"Deep night had fallen, we were not sleeping, (and) there was heard from the west, from beyond the river Sava, (we swear) by the true Christ, something like the moaning of a trumpet; (the sound) grew little by little and seemed to be in the middle of the Sava, then (to be) before the tower, and then throughout the whole city, (it was heard) from door to door. This lasted a long while, two or three hours, so that it seemed as though the glorious one (Despot Stefan) were coming - were it not that (the sound) came from the west - or (as though) it were some army, and we went out to see what was happening and kindled a fire. And this sight also came to pass: in the great church of the city the venerable icons rose up into the air and, behold, as in the order that shall come to pass at the second coming (of Christ): the Empress, that is, and Sovereign Lady, and John the Forerunner on either side of the image of the Savior; and the icons of the twelve apostles - six on each side, as is fitting - which we thought was for the glory of the city and (for its) protection. But that was at the hour of death, alas!" [ŽDS 92]
For Constantine, Despot Stefan is a matchless giver of alms, a fulfiller of God's commandments, an adorner of the houses of God (= churches and monasteries), the ornament of rulers, whom God gave as a praise to Christians. Constantine the Philosopher, in the Life that he writes, notes that he composed it at the behest of the Serbian Patriarch Nikon and of the Serbian leading men and nobility, and this after Despot Stefan had appeared to him in the fourth year from his repose, and later once more threatened him to fulfill what he had promised [ŽDS 92]. Fulfilling his promise, in the closing lines of the Life that he wrote, Constantine the Philosopher addresses Despot Stefan in a manner befitting a canon of praise, as follows:
"Rejoice, good fulfiller of the commandments of God!
Rejoice, (thou) who didst govern earthly (things) in a radiant manner!
Rejoice, dread arrow swift as lightning, (that thou art) to the disobedient!
Rejoice, sweet hearing for the sincerely humble!
Rejoice, (thou who) didst accomplish (all things) most wisely, new Solomon!
Rejoice, ineffable giver of alms!
Rejoice, open right hand, (to the sight of all) most bountiful!
Rejoice, accomplisher of the fitting adornment of the houses of God!
Rejoice, (thou who) didst come to know the imperial court!
Rejoice, thou who didst gather from every side all that is good (in the) human (sense)!
Rejoice, Despot Stefan, ornament of rulers!
Glory to Him who gave thee in the latter generations as a praise to Christians!" [ŽDS 92]
Such expression on the part of the author of the Life of Despot Stefan unambiguously points to a hagiographical and hagiological dimension of the text itself, which in its conclusion takes on a panegyrical liturgical tone, in the form of an ikos - as "Rejoice", with praises characteristic of prayerful addresses to the saints. Already Protopresbyter Lazar Mirković (1885–1968), commenting on the text of the Life, observed that such addresses, with the words "Rejoice", "are written in this manner and with such praises only for saints"; the research of Marija Vasiljević offers interesting insights in this sense, finding in the text of the Life the seeds of the veneration of the Despot as a saint.