St. Sava's Day marked in National Theater event

St. Sava's Day marked in National Theater event

St. Sava, born in 1175 as Rastko Nemanjic, the son of Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, was the first head of the autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church, the author of Serbia's first Constitution, a diplomat and writer who had great influence on the medieval Serbian literature.

He is the patron saint of Serbian schools and students and the day of his death in 1236, January 27, is marked as St. Sava's Day.

"St. Sava came from our people, but they perhaps do not realize his greatness in its full to this day. If only every person in the world would grow up following Sava's messages, there would be less evil, less ignorance, but more love and kindness," Nikolic told the gathering on Tuesday evening.

St. Sava was the first Serbian teacher, Nikolic stated, adding that he had worked to enlighten the people, built schools, hospitals, churches and monasteries and brought books from abroad to teach and enlighten the people.

"Commitment is a sum of noble Christian and human values, commitment is a study of the overall culture of living. It is more than just erudition - it is a system of values where the attitude to oneself and others is the attitude toward equals, an attitude of tolerance and acceptance of differences," Nikolic said.

Addressing teachers, President Nikolic said that anyone who decided to pursue the path of Saint Sava as their vocation and to work as a teacher who will nurture the most precious value we have - our children, has a hand in shaping the future of the country and society and has thus chosen not only a vocation, but a way of life.

Nikolic said that in its history, the country has seen more difficult times than the one we are living in now and however difficult the hardships could get, teachers among children in schools always shared the reality with their people and the state.

"In World War II, teachers gathered children and people around them, taught them to write and read and prepared them for the times to come at all places where territory was liberated and where such actions were possible," the president added.

With their class, they stood before the firing squad and held the last lecture. Pupils are not to be left behind in the most difficult of moments, they are to be led. And today, just like on many other occasions in history, they need leaders, teachers as role models, Nikolic said.

"You should be proud of Serbia's history that was written by Serbian teachers and professors. You should be proud of the tradition you have inherited, and find strength in the teaching of Saint Sava and examples set by your ancestors so that Serbia could keep pace with today's world in the era of knowledge and science," Nikolic said. Addressing the guests, Serbian Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Srdjan Verbic pointed out that the reforms of the education system are necessary, despite, as he put it, all the difficulties that await us along the pathway.

He noted that we should learn from the past experience, pointing to the life of Rastko Nemanjic that teaches us that it is possible to create and build even in the most difficult of times.

"The period in which Saint Sava wrote his first works in Serbian and founded first schools is one of the darkest periods in the European history, when the Crusaders besieged Constantinople, wars were raging across Europe, and deadly epidemic were sweeping the continent" he said.

The fact is that these are difficult times, but this cannot be an excuse for not doing anything, he added.

We need to adjust our education system to the challenges of modern life, and in order to achieve this, the society needs to transform its attitude towards education and traditional roles in schools played by teachers, students, parents and the state, the minister said.

If the education system fails to comply with the requirements of the modern era, we will not only fail to become a country of knowledge, but we will also miss an opportunity for the economic recovery and lose our culture and identity, Verbic underscored.