Despot Stefan Lazarević
The Charter to the Athonite Monastery of Saint Panteleimon - Rusikon
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its date is June 8, 1400, and below it there likewise follow the confirmation and signature of Patriarch Danilo.
Further surviving documents bear witness to the relationship of the Lazarević family, and later of Despot Stefan, to the monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos, such as the act of Abbot Nikodim, the result of an agreement with the nun Jevgenija and her sons on the establishment of twenty adrphata (adelphata) in the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos, from 1396, and the act of Abbot Ilarion, the result of an agreement with Veselko, a nobleman of Despot Stefan, on the establishment of two adrphata in the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos, drawn up before 1422.
Constantine the Philosopher, in the Life of Despot Stefan, asserts that Saint Despot Stefan richly endowed the Athonite monasteries [ŽDS 52]. That these gifts were very great is attested by the text of the charter, according to which the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon received from the Lazarevići dozens of villages and metochia, several churches and rich material gifts.
Constantine the Philosopher further says that, however great the gifts to the Athonite monasteries were, Despot Stefan endowed his own endowment, Manasija Monastery, far more, so that this monastery surpasses even the great Athonite monasteries. There is no reason to doubt the credibility of this assertion. Unfortunately, the charter of Despot Stefan to Manasija Monastery, mentioned by Constantine the Philosopher in the Life of Despot Stefan, by which the Despot, as his biographer says, "endowed and gave (to the monastery) villages and vineyards throughout all his land (and) by his signature (confirmed it)," has not survived. What this charter may have looked like can be surmised from certain other charters of the Despot that have survived.
The Charter to the Athonite Monastery of Saint Panteleimon - Rusikon, signed by Prince Stefan Lazarević, his mother the nun Jevgenija and Patriarch Danilo III, still exists today and is kept in the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos. The text of the charter begins with a quotation from Holy Scripture, a call to life according to the Gospel commandments and praise of the Christian virtues. Moved by love for Christ, the nun Jevgenija and her children, the princes Stefan and Vuk, grant gifts to the Athonite monastery, confirming the earlier gifts of Holy Prince Lazar. They bind future Serbian rulers to respect this grant. Finally, the charter is confirmed by Patriarch Danilo as well. Many of the numerous villages mentioned in this charter still bear the same names today.