The Life and Deeds of the Ever-Remembered Despot Stefan

(which wast in the sight of all) most bountiful; rejoice, accomplisher of the fitting adornment of the houses of God; rejoice, (thou who) didst know the imperial court; rejoice, thou who didst gather from all sides every good thing (in the) human (sense); rejoice, Despot Stefan, adornment of rulers! Glory to Him who gave thee in the last generations for the praise of Christians. Glory to our God, who accomplishes great and wondrous (deeds), who enlightens many-chosen luminaries (doing so) from generation to generation, that to the present generations may be revealed the ineffable and marvelous works of our God, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages, amen. This, then, we have written not only as a Life, but as (if I were) a chronicler, with all the other (matters). And there is also an acrostic¹⁴⁹ beginning from the decasyllabic: To him who ruled on earth in an unusual and extraordinary manner, a foreigner, a servant, offers (this) to the glorious Despot Stefan, the translator¹⁵⁰ Constantine. And this is the acrostic of the (following) verses: A stranger and a foreigner, I bewail the death (of the Despot). He poured forth words sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, as from a sealed spring, and (honey) is at once both fragrance and food, if it is eaten with measure. Bearing this in mind, (he was) like some new, most meek David (toward) those who kept the spoil divided (into parts). He showed himself a wondrous Solomon to many thousands (of people), who came from all sides. As leader of (his) people he showed himself like (the hospitable) Abraham, who eagerly receives strangers. He desired, however, to depart (to heaven) (like) Elijah, and himself to herald the second coming (of Christ). In beauty he was a second (Joseph) from Egypt, who gave gold in place of wheat. (He was) a warrior in victorious battles, as though taking the place of mighty Samson among the brave descendants of Adam /the Serbs/, to whom from the beginning he was the best example. (The Despot) was a second Job, open-handed, giving to all without envy. He was known to (his) people by (his) enigmatic eyes, like the light of the sun and the sun from which we receive bright rays, but not (also) its whole essence. Then we were bereft of both /both the sun and the Despot/. Instead of (the) head being ruler - and (the Despot) is the head of the nobly chosen - (he, the Despot) dies at the place (called) Glave /i.e., Glavica/. Bewail, again, O White City (Belgrade), the darkness (that has descended upon thee)! The leader of the people, like a flower, bloomed out and fell; and the earth weeps together with thee, for it received him whom it had not hoped to receive so soon, waiting thirty-five current years, after six thousand and nine hundred had already passed (6935 - 1427).

Source: Gordana Jovanović, Constantine the Philosopher, The Life of Stefan Lazarević, Despot of Serbia (Konstantin Filozof, Život Stefana Lazarevića despota srpskoga). Translation and notes by Gordana Jovanović. "Sources of Serbian Theology" series (Izvori srpskog bogoslovlja), vol. 2 (Belgrade: Publishing Fund of the Serbian Orthodox Church Archdiocese of Belgrade and Karlovci, 2009), 11–105.