of the Life, which significantly begins with the words "Bless, Father!" - as though it were intended to be read in the monastery refectory - there is a hint of the existence of the seed of the cult of the Holy Despot, which sprouted practically immediately after the Despot's repose.
In her research Marija Vasiljević noted a certain two-dimensionality of the Life itself: the extensive Life sets forth the royal biography of Despot Stefan, combining biographical and hagiographical elements; from this extensive Life, however, a prologue Life could be extracted as needed, suitable for reading at a gathering of the monastic community. Perhaps in Manasija Monastery itself - the resting place of the Holy Despot: it would be entirely fitting for the veneration of the Holy Despot to take root precisely in his endowment.
As for the interweaving of biography and hagiography, the Life of Saint Despot Stefan written by Constantine the Philosopher would not be the first example of such a work: the older extensive Lives of Saint Stefan of Dečani and of Stefan Dušan by Danilo's first continuator are also texts of the same kind. The writer himself may have been conditioned by the wishes of his readers - in the prologue of the Life he notes that court dignitaries were among those who asked him to write it. Hence so many biographical elements. On the other hand, the hagiographical elements of this Life can be recognized, extracted and rearranged into a new whole; already Archpriest Lazar Mirković (1885–1968) saw the possibility of extracting a prologue Life from the extensive Life, and of writing on its basis a Service to the Holy Despot.
Constantine writes the Life with marked emphasis on its hagiographical elements - he entitles it "Life and Living" - as a description of a life and of spiritual feats, spiritual exercise and asceticism. The words in the title of the Life - Bless, Father! - point still more strongly to an ecclesiastical context for the reading of this text, in the church or the refectory, at a gathering of the monastic brotherhood.
The hagiographical parts of this Life are distinguished by a profoundly religious language into which biblical allusions and quotations are woven; thus enriched, these parts present the traditional structure of prologue Lives: after a brief introductory praise, the hagiographical paragraphs describe the Despot's holy lineage, from good, noble and pious parents [ŽDS 16–21], a youth that foretells holiness [ŽDS 25–28], the building of his endowment [ŽDS 52], his royal virtues [ŽDS 76], among which there is also his repentance for the injustice he had done to the people of Srebrenica [ŽDS 83–84], his repose [ŽDS 86], accompanied by unusual and terrible portents [ŽDS 86, 92]; the Life ends with a praise - an oikos [ŽDS 93]. Viewed in this fragmentary way, the segments of the prologue Life stand out more clearly.
However, in the broader biographical fabric, which presents numerous details from Stefan's life, there resound echoes of chivalric ideals, which sound as though they were addressed to the court and urban milieu, in which history was not merely the past but a daily inspiration in difficult times. There Stefan Lazarević is not only the Despot but also the protector of the people, a brave knight who guards the state and the faith of his fatherland. In the biographical parts of the Life, which are far more extensive, somewhat different elements come to the fore in