In 2025 and 2026, Serbian society is marking the 850th anniversary of the birth of Rastko Nemanjić—Saint Sava, who is undoubtedly the most significant and most multifaceted figure in Serbian history. One of his enduring works at the foundations of the Serbian Church, statehood and tradition is the Nomocanon, a compendium of secular and ecclesiastical legislation through which the Serbian people integrated in its very foundations a Christian understanding of the Church, the state and society.
The Nomocanon, a Rhomaean (Byzantine) corpus of canon and civil law, was further adapted and compiled by Sava Nemanjić and introduced into the Serbian Church Slavonic language and into the Serbian political, institutional and ecclesiastical context. In this way, through the introduction of written law, the Serbian people and state entered the currents of Greco-Roman legal civilization—not as a periphery subjected to assimilation, but as an active participant and bearer of its own normative order.
Saint Sava’s codifying act—the Nomocanon—shaped the Serbian system of values, from the personal to the state level. It was precisely this value system that enabled the rise of the Serbian state to the rank of an empire and the preservation of cultural and national identity through centuries of Ottoman-Islamic occupation. Drawing on the strategic foundations of Nemanjić-era statehood, ecclesiastical life and culture, Serbian society both recognizes its roots and gains guidelines for action in today’s geopolitical circumstances.
Given the historical and civilizational significance of Saint Sava’s work for Serbian identity across the centuries, today and in the future, as well as the multi-layered nature of his legacy, and with an understanding of the Nomocanon as one of the foundational historical documents of Serbia’s historical development, during the days marking Saint Sava the Public Institution Centre for Socio-Political Research organized the scientific and professional symposium “Saint Sava and the Nomocanon—Culture, State-Building, Geopolitics, and Civilization.”
The symposium was opened with an appropriate address by the Minister of Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education, Mr. Draga Mastilović. During the symposium, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska, Mr. Savo Minić, also addressed the guests and speakers. Prime Minister Minić and Minister Mastilović emphasized the importance of the event and the need to highlight—and continually return to—the work of Saint Sava.
During the symposium, presentations by the distinguished speakers were divided into three panels:
- The Nomocanon and Culture / Strategic Culture
- The Nomocanon and Statehood
- The Nomocanon, Geopolitics, and Civilization
Eminent authors, university professors, researchers, and thinkers—whose scholarly and professional work is recognized across various multidisciplinary fields—took part in the symposium. They spoke about the significance of the Nomocanon from the time of its creation to the present day.
Within the first panel, Bishop Ilarion of Novo Brdo spoke on the topic “The Liturgy as the Foundation of Serbian Culture.” Dejan Došlić, MA, from the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Banja Luka addressed the gathering with the paper “Saint Sava’s Nomocanon in Scholarship: A History of Research and Interpretation,” while Zoran Stefanović — Director of the Drama Department at the National Theatre in Belgrade and organizer of the international cultural network “Project Rastko”— prepared a presentation entitled “From the Core of the Spirit into Culture and Strategic Culture: Saint Sava’s Nomocanon as an Operational Basis for a New Serbian and Slavic Civilization.” The panel was moderated by Dr. Gordana Bekčić.
The second panel was moderated by Prof. Dr. Zoran Čvorović of the Faculty of Law, University of Kragujevac. The first speaker in the second panel was Prof. Dr. Dalibor Đukić of the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, who addressed the audience on “Saint Sava’s Nomocanon as the Foundation of State Independence and Ecclesiastical Autocephaly.” The second panelist, Marko Romić, MA, of the Faculty of Law, University of Banja Luka, titled his presentation “From Rhomaean Nomocanons to Saint Sava’s Nomocanon,” while Đorđe Stepić, MA, also of the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, spoke on “The Nomocanon as a Source of Law in Modern-Era Serbia.”
Within the third and final panel, moderated by Predrag Lozo, MA, the speakers were Prof. Dr. Đorđe Bubalo of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade; Prof. Dr. Zoran Čvorović of the Faculty of Law, University of Kragujevac; and Dr. Srđan Pirivatrić, Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Byzantine Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Professor Bubalo spoke on “The Names of Saint Sava’s Nomocanon Through History,” Professor Čvorović titled his presentation “Saint Sava’s Nomocanon, a Light for the Orthodox Slavs,” while Professor Pirivatrić presented “Saint Sava Amid the Geopolitical Challenges of His Time.”
The symposium was held on 2 February 2026 in Banja Luka, at the Administrative Centre of the Government of the Republic of Srpska.