The Charters of Despot Stefan to Hilandar Monastery

also my servant be" [Jn. 12, 26]. Of these the divine David, great among the prophets, once preached, clearly and aloud, that all might know, saying: "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways" [Ps. 127, 1]. Having greatly desired to be an heir of the blessedness and glory of these, I, the Orthodox lord of the Serbs in Christ God, Despot Stefan, have donated to the holy monastery - the dwelling place of our Most Pure Lady the Theotokos of Hilandar, which is on the Holy Mountain of Athos - villages near Novo Brdo. The village of Crešnja with all the boundaries and rights of that village, as it was from the beginning. And this village is as follows: Konjinci and Zacrkvljane, and Štirci, and Ruhotinci, and Modra Glava, and the village of Kriljeva with all the boundaries and rights of that village. And with Kriljeva, Milojevci and Glogovica, and all that with all the boundaries and rights of those villages. And in Levač the village of Bdčina and the village of Cernica with all the boundaries and rights of those villages. And this I donated to the holy monastery of Hilandar in this manner: that I have in the Monastery six adelphata and the Gerasimos cells, which I had before as well. And these cells with the vineyard and with the garden, and with the vegetable garden, and with all their appurtenances, as hitherto they have been mine. And of these said adelphata, that I have the freedom to give two of them to whomever I wish of my monks. And after the death of these two brethren [monks] who enjoyed the adelphata, that I again have from the Monastery six free adelphata and again be free to give them to whomever I will. In the event of my death, that I have from the Monastery, for these adelphata, such a commemoration: according to the rule of the Holy Fathers, an annual commemoration. For each commemoration wheat is to be boiled and ten Liturgies sung, and a libation given to all the brethren [monks]. And besides the liturgies connected with the commemoration, that one hundred liturgies be sung for me during the forty days after my death. And when the anniversary of my death is completed, that I be commemorated as are the founders and the brethren of the monastery. And these aforesaid villages I donated in this manner and freed them from the labors owed to me: from the building of houses and courts, and from portage, and from the fodder levy, and from the soće tax, and from the prestoj levy, and from the pannage tax, and from the čabrina wine levy, except for the military tax and the tax to the ruler. And besides this, should I command, for some need, that they do what they are told, I am to command the steward of the church [of Hilandar], and he is to command them, and no one else is free to command them. And I beseech him whom God shall appoint after me to be lord of the land of my patrimony, whether one of my kinsmen or someone else of the Orthodox Christians - that what I have written above remain unchanged and, what is more, confirmed. But whoever shall be found such as to strive to destroy what I, Despot Stefan, have written above and confirmed, may the Lord God and His Most Pure Mother be his avenger. And may the power of the precious and life-giving Cross destroy him. And may he be accursed by the 318 Holy Fathers of Nicaea and by All the Saints who from of old have been pleasing to God. And may he be numbered with Judas the betrayer and with those who said: "His blood [Christ's, let it fall] on us, and on our children!" [Mt. 27, 25].