Life and Marriages
Elena belonged to the Serbian nobility of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. According to Serbian tradition she was first married to Jovan Branković, despot of Srem and son of Despot Stefan Branković; Jovan died on December 10, 1502. Following his death she married Prince Stefan Štiljanović, who came from the Paštrovići tribe on the Serbian Adriatic coast and who is also venerated as a saint.
As despot, Stefan administered territories in Srem and Slavonia and acquired further lands including Miholjac, Glogovnica, Novgrad, and Orahovica. He died of natural causes; the sources record his death variously around 1515, around 1540, and around 1543, the last accounts placing it near Siklós in Hungary.
Flight and Monastic Vows
After her husband's death, Elena withdrew to Germany to escape the Turkish advance. When she learned that Stefan's relics had been discovered and transferred to a monastery of the Fruška Gora, she returned to honor them.
At the Šišatovac Monastery she took monastic vows under the monastic name Jelisaveta (Elisaveta). She died in 1546. Serbian accounts record her burial beside her husband at Šišatovac, while other evidence suggests she was buried at the Convent of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sremski Karlovci.
Relics & Shrines
The discovery of Saint Stephen Štiljanović's relics is connected with Elena's return from exile; the OCA synaxarion relates that a light appeared at his grave by night, which led to the finding of his holy relics. His remains were initially buried at Šišatovac Monastery.
The founding of the Petkovica Monastery on Mount Fruška Gora, in Vojvodina, is attributed by tradition to Elena, here named the Despotess Jelena, widow of Stefan Štiljanović. The earliest historical records mentioning the monastery date to 1522, and it was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990. An icon in the Church of Saint Demetrios in Siklós, Hungary, depicts Elena alongside her husband, reflecting their joint veneration. A church in Augsburg, Germany, bears both their names as the Orthodox Parish of Saint Stefan and Saint Helena Stiljanovic.
