Eastern Church Christians celebrate the feast of The Righteous Prince Stephen the Great and the Holy on July 2. During his reign, Stephan the Great turned Moldova into a strong state and maintained its independence despite ambitions of Hungary, Poland, and the Ottoman Empire, which all sought to subdue the land. Stephen achieved fame in Europe for his long resistance against the Ottomans. He was victorious in 34 of his 36 battles, and was the first to inflict a decisive victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Vaslui, after which Pope Sixtus IV deemed him verus christianae fidei athleta (true Champion of Christian Faith). He was a man of religion and displayed his piety when he paid the debt of Mount Athos to the Porte, ensuring the continuity of Athos as an autonomous monastic community. Stephan the Great was buried at Putna Monastery which was built by him. The canonisation of Stephan the Great was made in 1992. The St. Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church started to canonise the Romanian saints in the times of Patriarch Justinian Marina (1997 A.C.).