Bishop Mitrophan celebrated in the Dormition church

I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ (Luke 15:11-32) Such wonderful lessons could be heard in the sermon of His Grace Bishop Mitrophan of Canada, who, with the blessing of the Serbian Patriarch Mr. Porphyry, served the Holy Hierarch's Liturgy in the Dormition church in the district of Zvezdara, in Belgrade on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son.

The Bishop was concelebrated by protopresbyter-staurophors Jovica Vicentijevic, Dragan Predic and Milutin Ceketic, presbyter Nenad Prodic, protodeacon Stevan Rapajic and deacons Nemanja Kalem and Pavle Matulic. The mixed choir sang responses. 

At the end of the Liturgy, Bishop Mitrophan addressed the faithful present in a crowded Dormition Church, emphasizing that parental love on earth, since the earth has existed, has been surpassed only by the Lord Jesus Christ with his love for the human race.

-Only divine love surpassed paternal love. Only God loves us more than both father and mother, only He has more patience with us, He forgives us and only He rejoices in our repair more than our parents. Patience, forgiveness and joy are the three main qualities of Divine love. These are the qualities of every true love. Without these three qualities, love is not love. In the story of the prodigal son, the Lord Jesus presented to us the image of true Divine love - God's love for people, said Bishop Mitrophan, who thanked the Most Holy Mother of God, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije, the elders and the brotherhood that he worshiped in the Zvezdara's shrine.

Source: pokrovska.rs