“He was beloved by our fathers who also trusted in Him, trusted in Him and were saved, for rejecting the concern of all earthly things and accepting spiritual reason and the fear of God, they exchanged the earthly kingdom for heavenly life and glory eternal, leaving for us on earth memorials worthy of praise, filling our souls and our bodies with all sweetness and joy. I shall mention Simeon Nemanja, the first and holy ruler, lover of his fatherland, Serbian enlightener and new myrrh-gusher and his own son, beloved by God from his youth, holy and most reverend Sava, the first Serbian archbishop and his brother in flesh, King Stefan the First Crowned, and after them, all our ancestors who from them shone and who ruled on earth, may their memory be eternal.”
This is how the founder of Dečani speaks in his Founding Charter of the monastery about his ancestors, who were passionate about God and had deep faith in Him, thereby saving their souls and attaining to eternal life. To their descendants they left not only beautiful memories, but also an example to be followed, which is what king Stefan Dečanski mentions in his Founding Charter.
The people living in the Middle Ages believed that each nation became a member of the communion of the elect and the New Israel by embracing Christianity and adopting its highest principles. That was where the nation would draw much older values and ideas from, finding its own place in history – as it was understood at that time – among other nations, in the times of announcements and fulfillment of individual and collective salvation. Spiritually related or important persons from the past were the role-models for secular and religious leaders, and much more than that: the leaders imitated them, extended their presence and outdid them. Such beliefs were inevitable in creating the official ideology, which would spread throughout all segments of state and church authorities, as well as in literature and art. These beliefs were finally shaped in Serbia at the end of the 12th century and during the time of Nemanja’s successors they swiftly reached all facets of secular and religious life. Hence, it came as no surprise that they were presented in Dečani, particularly since their forms had been known to exist in the art in Serbia. Naturally, some new elements were included, stemming from the fact that Dečani was an endowment of two founders and rulers, father and son, and that the images were created at the time of numerous important events, which followed each other very quickly.
The final inclusion of the Serbian people into the community of the Orthodox Christian Church during the time of Grand Duke Stefan Nemanja (who later became a monk and was called Simeon): the establishment of his veneration following the pattern of the ruler–monk–saint turned him into an archetype of salvation for the Serbian people. His son, Sava, who went on to become the first archbishop of the autocephalous church, joined him at a very early age in monastic life, and the two were occasionally joined by others, particularly Stefan the First Crowned. Their names are mentioned by Stefan Dečanski in his Founding Charter, as the progenitors of salvation among his people, those who chose the kingdom of Heaven over the kingdom of Earth and whose fame has become infinite. St. Simeon and St. Sava were equally, if not even more, important to the other founder of Dečani, King and Emperor Dušan, during whose reign the frescos in the Dečani church were painted; such an attitude towards these saints was clearly reflected in the iconographic program of the Dečani frescos.
St. Simeon is depicted several times in the Dečani church. Only once is he isolated from the group of his descendants, but even then they and his spiritual children were understood to accompany him. This unique scene has already been mentioned: Nemanja's portrait in the nave, by the stone throne, where he was designated as "St. Simeon the Myrrh-Gusher, Serbian Lord".
The depiction of the act of handing over the newly built church to Christ involves a great number of persons – the founders and their carefully selected ancestors and descendants. Since the nave in Dečani practically has no solid walls, it was difficult to establish a connection between the tomb and the donor portrait; accordingly, it was moved to the closest south wall, in the chapel of St. Nicholas.
Very close to the founders, on the left side, we find the portraits of St. Simeon Nemanja, St. Sava and King Milutin. Their frontal portraits are accompanied by extensive inscriptions. St. Simeon is dressed as a Great Schema monk, St. Sava as an archbishop in a sakkos, while King Milutin is wearing his royal attire; all of them are holding crosses in their hands. The selection of forefathers confirms that the kings and founders of Dečani came from a holy family and that they continued the mission of protecting and strengthening the true faith, a process started by Sts. Simeon and Sava. This idea is further supported by the inscriptions: St. Simeon is the Serbian Lord and the Myrrh-Gusher, St. Sava is designated as the first Archbishop of all Serbian and Littoral Lands (the title similar to those given to Serbian kings and archbishops at that time), while King Milutin is described as the Ruler of all Serbian and Littoral Lands.
Across from the founders' portraits, on the west wall and on the same paint layer, there are representations of the young king and heir to the throne Uroš, Queen Jelena and Dušan’s half-brother Simeon (whose name is the only one that is no longer visible in the inscription). They are all depicted in a formal manner (ill. 258). The Queen has put her right hand on the back of Uroš’s head (symbolizing his young age and their blood relation), while with her other hand is extended in supplication, like Simeon’s, to the founders and to Christ above them. With their position, near the founders, and with their gestures, they join the pious members of their family, fathers (Uroš and Simeon) and wife (Jelena), hoping to receive Christ’s blessing and mercy.
