Christmas Eve in the church of Saint Sava on Vracar

His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch, attended last night burning of badnjaks (Yule logs) at the plateau in front of the Saint Sava Cathedral on Vracar.

Serbian Patriarch Irinej greeted the gathered faithful people with the traditional greeting Christ is born - True He is born! and said that the Christmas Eve is the joyful feast day which we had inherited from our ancestors, and that the Yule log is a symbol of the divine love. Among the believers who gathered at the plateau there was also Mr. Nebojsa Covic, a member of the temporary City Council.

Patriarch Irinej of Serbia, for Christmas, sent an appeal to the authorities of R. Macedonia and to the international community, for releasing of Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid

His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia, in his most recent epistle for Christmas, which he delivered to the public on January 3, 2014, addressed the state persecution on religious basis that is performed against Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid and the Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric.

In the epistle, Patriarch Irinej of Serbia sent an appeal to the authorities of R. Macedonia and to the international community:

“Honorous and blessed Christmas we wish to our imprisoned brother and concelebrant, Archbishop Jovan of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje, and to the whole persecuted and suffering Orthodox Church in R. Macedonia. He is being unjustly held in prison by the authorities, and his believers are being denied the freedom of belief and conscience, only because they opted for the unity of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The ethnophiletistic schism is the biggest tragedy of our Church in R. Macedonia. The schismatics, unfortunately, have submitted the unity of the Church to politics and ethnophiletism.

Patriarchal Nativity Encyclical 2013

The Serbian Orthodox Church to her spiritual children at Christmas, 2013

+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 Christmas greeting:

Peace from God! Christ is Born!

“I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord”
(St. Luke 2:10-11)

With these words, dear brothers and sisters, our dear spiritual children, the angel of the Lord appears to shepherds in Bethlehem and delivers to them the great joy that Christ the Lord and Savior is born. Despite the great fear they felt because of the angel’s appearance among them, they were illuminated by the glory of the Lord. The angel also announces this same great joy of the all-joyous Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ to us who are gathered in the holy churches, in our homes, in the hospitals and other establishments, those who are on the roads and work places. Knowing this, instead of fear and wonder, let us rejoice and be glad, together with all the heavenly powers, and let us submit ourselves to the glory of the Lord! May it fill and completely overtake us all as once it did the shepherds in Bethlehem of Judea!

Audiences at the Serbian Patriarchate - December 30th and 31st 2013

His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch, received Mr. Velimir Ilic, Minister of Construction and Urbanism, with associates yesterday on 30 December 2013 at the Serbian Patriarchate. Today His Holiness met with Mr. Milovan Vitezovic and Mr. Slobodan Jocic at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade.

Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of Spain and Portugal

A regular session of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of Spain and Portugal was held in Madrid on 13 December 2013.  Serbian Bishop Luka paid a canonical visit to Alicante.

All members of the Assembly participated: Metropolitan Policarpos of Spain and Portugal (Ecumenical Patriarchate), Bishop Nestor of Korsun (Moscow Patriarchate), Bishop Luka of Western Europe (Serbian Patriarchate) and Bishop Timotheus of Spain and Portugal (Romanian Patriarchate).  During the meeting the Statute of Assembly was adopted, necessary for an official registration by the Ministry of Justice of Spain. They also scrutinized the accomplished results on the Synaxarion of ancient saints of the Iberian Peninsula, and  discussed a harmonization of the existed translations of  Chrysostom’s Liturgy in Spanish (Castilian), and then in Portuguese and other regional languages (Catalan, Basque, Galician).

Enthronement of Metropolitan Athenagora of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Brussels

On Saturday, 21 December 2013 at the Cathedral church of St. Michael the Archangel in Brussels (Belgium) Metropolitan Athenagoras was enthroned. Many high representatives of religious and state institutions from many countries of the world attended the enthronement.

The Serbian Orthodox Church on this occasion was represented by His Grace Bishop Andrej of Remesiana, who also concelebrated to Metropolitan Athenagoras at the first Liturgy which he served as the enthroned Metropolitan.