Venerable
Venerable Simeon the Myrrh-streaming (Stefan Nemanja)
1113 — 1199
Venerable Simeon the Myrrh-streaming (Stefan Nemanja) (1113–1199) — founder of the Nemanjić dynasty and the independent Serbian state, father of St. Sava of Serbia.
Venerable Simeon the Myrrh-streaming, in the world Stefan Nemanja, was born in 1113/1114 in Ribnica (now Podgorica, Montenegro). As Grand Župan he united the Serbian lands, founded the Nemanjić dynasty, opposed heresy, and built Studenica and (with his son, the future St. Sava) Hilandar on Athos. In 1196 he abdicated, was tonsured Simeon, and retired to Athos to be with Sava. He reposed at Hilandar on February 13, 1199. His relics, translated to Studenica by his son, began streaming myrrh, giving him his title "the Myrrh-streaming."