Only Unity Saves the Serbs

Saint Sava is said[clarification needed] to have uttered it to urge the Serbs to declare national autonomy and resist domination by the Roman Catholic Church.

[4] The popular interpretation of the four С's as 'Само Слога Србина Спасава' on the Serbian coat of arms dates to the 19th century, created due to nationalistic and political reasons.

Jovan Sterija Popović in his 1847 dramatic historical allegory "The Dream of Prince Marko" (San Kraljevića Marka) was the first to state that the firesteels were to be read as four С's, which "pious patriotic souls have already took for sure" as said by Đorđe Petrović[who?]

[8] Serbian poet and Orthodox priest Jovan Sundečić in the 1868 edition of Osvetnici, ili nevina žrtva used "Only Unity saves Slavdom" (Samo sloga Slavenstvo spašava).

[20] The phrase was often scrawled on the walls of abandoned houses in towns captured by Serb forces, usually followed alongside the acronym JNA (for Yugoslav People's Army) and the names of individual soldiers.

[22] Serbian singer-songwriter Bora Đorđević adapted the motto as the title to his song Samo sloga Srbina spasava, written during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.