Nine centuries of Stefan Nemanja's birth marked

PODGORICA - The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) celebrated in Podgorica nine centuries of the birth of Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanjic dynasty.

Stefan Nemanja is the founder of the powerful Serbian country in the middle ages and SPC celebrates him as Saint Simeon the Myrrh-streaming.

Patriarch Irinej of SPC served a liturgy in the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ on Saturday and he stated in his speech that Serbs and Montenegrins are 'like Siamese twins', inseparable, one and the same nation.

Patriarch Irinej then headed the procession comprising several hundred citizens along the Podgorica streets together with Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral.

After the procession, a spiritual academy was organised at the walls of Nemanja's city at the mouth of the Ribnica River into the Moraca River in downtown Podgorica where Stefan Nemanja was born, according to the legends and records of SPC.

The speech about Stefan Nemanja was delivered by Serbian writer and scholar Matija Beckovic who underscored that Saint Simeon the Myrrh-streaming is the 'father of Orthodoxy, country and freedom' and 'a symbol of endurance, glory and suffering'.

The exact date of birth of Stefan Nemanja has not been historically established but his birth is dated some time around 1113 A.D.

Stefan Nemanja is considered the founder of Serbia's mediaeval state of Raska and one of the most important Serbian rulers, as well as the founder of SPC together with his son Sava.

Stefan Nemanja abandoned his position as the grand prince and withdrew to the Hilandar Monastery at Mount Athos as monk Simeon where he died in 1190 and his bones were transferred to the Studenica Monastery in Serbia...