On Vidovdan celebrated Holy Eucharist in Serbian Orthodox temples all over the world

St. Vitus Day (Vidovdan), a religious holiday when Serbs commemorate the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, was marked in all Serbian Orthodox Christian temples today.

Saint Lazar the Great Martyr of Kosovo

Prince Lazar was born in 1329 in Prilepac to the aristocrat family Hrebeljanović. His father Pribac was a Logotet-secretary doing very confidential work for King Dušan the Powerful in the royal palace. Young Lazar was raised in the palace, and was respected by the King who entrusted him with the rule of two parts of his kingdom: Srem and Mačva. Lazar married Milica the daughter of an important aristocrat named Vratko also known as Yug Bogdan - a very wise and honorable man from the Nemanjic family. Lazar had three sons: Stevan, Vuk and Lazar and five daughters: Jelena, Mara, Despa, Vukosava and Mileva.

King Dušan the Powerful died unexpectantly in 1355 at the age of 48. This led to a weakening of Serbia's central government. Many dukes used this opportunity to secede from the Kingdom with the land that had been entrusted to them. The young son of Dušan Uroš took over the throne and soon was killed. Vukašin Mrnjavčević proclaimed himself the King of Serbia. At this time, Turks were advancing toward the Kingdom of Serbia. In a battle on the river Marica in 1371, Vukašin was killed leaving behind him a weakened, poor and torn Serbia. Serbia was in desperate need of a gifted statesman, rich in virtue and deserving of God's Grace: a man similar to St. Sava and his father St. Stefan Nemanja who had founded the Serbian state. The Church recognized just such a man in Prince Lazar. His talent for leadership, wisdom and experience lifted him above those who would seize the throne by force and sought their own glory and importance.

Kosovo and Metohija - A Historical Survey(1), Prof. Dr. Dusan T. Batakovic

In the thousand year long-history of Serbs, Kosovo and Metohia were for many centuries the state center and chief religious stronghold, the heartland of their culture and springwell of its historical traditions. For a people who lived longer under foreign rule than in their own state, Kosovo and Metohia are the foundations on which national and state identity were preserved in times of tribulation and founded in times of freedom .

FIRST BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA IN SERBIAN LANGUAGE

Protodeacon Radomir Rakic Bible Encyclopedia, I - II , pp. 600 и 632, Theological Academy in Srbinje (Foca), 2004.

The year of 2004. saw the publication the Bible Encyclopedia in two volumes by Protodeacon Radomir Rakic, lecturer at the Theological Faculty of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade and Lecturer in the New Testament at the Theological Academy in Srbinje (Foca) as well as the official interpreter of the Holy Synod of Bishops. The first volume includes terms from A to L on a total of 586 pages, and the second volume comprises 632 pages, in encyclopedic format in two columns with four geographic maps on sub- covers and many illustrations, diagrams, etc. This work, the first of its kind in the Serbian language, has been no less than 10 years in preparation by the author, using the best biblical encyclopedias in the world as his model, including the Russian encyclopedia of Archimandrite Nikifor from the end of the 19th century reprinted in Moscow in 1992. German works used included Fritz Rienecker’s Lexikon zur Bibel and the six-volume biblical dictionary published by Brockhaus, Das grosse Bibellexikon. English works of greatest aid to the author were Harper’s Bible Dictionary (San Francisco, 1985), as well as The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Vols. 1-3 (London, 1980).

Ukrainian customs officers detained "pilgrims' wear" from Gucci, Prada and Armani

Ukrainian customs officers seized a large consignment of expensive clothes and accessories of the world leading brands reported as humanitarian aid, in particular, "pilgrims' wear". The name of charity fund which attempted to smuggle infringing goods into Ukraine has not been disclosed yet, Zerkalo Nedeli weekly reports on its site referring to its sources in the Ukrainian customs.

Romanian Orthodox Church has a news agency

Basilica News Agency was launched yesterday, in the attendance and with the blessing of His Beatitude Daniel, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The agency is part of the Romanian Patriarchy's Basilica Press Center, along with Radio Trinitas, Trinitas television, ‘Ziarul Lumina' daily and the Press Office.