Life
Holy Mother Angelina, Serbian Despoina, is one of the most venerated holy women in Serbian Orthodoxy. Her image is that of a mother, an exile, a benefactress, and a nun — a woman who in dispossession remained a pillar of the Serbian spirit and Orthodox faith. She was born in the mid-fifteenth century into a noble Albanian family, and she married Stefan Branković, son of the Despot Đurađ Branković. Stefan was blind from birth or lost his sight in early childhood; in the people he is known as Stefan the Blind, yet his blindness of the body was accompanied by a spiritual clarity and holiness that astonished his contemporaries.
After the fall of the Serbian Despotate in 1459 and the Ottoman conquest of the Serbian lands, Angelina wandered with her husband Stefan and their children — sons Jovan and Maksim, and daughter Marija — in search of refuge and a protector. They passed through Albania, Italy, and Hungary, always carrying with them the relics of Serbian saints and manuscripts, carefully preserving the heritage of Serbian culture and Church at a time when the Serbian land was under foreign rule. In that hardship of exile and displacement, Angelina never lost her faith or hope, but through her gentleness and steadfastness was a consolation to the whole family and their company.
When the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus extended his protection to the Serbian despots, the Branković family received an estate in Syrmia (Srem). There Despoina Angelina played what was perhaps her most important role — as builder and founder of the Serbian Church. On the slopes of Fruška Gora, at a place she recognized as spiritually significant, she built the monastery of Krušedol, which became from that time the sacred home of the Branković family and one of the most important Serbian monastic centers. In Krušedol were laid the relics of her husband Stefan the Despot, and then the relics of her sons Jovan and Maksim, who were both proclaimed saints — so Krušedol became the shrine of the holy Branković family, a kind of family crypt and sanctuary.
Angelina was not merely a founder but an active ecclesiastical personality. She corresponded with Russian princes and sought aid for the renewal of the Serbian Church and culture. She was known for her exceptional kindness toward the poor and the sick, for her mercy and hospitality, which she showed even when she herself did not have abundance. The people called her “Mother Angelina,” which speaks of the closeness and warmth with which the Serbs experienced her — not as a cold ruler, but as a mother to the whole people.
In her later years she received the monastic tonsure, and as a nun she reposed in peace around 1520. She was buried in the monastery of Krušedol, where her relics rest to this day. The Church canonized Angelina together with the entire holy Branković family, and the people address her with reverence — especially women who seek help in the trials of motherhood, in care for children, and in times of household affliction.
Saint Angelina is also a symbol of the Serbian woman who in exile does not lose dignity or faith — who builds churches when she has no home, who preserves the relics of the saints when she has no homeland, who raises up saints when she cannot raise up a people in freedom. For this reason the Serbian Church celebrates her memory on July 30 by the Julian calendar with love and pride.
Tropar (Tone 5)
Serbian Despoina and mother of saints, gentle-hearted exile, who didst adorn the Church of Christ as a founder and faithfully preserve the relics of the saints, O holy Angelina — intercede with Christ God, Who glorified thee, to grant the Serbian Church steadfastness in faith and our souls eternal salvation.
Kontakion (Tone 4)
Glorious mother of the holy Branković family, who in exile and sorrow wast never without hope, O Despoina Angelina — surround us with thy prayer and bind us to Christ with the love in which thou didst spend thy earthly life. Cease not to intercede for the Serbian people who call upon thee.