Order of St. Sava

The Order of Saint Sava was established by Milan I of Serbia, who had converted the Principality of Serbia into a kingdom in March 1882. It was first awarded in January 1883, to recognize 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 which permitted soldiers of the Serbian Army to receive the honor for military merit. 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.

Five grades were awarded: Knight Grand Cross, Knight, Grand Officer, Commander, and 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.[1][2]

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 colored.[3]

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

• William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland[4]
• Thomas Cook[5]
• Randall Davidson[6]
• Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton, 2nd Grade 1918, 1st Grade 1921
• William Hunter, 2nd Grade 1915[7]
• Isabel Emslie Hutton, Lady Hutton, Scottish physician and psychiatrist
• Alois Jirásek, 1926
• Svetislav Jovanović, 1st Grade 1928
• Queen Kapiolani of Hawaii,[8] Hawaii 1883
• Helen Keller, 3rd Grade 1931[9]
• Albert Besson, french physician, deputy chairman of the council of Paris, grand cross, 1934,
• Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich of Russia[10]
• Dominik Mandić, Herzegovinian Franciscan[11]
• Dragoljub Mihailović, 25 January 1928.[8]
• Milutin Milanković[12]
• Alojzije Mišić, 10 November 1923[13]
• Peter Norman Nissen[14]
• Louis Raemaekers, Dutch political cartoonist, 3rd Grade, 20 January 1933.
• Nicholas Roerich, 1932[15][16]
• Marie of Romania[17]
• Herbert St Maur Carter, D.S.O., M.D., British Surgeon, Royal Army Medical Corps and British Red Cross (3rd Class 1917)
• Nikola Tesla, 2nd Grade 1892[18]
• Violetta Thurstan, English nurse, 1918[19]
• Đorđe Vajfert (I grade)[20]
• Harry Woodburn Blaylock[21]

• Patriarch Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia[8]
• Dejan Bodiroga
• Vlade Divac
• Novak Đoković, 2011[8]
• Vladeta Jerotić, 2001 (First Grade)
• Aleksandr Karelin, 2013[22]
• Emir Kusturica[8]
• Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria[23]
• Vladimir Putin[24]
• Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn[8]
• Very Reverend Marko B.Todorovich, 2015

• 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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Order of St. Sava.