Опредељење светог кнеза Лазара за царство небеско

Abstract

According to the folk ballad The Fall of the Serbian Empire Prince Lazar made a decision on the eve of the battle of Kosovo in 1389 saying ". . . the secular Kingdom will not last long, being transitory as all on this earth is, whilst the heavenly one will last through all eternity." The author of the folk ballad must certainly have been acquainted with the Word on St Prince Lazar written by Patriarch Danilo III between 1392 and 1398 in which the Prince tells his soldiers, among other things, the following: "... We have lived in peace for a long time, but we now must strive to embrace the way of martyrdom in order to win eternal life in Heaven . . ." In the Liturgy to St Lazar his death is glorified as a triumph of the victim over the conqueror and tyrant, of love over hatred and violence, of the heavenly over the earthy, of the spiritual over the carnal, of life eternal over death, and of justice over injustice.