Venerable Anastasia of Serbia was the wife of Stefan Nemanja, the grand prince who founded the Nemanjic dynasty, and the mother of Saint Sava, the first archbishop of the Serbian Church. Born a noblewoman under the name Ana, she shared in the dynastic and spiritual life of the medieval Serbian state at the height of its consolidation.
When her husband abdicated the throne in 1196 to embrace the monastic life, Ana likewise withdrew from worldly rank and was tonsured a nun under the name Anastasia. She is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church, particularly within the Serbian Orthodox Church, as a venerable mother, and is commemorated on June 21.
Timeline 3 moments
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c. 1165-1174Mother of the Nemanjic childrenAs the wife of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, Ana bore several children who shaped the Serbian state and Church, among them the future king Stefan the First-Crowned and Rastko, who would become Saint Sava.
1196Tonsure as a nunFollowing her husband's abdication and his own tonsure under the name Simeon, Ana took monastic vows and received the name Anastasia, after the early martyr Anastasia of Sirmium.
1200ReposeShe is recorded as having reposed in the year 1200.
Contributions & Legacy
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The Nemanjic House
Anastasia stood at the center of the family that gave the Serbian people both its ruling dynasty and its independent Church. Her husband, Stefan Nemanja, governed as grand prince from 1166 to 1196 before laying aside his rule for the monastery, ultimately withdrawing to Mount Athos and becoming venerated as Saint Simeon the Myrrh-streaming.
Among their children, Stefan Nemanjic succeeded to the throne and became the first crowned king of Serbia, while Rastko departed for Mount Athos in his youth to take the monastic name Sava and later organized the autocephalous Serbian Church. The decision of the ruling couple to forsake their station for the monastic life became a defining act in the spiritual foundation of the dynasty.
Veneration and Relics
Anastasia is associated with Studenica Monastery, the great foundation of her husband, where her veneration was maintained within the monastic community. Frescoes painted during a restoration of the monastery's principal church in 1569 include a portrait depicting Nemanja's wife Ana as the nun Anastasia, a witness to her enduring commemoration.
Tradition records that a reliquary containing her relics is kept at Studenica. She is honored as a venerable mother in the Eastern Orthodox Church and especially in the Serbian Orthodox tradition.
