Sermon on Great and Holy Friday

What would you now, brethren, from the ministers of the word? The Word Himself is no more!

The Word, co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, born for our salvation, the Author of every quick and powerful (Heb. 4:12) word, is silent, dead, buried, and sealed up. The more plainly and convincingly “to show man the path of life” (Ps. 16:11) this very Word came down from heaven and put on flesh; but men would not hearken unto the Word, they tear His flesh, and lo, “He is cut off out of the land of the living” (Is. 53:8). Who then shall now give unto us the word of life and salvation?

Patriarchal Pascha Encyclical 2017

The Serbian Orthodox Church to her spiritual children at Pascha, 2017

+IRINEJ

By the Grace of God

Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Paschal greeting:

Christ is Risen!

“Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.”
(Paschal troparion)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Resurrection of our Lord is the greatest Christian feast day. It is the feast day of faith, life and of every blessing from God. Our entire faith is in the Resurrection and the Resurrection is in our faith. The Holy Apostle Paul, the teacher of the nations, whom we unreservedly can call the greatest preacher of the Resurrection of Christ and our own, clearly said: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (I Corinthians 15:20) Faith in the Resurrection of Christ is the essence of the apostolic preaching and teaching, the foundation of the Church and of her services and theology.

The Palm Sunday celebrated in Vienna

His Grace Andrej, Serbian Orthodox  Bishop of Austria-Switzerland, officiated at the Eucharistic gathering in the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God on the 9^th of April 2017.

The Bishop was concelebrated by Archpriest Petar Pantic and the parish priests Dragan Birtasevic and Alekksandar Stankovic. The church choir with Mrs. Biserka Vasic as Conductor was chanting responses. After the Gospel reading, the Bishop delivered a sermon on the topic of the feast-day. An agape meal was served in the church premises.

Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem celebrated in Mostar

The feat-day of the Entry of Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem - Palm Sunday was marked in this Herzegovinian town Mostar by celebration of the Divine liturgy presided over by Bishop Grigorije of Zaholm and Herzegovina.

The Hierarch was concelebrated by protopresbyter-stavrophor Radivoje Krulj, presbyter Nemanja Luketa, deacon Branislav Rajković in attendance of many faithful people of Mostar and its surrounding. During the Eucharistic gathering Zorica Roncevic was received into of the Mostar community of the saints of the One, Holy, Catholic and Orthodox Church. The solemnity continued in the church-yard and the premises of the Old church in Mostar.

Bishop Maxim Celebrates His Krsna Slava - The Feast of Saint Lazarus

His Grace Bishop Maxim and his parents, Proto Lazar and Protinica Radmila Vasiljevic, celebrated their Krsna Slava, on Lazarus Saturday, April 8, 2017 at the Saint Steven's Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Alhambra, California. 

His Grace Bishop Maxim concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with V. Rev. Lazar Vasiljevic, Bishop Maxim's father; V. Rev. Nicholas Ceko, Cathedral Dean; Rev. Norman Kosanovic, Assistant Priest at the Cathedral; V. Rev. Slobodan Jovic, parish priest at the Holy Archangel Michael Church in Sarratoga, CA; V. Rev. Predrag Bojovic, parish priest at the St. Sava Church in San Gabriel, CA.; and V. Rev. Jegarski, retired priest in Los Angeles. Many guests from throughout the Diocese joined His Grace in the Lazarus Day Festivities. 

The feats of The Annunciation in Narateth

On Friday, 25th March/7th April 2017, the feast of the Annunciation of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos was celebrated in Nazareth.

At this feast, the Church commemorates that fact that in the last days, God fulfilled the long foretold mystery of the incarnation of His Only Begotten Son and Logos. To this cause, He sent Archangel Gabriel to a pure virgin in Nazareth and announced to her that by the power of the Holy Spirit, she was to conceive and bear in flesh the Saviour of the world.