Monahinja Jefimija

SWEEP ACROSS SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE CRUSHED ALL THAT STOOD IN THEIR WAY. THE SERBS FIRST ATTEMPTED TO CHECK THE TURKISH INVASION, BUT IN A BLOODY BATTLE ON THE RIVER MARITZA IN 1371 THEY THEMSELVES WERE OVERTHROWN AND THEIR LEADERS, THE MRNJAVCEVIC BROTHERS, MET THEIR DEATHS TOGETHER WITH A HOST OF SERBIAN WARRIORS. A LITTLE LATER, ON JUNE 15-TH 1389, ON THE FAMOUS FIELD OF KOSSOVO, WHERE THE SERBIAN RULER, PRINCE LAZAR. AND THE FLOWER OF THE SERBIAN NATION WERE SLAIN, A BLOW WAS STRUCK AT SERBIA’S INDEPENDENCE AS A STATE UNDER WHICH SHE RAPIDLY AND COMPLETELY SUCCUMBED.

SAD AND DIFFICULT YEARS FOLLOWED FOR THE SERBIAN PEOPLE, YEARS WHICH WERE ONLY A PRELUDE TO CENTURIES OF BITTER SUBJECTION TO THE TURKS. GRIEF AND DESPAIR AT THE VIOLATION OF SERBIA’S LIBERTY AND THE LOSS OF HER RULER ARE EXPRESSED NOT ONLY BY THE NATIONAL BARDS, WHO IMMORTALISED THEM IN THEIR SONGS, THE CELEBRATED SERBIAN HEROIC BALLADS, BUT ALSO BY A WOMAN, THE NUN