["Nations and Nationalism, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThe goal of this study, theoretically grounded in ethno‐symbolism, is to shed light on the relationship and relative importance of confessional affiliation and dynastic and ethnic identity for the first Serbian writers during the first three decades of the 13th century. To achieve this, this paper presents an in‐depth analysis of the collected writings of Saint Sava, the first archbishop of Serbia, and Stefan the First Crowned, Sava's brother and the first king of the Nemanjić dynasty. The frequency and manner in which the noun Serb(s) and the adjective Serbian are used throughout their collected works are examined. Neither of these authors used the noun Serb(s), with one exception, and they rarely used the adjective Serbian, which was specifically reserved for the ethnicity of the Nemanjić family and the lands they ruled over, rather than the people, who were referred to by the Christian term ‘the flock’. The paper shows that Saint Sava and his brother principally sought to justify the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty through Christian ideology. They could not have been nationalists, and the Serbian nation cannot be deemed to have existed at the time; however, it may be argued that this period marked the beginning of the formation of the Serbian lateral ethnic community.\n"]