Order of St. Sava

The Order of Saint Sava was established by Milan I of Serbia, four years after the country gained independence and its transformation from a principality into a kingdom in March 1882. It was first awarded in January 1883 to recognised civilians for meritorious achievements benefitting the Church, the arts and sciences, the royal house, and the state. In 1914, a change to the Order was made to allow soldiers of the Serbian Army who served with distinction to receive the honour, as well as to women for war merit and humanity[1] The Order of St. Sava was thereafter awarded by the kings of Serbia and its successor Yugoslavia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1945.[2]

Five grades were awarded:

• Knight Grand Cross
• Knight
• Grand Officer
• Commander
• Officer

The first grade was a jewel, worn with a sash over the shoulder and also with a breast star. The second and third-grade laureates wore the Order on a neckband. The fourth grade was a medal with a triangular suspension, a rosette attached to the ribbon above the medal. The fifth grade had a triangular suspension without a rosette. The medals of the fourth and fifth grades were worn on the breast. All white ribbons had two light blue stripes.[3][4]

Several Order of St. Sava were bestowed to members of the British medical team during the First World War for "humanity and gallantry performed under fire", after their volunteer medical units followed the Serbian army during the Great Retreat through the mountains of Albania.[1]

Since 1985, the Order has been awarded on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of St. Sava. This order is dedicated to ecclesiastic and secular persons, who have special merits for the Serbian Orthodox Church. According to the ordinance of the church, each person who received a medal of third grade may receive the medal of the higher grade as well as the first grade for future merits, provided that three years have passed at least since the previous award. The order is determined in three grades: the first one is white, the second red and the third blue coloured.[5]

Order of Saint Sava grand cross badge, 1890, Tallinn Museum of Orders

• Isaac Alcalay[6]
• Xavier Arnozan, French physician, 1st Grade[7]
• Agnes Bennett, New Zealand doctor[8]
• Harry Woodburn Blaylock[9]
• William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland[10]
• Thomas Cook[11]
• Randall Davidson[12]
• William Hunter, 2nd Grade 1915[13]
• Mary E. Gladwin, English-born American Red Cross nurse[14]
• Helen Hanson, British doctor, 2nd grade
• Queen Kapiolani of Hawaii,[15] Hawaii 1883
• Helen Keller, 3rd Grade 1931[16]
• Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich of Russia[17]
• Dominik Mandić, Herzegovinian Franciscan[18]
• Dragoljub Mihailović, 25 January 1928[15]
• Milutin Milanković[19]
• Alojzije Mišić, 10 November 1923[20]
• Peter Norman Nissen[21]
• Nicholas Roerich, 1932[22][23]
• Marie of Romania[24]
• Jessie Scott, New Zealand doctor[25]
• Nikola Tesla, 2nd Grade 1892[26]
• Violetta Thurstan, English nurse, 1918[27]
• Đorđe Vajfert (I grade)[28]
• Dame Rebecca West, British author and journalist.[29]
• Vladimir Rosing, Russian tenor and political activist, 5th Class, July 1922.

• Patriarch Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia[15]
• Novak Đoković, 2011[15]
• Aleksandr Karelin, 2013[30]
• Emir Kusturica[15]
• Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria[31]
• Vladimir Putin[32]
• Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn[15]

• List of ecclesiastical decorations

• Dragomir M. Acović (2013). Glory and Honour: Decorations among Serbs (Slava i čast: odlikovanja među Srbima) (in Serbian). Službeni Glasnik. ISBN 978-86-519-1750-2.
• John Clarke (12 September 2000). Gallantry Medals & Decorations of the World. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-4738-1451-6.

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