Charisma and authority: towards a hagiographic portrait of st. Sava

Abstract

The paper analyses hagiographical strategies used by the writers of St. Sava's vitae, the purpose of which was to delineate clearly the principal features of the saint's portrait. Their main concern was to confirm Sava's personal charisma and to convey a sense of his saintly authority. The focus of the paper is on the hagiographical techniques of imitation such as comparing the hero to biblical models and telling stories of his miracles that repeat the miracles of Christ himself and the most important saints. The paper devotes particular attention to those sections of the vitae that describe Sava's wielding institutional authority, and it is precisely here that there are notable similarities between Teodosije's vita and his hagiographical model, the vita of St. Sava of Jerusalem by Cyril of Skythopolis.