Description
St. Arsenios I (Sremac) was the 2nd Archbishop of Serbia after St. Sava, from a.d. 1233-1263. He was born in Srem in the village of Dabar, near Slankamen, now in the northwestern part of Serbia. He took up monastic life in a nearby monastery, but when he heard of St. Sava I, the son of St. Stephen Nemanja (the ruler of Serbia), and St. Sava’s monastic work and life, he left his mon-astery to be with St. Sava in Zica. He was so impressed with St. Sava that he asked to stay with him, and so became his close disciple, cell attendant, and fellow struggler in the monastic ascetic life.
In time, St. Arsenios became the ecclesiarch of the monastery, and then later he was made the Archimandrite of Zica. Together, St. Sava and St. Arsenios lived deeply spiritual lives, and grew closer and closer in spirit. When St. Sava wished to retire, after a long life of spiritual effort in establishing the Serbian Patriarchate and ruling as its first Archbishop, he named St. Arsenios as his successor, and so St. Arsenios was consecrated Archbishop. St. Arsenios helped the Church grow, built the Monastery of Pec, and crowned Steven Uros king. St. Arsenios died in 1266.