A high officer of the United Nations received by the Serbian Patriarch

His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch received Mr. Adam Dieng, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade on January 30^th, 2018.

The aim of the visit was familiarization with the current challenges in the field of reconciliation in the region, as well as finding ways how  to overcome ethnic and religious divisions for the aim of building up a common future of the peoples in the Balkans.

St. Athanasius the Great the Patriarch of Alexandria

Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria, was a great Father of the Church and a pillar of Orthodoxy. He was born around the year 297 in the city of Alexandria into a family of pious Christians. He received a fine secular education, but he acquired more knowledge by diligent study of the Holy Scripture. In his childhood, the future hierarch Athanasius became known to Saint Alexander the Patriarch of Alexandria (May 29). A group of children, which included Athanasius, were playing at the seashore. The Christian children decided to baptize their pagan playmates.

Venerable and God-bearing Father Anthony the Great

Saint Anthony the Great is known as the Father of monasticism, and the long ascetical sermon in The Life of Saint Anthony by Saint Athanasius (Sections 16-34), could be called the first monastic Rule.

He was born in Egypt in the village of Coma, near the desert of the Thebaid, in the year 251. His parents were pious Christians of illustrious lineage. Anthony was a serious child and was respectful and obedient to his parents. He loved to attend church services, and he listened to the Holy Scripture so attentively, that he remembered what he heard all his life.

When Saint Anthony was about twenty years old, he lost his parents, but he was responsible for the care of his younger sister. Going to church about six months later, the youth reflected on how the faithful,in the Acts of the Apostles (4:35), sold their possessions and gave the proceeds to the Apostles for the needy.

Celebrations of the feast of Saint Sava, the First Serbian Archbishop, in Belgrade

On the feast-day of the Venerable and the God-Bearer our Father Sava, the First Serbian Archbishop, His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch, officiated the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in the crypt of the Memorial Cathedral of Saint Sava.

His Holiness was concelebrated by the abbot of the monastery of the Mother of God the Three-handed in Bogostica , Archimandrite Nifont, Principal of Saint Sava’s Cathedral, Archimandrite Stefan, General Secretary of the Holy Synod of Bishops protopresbyter-staurophor Savo B. Jovic,PhD aas well as other clergimen.

St. Sava’s Feast-day in Wellington, New Zealand

St. Sava’s church in the capital city of New Zealand ceremoniously celebrated its patron feast-day, on Saturday, January 27, 2018.

The ceremony began with the Holy Liturgy, which was headed by hieromonk Meletius from the monastery of Holy Archangels in Levin, with the concelebration of Predrag Grubački, parish priest of Wellington. After the Divine Liturgy and a procession, a Slava cake (loaf) was prepared by the hosts of the feast, the Brasic family. A part of the cake was handed over to the hosts for the next year, the Lovrić family. After the celebration, the children demonstrated to what an extent the St. Sava’s way was deeply rooted in the Serbian soul. Recitations, poems and stories prepared by the little ones with so much affection did not leave indifferent anyone present.

Saint Sava marked in Arad, Romania

On the day when our Holy Church celebrates its first Archbishop St. Sava in Arad, in Romania, the Holy Hierarchal  Liturgy was served by the Archbishop of Arad Timothy and the Serbian Orthodox  Bishop of Hungary and  administrator of the Timisoara Lukian.

The clergy and monks of the Archdiocese of Arad and from the dioceses of Timisoara and Budim (Hungary) celebrated as well. At the end of the Holy Liturgy, a slava cake was presented in honor of Saint Sava, and the memory rite for the founders of this church - members of the Tekelija family and for all deceased teachers and students from our nation was performed as well. Archbishop Timothy conveyed  best wishes and greetings of the Patriarch of Romania His |Beatitude  Daniel, on the occasion of the great Serbian feast-day, as well as of all those who live together in this area and who with their deeds and love testify to it that we are one in the Holy and Apostolic Church.