Great Martyr
Great-Martyr, Right-Believing Prince Holy Great-Martyr Prince Lazar of Serbia
ок. 1329–1389
Great-Martyr Prince Lazar of Serbia — ruler beheaded by the Ottomans after the Battle of Kosovo (1389), the central figure of Serbian national and religious identity.
Lazar Hrebeljanović (c. 1329–1389) rose from Serbian nobility to become a trusted courtier of Tsar Stefan Dušan. After Dušan's death in 1355 and the subsequent fragmentation of the Serbian Empire, Lazar gradually consolidated power as lord of Moravian Serbia, ruling with the blessing of Patriarch Ephrem. A devout founder of churches, he built Ravanica Monastery around 1375–1377 as his memorial foundation.
On June 15, 1389, Lazar led the united Serbian and allied forces against the invading army of Ottoman Sultan Murad I at the Battle of Kosovo. Though the Serbian knight Miloš Obilić slew Murad in the fighting, the battle proved catastrophic for Serbia; Lazar was captured and beheaded, dying alongside much of the Serbian nobility.
His body, later found incorrupt, was enshrined at Ravanica, and he became the central figure of Serbian national and religious identity — venerated as the Christ-like martyr-prince who chose the "heavenly kingdom" over earthly victory.