The Life of the Holy and Right-Believing Stefan the Tall, Despot of Serbia

the Lord bestowed upon this land, as well as greens and grains for the food of men, and of all this there is abundance there, as nowhere in other lands. For it gives food in abundance not only to desolate lands but also to settlements, a multitude of every fruitful thing, fish, and all that is needful, which the Lord gave to men abundantly for their delight, and all that the Creator put under their feet. If anyone should consider also the security of that land, it is fortified by exceedingly high mountains and by such cities as can scarcely be found in small number in other parts. They are rich in every rampart and fortification, and are supplied with waters which are the gladness of the cities. Nor should one overlook that exceedingly great and most glorious work of God, which not even the great Moses overlooked in the book of the creation of the world, namely one of the four rivers of Paradise, which here the ancient Thracians named the Danube. This river rises in Germany and from there flows toward the east and empties into the Euxine (i.e. Black) Sea through five mouths (i.e. through a delta). It is also known as the Chesima, going from the north and west toward the east, and it divides Hungary, and waters the Serbian land, which is extraordinary, then passing by the Vlachs and the Bulgarians, it empties into the open sea called the Black Sea. In this land there is also one of the 36 renowned rivers of the inhabited world, called the Sava, which is here like a wall on both sides; it unites with the Danube at the most beautiful place, where the Danube enters in three branches, and has two islands, where this pious Stefan built the White City (Belgrade), as will be told further on." Having thus described the Serbian land of Despot Stefan, Constantine passes on to describing the Despot's Serbian people. "Lest anyone think," he says, "that I praise only soulless and unfeeling things, look with me in this land upon the people, those last and most honorable creatures of God. Truly, the best land brings forth the best ear of wheat, which yields us fruit thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. These people (i.e. the Serbs) are, then, so brave that no one else in the inhabited world has such renown; and than this, according to Solomon, there is nothing more honorable among men. And they are so willing and so obedient that they have no equal in the inhabited world. Where it is needful they are swift to obey and slow to speak (cf. James 1:19); and where the reverse is needful, they are swift to answer anyone who asks, armed with weapons on the right hand and on the left. In bodily purity they surpass other nations; and likewise in light and bright blood. And besides this they are merciful and friendly. If any of them should fall into poverty and need, the others give him all that is needful, not only to particular ones, but to everyone and always, and not only by ordinary giving but by twofold almsgiving, so that the word of Solomon may be applied to them: 'He who honors the poor gives alms' (Proverbs 14:31). And life in that whole land is like a church of God, and people do not live as other nations, brutishly and against nature, nor do they take the name of God in vain every moment, but it is established that all, from the least to the greatest, pray more than twice a day. Worthy of love and honor among them is this, that a son, though he is in his own home, when he is together with his parents stands before them as a servant. And this may be seen not only among the rich, but also among the most rustic and among the very poorest. Where has it been heard among them that anyone mistreated his father or mother? Truly no one and in no way, for among them the law is kept according to Christ, and they esteem one another greater and better than themselves, calling one another lord with uncovered heads, as it was in antiquity and as it is now in the southern lands. For it is said: 'Put off your shoes from your feet, for the ground on which you stand is holy' (Ex. 3:5). And the Holy Apostle Paul commands men to pray to God with uncovered head. For it is a shame, he says, if a man prays with his head covered or lets his hair grow long (1 Cor. 11:4, 14). But if