In 1219 the Patriarchate exiled in Nicea recognized him as the first Serbian Archbishop, and in the same year he authored the oldest known constitution of Serbia, the Zakonopravilo nomocanon, thus securing full religious and political independence.

At the Serbian court the brothers received a good education[16] in the Byzantine tradition, which exercised great political, cultural and religious influence in Serbia.

[18] Having his own court with magnates (velmože), senior officials and selected local nobility, the governance in Hum was not only an honorary title but constituted a practical school of state administration.

[16] His young years at Athos had a significant influence on the formation of his personality, it was also here that he found models on which he would organize monastic and church life in Serbia.

The two, with consent of the hegumen (abbot) Theostyriktos of Vatopedi, went on a tour of Athos in late autumn 1197 in order for Simeon to familiarize with all of its churches and sacred places; Nemanja and Ana donated to numerous monasteries, especially Karyes, Iviron and the Great Lavra.

[25] Sava then addressed the protos of Athos, asking them to support the effort so the monastery of Hilandar might become a haven for Serb monks.

In July 1198, Emperor Alexios III issued a charter which revoked the earlier decision, and instead not only granted Hilandar, but also the other abandoned monasteries in Mileis, to Simeon and Sava, to be a haven and shelter for Serb monks in Athos.

[28] Sava saved the country from further political crisis by ending the dynastic fight, and also completed the canonization process of Nemanja (Simeon) as a saint.

[34][35] Stefan's politics that led to the events of 1217 were somewhat in odds with the Serbian Orthodox tradition, represented by his brother, archimandrite Sava, who favored Eastern Orthodoxy and Byzantine ecclesiastical culture in Serbia.

It is possible that Sava did not agree with everything in his brother's international politics, however, his departure for Athos may also be interpreted as a preparation for obtaining the autocephaly (independence) of the Serbian Archbishopric.

[36] On 15 August 1219, during the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, Sava was consecrated by Patriarch Manuel I of Constantinople in Nicaea as the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church.

[43] Upon his return to Serbia, he was engaged in the organization of the Serbian Church, especially regarding the structure of bishoprics, those that were situated on locales at the sensitive border with the Catholic West.

[47] The bishopric in Dabar on the Lim river was situated towards the border with Bosnia, to act on the Orthodox element there and suppress the Bogomil teaching.

In earlier times, also Eastern Orthodox monasteries were subjected to the supervision of the Catholic Archdiocese of Bar; after Sava's action that intercourse began to change in the opposite direction.

Through his clergy, which he directly influenced as an example and with teaching, Sava rose also the general cultural level of the whole people, striving to develop human virtues and a sense of civic duty.

Sava asked Athanasios II, his host, and the Great Lavra fraternity, led by hegoumenos Nicholas, if he could purchase two monasteries in the Holy Land.

While visiting Mar Saba, he had been gifted the Trojeručica (the "Three-handed Theotokos"), an icon of Nursing Madonna, and the crosier of Sabbas the Sanctified, which he brought to Hilandar.

After a short stay at Studenica, Sava embarked on a four-year trip throughout the lands where he confirmed the theological teachings and delivered constitutions and customs of monastic life to be kept, as he had seen in Mount Athos, Palestine, and the Middle East.

[51] After the throne change in 1234, when King Radoslav was succeeded by his brother Vladislav, Archbishop Sava began his second trip to the Holy Land.

[58][59] According to Teodosije, Archbishop Arsenije told Vladislav "It's neither nice nor pleasing, before God nor the people, leaving our father [Sava] gifted to us by the Christ.

[56] King Vladislav twice sent delegations to his father-in-law Asen, asking him to let the relics of Sava be transferred to the fatherland, but the Emperor was unappealing.

[56] With the highest church- and state honours, the relics of Saint Sava were transferred from the Holy Forty Martyrs Church to Mileševa on 13 May [O.S.

[56] The cult collected all South Slavic peoples, especially the Orthodox Serbs, while his grave was also a pilgrim site for Roman Catholics and Muslims.

[56] Foreign 16th-century writers, Jean Sesno (1547) and Catherine Zen (1550) noted that Muslims respected the tomb of Saint Sava, and feared him.

[64] Grand Vizier Koca Sinan Pasha, the main commander of the Ottoman army, ordered for the relics to be brought from Mileševa to Belgrade, where he set them on fire on 27 April.

[66] The unknown author of the Service of the Assumption of Saint Sava, a monk of Mileševa, speaks to him: "Father of Fathers – [of] clergy rules, wholewised model, virtue of monks, fortification of the church, lighthouse of love, seat of feelings, source of mercifulness, fire-inspired tongue, mouth of sweet words, a church vessel of God, intellectual heaven become – God-good hierarch of Christ".

[66] Helena of Bulgaria, the wife of Emperor Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–55), founded a chapel on the top of the tower in Karyes, dedicated to St. Simeon and St.

[72] The most notable of his fresco depictions are located in the monasteries of Studenica, Mileševa, Peć, Morača, Arilje, Sopoćani, Dečani, Hilandar, Bogorodica Ljeviška, Psača, Lesnovo, Marko's Monastery, Matejić, Nagoričano, Nikita, Andrijaš, Bela Crkva, Baljevac, Pavlica, Ljubostinja, Resava, Koporin, Prohor Pčinjski, Rudenica, Blagoveštenje and St. Nicholas in Ovčar, Ježevica, Poganovo and others; he is depicted with the Nemanjić dynasty (loza Nemanjića) in Dečani, Peć and Orahovica.

[60] His person is illustrated on numerous liturgical metal and textile items, while he and scenes from his life are illuminated in many manuscripts and printed books.

Theologian Lazar Mirković [sr] noted "With a lot of feeling and longing for the fatherland in a distant world and caring for things in the homeland, Sava wrote this letter to Spiridon, reporting about him and his entourage, of them falling ill on the road, how they donated to the Holy sites, where he intended to travel, and along with the letter he sent gifts: a cross, pleat, cloth and pebbles.