The founders of Dečani are painted once more together, above the entrance to the nave of the church, but this time within an iconographic program and concept rather different from that in the nave. They are not portrayed with a church in their hands and the only testimony of their gift to God is the inscription next to their images which says that they are "the founders of this holy place.” The difference in comparison with the founder’s composition is that Stefan Dečanski is here designated with the title "saint", while Dušan’s title is more elaborate: “He is faithful to Christ God, and the most high King of all Serbian and Littoral Lands.” They both slightly bow before the huge bust of Christ the Pantokrator, whose open Gospel says: I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture" (John 10:9). The text has a clearly eschatological meaning referring to the salvation through Christ and in Christ.
The promise began to come true while this fresco was being painted: Stefan Dečanski started showing signs of holiness through the incorruptibility of his sweet-smelling relics and his first miracles. Having been removed from his grave in the spring or summer of 1343, his relics were laid in front of the iconostasis, and his portrait was painted on the wall above the reliquary coffin; this portrait was connected to the icons on the iconostasis. This is most likely because the frescos were being painted at that time in the church and the new saint had his portrait made immediately, thus joining the other saints in the Dečani nave. His image was connected by means of the other paintings on the iconostasis with Christ the Pantokrator, who portrayed on the other side of the iconostasis.
The son of Stefan Dečanski, Dušan, is mentioned in numerous inscriptions at Dečani, due to his royal stature and his status as the founder, thus his portraits are on the church walls as well, not only in compositions depicting his direct involvement in completing his father’s endowment. Representations of him and his family are also present in more complex compositions and with different messages. Such are their oldest portrayals in Dečani. Most likely painted at the same time or immediately before those in the donor portrait – but by all means before the fall of 1343 – they are included in the final scene of the Akathist to the Holy Virgin.
As soon as he became emperor in spring of 1346, Stefan Dušan was painted in the west part of the north wall in the narthex, alongside Empress Jelena and their son, King Uroš.
The legitimacy of Stefan Dušan’s reign was confirmed in a painting of the Family Tree of the Nemanjić Dynasty (ill. 365), completed towards the end of the fresco painting work the Dečani church, in 1346 or 1347. On the east side of the narthex, a bit more to the south of the portal leading into the nave, there is a composition which was painted many times in Serbia following after King Milutin’s Gračanica. Just like his grandfather was glorified in Gračanica, the image was used to emphasize Emperor Dušan’s longevity and the holiness of the ruling family whose descendant he was, and it was meant to show that his reign and the reign of his ancestors were of divine origin, hereditary, and blessed by God. The image shows that the Serbian emperor was God’s elect and protector, keeper and defender of the faith which leads to salvation, who followed in the footsteps of his ancestors and led the New Israel towards the Kingdom of Heaven.
Other people who contributed to the construction or painting of Dečani, and thereby merited the right to be portrayed within the church, are much more modestly depicted, which is definitely connected with their social status. An unknown nobleman, named Pećpal, most likely called Đorđe, most likely earned this right by donating a substantial amount of money, and so the north aisle of the narthex was converted into a chapel dedicated to the holy Great Martyr George.
It may be presumed that the same hope also inspired the first abbot of Dečani, Аrsenije, to have his portrait painted on the west wall of the prothesis, or, to be more precise, in the passage between the prothesis and the sanctuary of the chapel of St. Demetrius. Abbot Arsenije's portrait was thus placed close to that of St. Arsenije of Serbia, depicted performing the liturgy with St. Sava on the opposite side, in the apse of the chapel. By means of that image and the service depicted in it, the first two Serbian archbishops became equal to other great Orthodox bishops, demonstrating that the Serbian Church, whose founders and representatives they were, did not depart in any way from the customs and canon laws of other Orthodox churches.
There are no other paintings opposite Abbot Aresnije’s portrait and it is not known why: perhaps somebody else was supposed to be portrayed here, which is not very likely, or the wall has been deliberately left empty so as not to disturb the composition depicting the Dečani abbot’s prayer to his holy namesake, or there were some other reasons. It seems that an empty space in the chapel of St. Nicholas, close to other holy monks and the original tomb of Stefan Dečanski, was planned to be a portrait of the second abbot of Dečani, Arsenije’s successor. It also seems that the “portrait of the second abbot of this holy place, Danilo,” as the inscription says, was completed soon after the frescos in the church had been painted in late in 1347 or the following year (ill. 14). No reliable records regarding Abbot Danilo have been preserved. He was portrayed in his middle age, with black hair and beard and a rather long nose, with hands in prayer turned towards Christ in the sky, who blessed the abbot leaning against him. Without any special merits regarding the construction of the church, apart from regular maintenance, Danilo and his portrait are nowadays interpreted as an image of all abbots and monks in Dečani during their everyday prayer.
