Despot Stefan Lazarević
The Charter of Despot Stefan to Despotess Jevpraksija
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The exact year of the nun Jefimija's repose is not known, but 1405 is given as an approximate date. Her last known mention is in the charter of Despot Stefan Lazarević, in which she is addressed as despotess, lady and mother. Toward the end of her life she received the great schema, the highest degree of monastic vows, and the name Jevpraksija.
The introduction of this charter is a thanksgiving and doxology to God: the ruler issuing it glorifies Christ, expressing his conviction that Christ raised him to the ruling position by pouring out upon him the grace of the Holy Spirit. Despot Stefan Lazarević, together with his mother, the nun Jevgenija, and his brother Vuk, with the approval of the court council, granted by charter the village of Jabučje to Despotess Jevpraksija, in response to her request. This legal act was only the first step, since Jevpraksija at the same time ceded the same village to Hilandar Monastery. The deed of gift is dated to the year 6913 from the creation of the world, which corresponds to the period between September 1, 1404 and August 31, 1405. The village of Jabučje was located in the župa of Levač, and in the time of the reign of Prince Lazar, Stefan's father, it was in the possession of his nobleman Mladen Psisin, who held it as a pronoia. For the monastery to be able officially to receive this estate, it was necessary to change its legal status - from a pronoia it had to become a baština (hereditary estate), since only hereditary estates could be given away permanently.
This is also the last charter that Despot Stefan issued during the lifetime of his mother, Princess Milica, at that time the nun Evgenija. She had taken monastic vows in 1393, when Stefan came of age, and she died on November 11, 1405. In the charter that Despot Stefan issued to the people of Dubrovnik on December 2 of the same year, his mother is mentioned as “the nun Jefrosinija, who reposes among the saints.”
The original of the charter of Despot Stefan to Despotess Jevpraksija is kept in the archive of Hilandar Monastery; the charter is written on parchment in black ink, while the crosses, initials and the signature of Despot Stefan are written in red ink. This charter was unknown to the scholarly public until the end of the 19th century, when it was discovered at Hilandar Monastery by Ljubomir Kovačević (1848–1918). Stojan Novaković (1842–1915) published an excerpt from this charter, and the text of the charter was published by V. Korablev (Василий Николаевич Кораблёв, 1873–1936); after him it was published by Alexander Soloviev (Александр Васильевич Соловьёв, 1890–1971), Andrija Veselinović and Aleksandar Mladenović.