SIMEON NEMANJA. – Born c. 1114 at Ribnica (now Podgorica in Montenegro), whither his father had fled from Raška following a revolt, he was baptised there with the name STEPHAN NEMANJA according to the Latin rite; but on returning to Raška he was rebaptised according to the Greek rite by the local bishop.
Having become in 1172 the supreme ruler (veliki župan) of Raška, he made it the nucleus of the future Serbian state, beginning from there the territorial expansion which was continued until 1371 by his successors, all bearing the name Stephen. Yet over the Serbs the religious influence of Byzantine “Orthodoxy” was stronger than that of Latin Christendom; hence their westward expansion was constantly accompanied by the spread of “Orthodoxy.” Under the Nemanjić dynasty, however, relations with Rome remained close, especially intense in Zeta, where Catholic influence was then powerful. Thus Pope Clement III addressed (25 Nov. 1189) a letter “Dilectis filiis, nobilibus viris Megajupan, Strascimir et Miroslav,” the brothers of Stephen, recommending to them Archbishop Bernard of Ragusa, who had jurisdiction over their territories and over Raška. Nemanja later sent gifts to the basilicas of SS Peter and Paul in Rome and of St Nicholas in Bari, and was always hostile to the Bogomil sect, striving to uproot it from Serbia. On 25 March 1195 Nemanja abdicated the throne, took monastic vows under the name of SIMON, and lived in various Serbian monasteries, some of which he founded, including the celebrated monastery of Studenica, still extant. In 1197 he went to Mount Athos, where his son Sava was already living, and founded the monastery of Hilandar, which later became the centre of Serbian religious culture, where S. N. died on 13 Feb. 1200.
The Serbian Church celebrates him as a saint on 13 Feb., while his relics were later transferred from Hilandar to Studenica.