d. 1324
A former abbot of Hilandar on Athos who became archbishop of Serbia, known for his church-building and for translating the typikon into Serbian.
Our Father among the Saints Nikodemos, Archbishop of Serbia
Saint Nikodemos was a fourteenth-century Serbian hierarch who rose from the monastic life of Mount Athos to lead the Serbian Church as Archbishop of All Serbia and the Land of Pomor. A native of the Raska region, he is remembered above all as a learned theologian and translator who gave the Serbian Church its liturgical Typikon in the Slavonic tongue, and as a builder and restorer of churches.
Before his elevation he served as abbot (igumen) of the Serbian monastery of Hilandar on Mount Athos, and after becoming archbishop he remained active in the affairs of both church and realm, mediating between members of the ruling Nemanjic dynasty. He reposed in 1324 and was glorified within the same century; his relics were enshrined at the Patriarchate of Pec, and his commemoration spread beyond Serbia, reaching the Russian Church.
Saint Nikodemos was regarded as a gifted ecclesiastical writer and a learned theologian. Beyond his translation of the Jerusalem Typikon, he compiled records of the dates of the repose of Serbian rulers and archbishops in the Synaxarion so that their memory could be kept in the commemorative services of the Church.
As archbishop he built the church of Saint Demetrios at the Patriarchate of Pec and a church dedicated to Saint Sava of Serbia at Lizica. He restored the historic monastery of Zica and maintained the cell of Saint Sava on Mount Athos, sustaining the ties between the Serbian Church and the Holy Mountain from which he had come.