery located in the western part of Macedonia, near the road connecting the towns of Debar and Gostivar....
. On a hill above the village of Pesočani in the Municipality of Debarca
Debarca municipality
Debarca is a municipality in southwestern Republic of Macedonia. The village of Belčišta is the municipal seat. Debarca Municipality is part of the Southwestern Statistical Region.-Geography:...
, there is a locality called Vladimirovo, at which some ruins can be seen. The locals claimed that Vladimir was born there, and brought his severed head there. The Church of Saint Athanasius near Pesočani, now in ruins, is reputed to have been built by Vladimir. People from the region gathered there each year on the eve of his feast day. They lit candles on the remains of the church's walls, and prayed to the saint. Tradition has it that the Monastery of Saint Naum near Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...
had a bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
named after the saint, in the foundation of which a portion of his relics was placed.
In the western fringe of Macedonia, which is now part of Albania, Jovan Vladimir was remembered as a saintly ruler, cut down by his father-in-law, an emperor, who believed some slander that he was a womanizer. The enraged emperor, accompanied by soldiers, found Vladimir on a mountain pass named Qafë Thanë (also known as Derven), on the road between the Macedonian town of Struga
Struga
Struga is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of the Republic of Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality.-Etymology:...
and Elbasan. He struck his son-in-law with a sword, but could not cut him. Only when Vladimir gave him his own sword was the emperor able to cut off his head. Vladimir took his severed head and went toward Elbasan. He fell under an oak, after the tree bowed down before him. The saint was interred in the church which was subsequently built at that place and dedicated to him.
According to a legend recorded in the Greek hagiography, Jovan Vladimir built the church near Elbasan. Its location, deep in a dense forest, was chosen by God, and an eagle with a shining cross on its head showed it to Vladimir. After the saint was decapitated, he brought his head to the church, and was buried inside. A group of Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
once stole the casket with his miraculous relics. The casket turned out to be extremely heavy, breaking the backs of hinnies on which the Franks carried it. They eventually put it in the Shkumbin River to take it to the sea, but the river flooded, and the casket—radiating light—went back upstream toward the church. The inhabitants of that area took it out of the water and returned it to the church in a festive procession.
A group of thieves stole, on a summer day, horses that belonged to the Monastery of Saint Jovan Vladimir. When they came to the nearby stream of Kusha to take the horses across, it appeared to them like an enormous river. They moved away from it in fear, but when they looked back from a distance, the stream appeared small. As they approached it again, the Kusha again became huge and impassable. After several such attempts to cross the stream, the thieves realized that this was a miracle of the saint, so they released the monastery's horses and ran away in horror.
A possible legend of Prince Vladimir was recorded by Branislav Nušić
Branislav Nušic
Branislav Nušić was a Serbian novelist of Aromanian descent, playwright, satirist, essayist and founder of modern rhetoric in Serbia. He also worked as a journalist and a civil servant.- Biography :...
in the 19th century in the city of Korçë
Korçë
Korçë is a city in southeastern Albania and the capital of the Korçë District. It has a population of around 105,000 people , making it the sixth largest city in Albania...
, southeastern Albania, close to Macedonia. Ruins on top of a hill above Korçë were said to be remains of the court of a Latin (Catholic) king, whose kingdom neighbored the state of an Orthodox emperor. The king asked the hand of the emperor's daughter, who agreed to become his wife only if he built an Orthodox church. He did so, and she married him, but on the first night of marriage she killed him. She then became a nun, and the king's body was taken somewhere—he was not buried near his court. Macedonian Slavs inhabiting Saint Achillius Island in the Small Prespa Lake
Small Prespa Lake
Small Prespa Lake is a lake shared between Greece and Albania . It is the smaller of the two Prespa Lakes.-Details:...
in Greece told of an emperor named Mirče. He lived on their island, where he was killed by a cousin of his out of jealousy, and his body was taken via Ohrid to Albania.
External links
Videos:- Procession in Bar, Montenegro, on the Feast of Saint Jovan Vladimir, led by the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral (2011)
- Ascent to the Church of the Holy Trinity at the summit of Mount Rumija, for the monthly service held in the church
- Opening of the reliquary containing the saint's relics, during the celebration of his feast day at the monastery near Elbasan (2011)
- Modern Albanian song about Saint Jovan Vladimir, performed at the monastery near Elbasan on the saint's feast day (2010)