Pan-Orthodox Liturgy in Munich

Regular session of the Episcopal Council of the Orthodox Church in Germany was held in Munich from 6 until 8 March 2015.

The Orthodox Episcopal Council of Germany was founded in 2010 and it consists of 16 Metropolitans and Bishops of all Canonical Orthodox Churches in Germany. On Friday, 6 March 2015 Bishops gathered along with 25 priests and deacons who serve in Munich, deliberating about the pastoral problems of the Orthodox believers in Bayern.

Liturgical Gathering at the Military Academy in Belgrade

Head of the Department for Faiths, Colonel Dr. Sasa Milutinovic, attended the Liturgy at the Military Academy. Divine Liturgies are regularly in all the chapels located within military caserns.

The Second Sunday in Lent, on which the Orthodox Church celebrates Great Saint of Thessaloniki Gregory Palamas, was celebrated at the chapel of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos at the Military Academy in Belgrade, when the Holy Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great was officiated. Many cadets, non-commissioned officers and officers attended the holy service. Captain and presbyter Nemanja Petrovic served the Holy Liturgy with the concelebration of protodeacon Radomir Rakic, Editor-in-Chief of the Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates Sunday of Orthodoxy

His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej served the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great in the side-chapel of Holy Martyrs of Belgrade Hermylus and Stratonicus at the Saint Sava Cathedral on Vracar, Belgrade.

The clergy of Saint Sava Cathedral concelebrated to the Patriarch, while the Singing Society “Mokranjac” sang responses. Lots of believers were present at the Liturgy.

Recognition to Bishop Jovan of Nis

On Sunday, March 1st, 2015, in the solemn hall of the Saint Sava Centre in Nis, Serbia, a regular session of the Association of creators of the city of Nis was held, during which His Grace Bishop Jovan of Nis was proclaimed a member of honour of this Association.

The ceremony was opened with a performance of the Cathedral church choir “Branko”, after which the president of the Association of the creators of the city of Nis, delivered a speech, and handed in a letter of appreciation to Bishop Jovan. Following the president, Bishop Jovan also addressed the audience.

The Triumph of Jesus Christ in the Triumph of Orthodoxy

The first Sunday of Great Lent is celebrated as the Triumph of Orthodoxy. This is connected with the victory of the iconodules (those who supported the veneration of sacred images) over the iconoclasts (those who opposed their veneration).

The heart of the victory of Orthodoxy in the restoration of iconography—as well as our veneration of the same—is found in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Christology is the beginning and end of all true theology, and whenever we get Christ wrong, we get everything else wrong.

Bishop Jovan: Historiography of the Holocaust in Yugoslavia

In the beginning of this year the Institue for Theological Research of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology and the Faculty of Security published in English a book whose author is Bishop Jovan (Culibrk) of Pakrac-Slavonia - Historiography of the Holocaust in Yugoslavia. The same book already appeared in Serbian translation by the same publisher in 2011.

It is the text of master’s thesis which Bishop Jovan defended at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem before, today late, Professor David Bankier, to whom this book is dedicated. Professor Bankier was at the same time the head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research – Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and the present book used all the capacities that Yad Vashem offers to a research-worker, especially the one who, like Bishop Jovan, spent many years working in it.

Reviewers of this book are Simon Epstein from the University of Jerusalem and Milan Koljanin from Belgrade`s Institute for Modern History, the leading world expert for Holocaust. The Book Historiography of the Holocaust in Yugoslavia as a source book has already been used by a great number of the most serious experts for Holocaust, including Michael Feier, Raphael Izraeli, Paul O`Shea and others.