Patriarch Porfirije: The Gospel that Saint George has chosen triumphs in eternity

The Patron Saint day of the General Staff of the Serbian Army, Saint George the Great Martyr – Saint George's Day, was festively celebrated on 6 May 2022, in the chapel dedicated to this God-pleasing Saint in "Banjica 2" barracks in Belgrade, where His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije presided over the Holy Hierarchical Liturgy, with the concelebration of His Grace Bishop of Niš and the Military Bishop kyr Arsenije, and military priests (photo gallery).

– Christ is risen! Esteemed Mr. General, gentlemen officers, brothers and sisters, I am happy that on this festive day we are serving the Holy Liturgy in the General Staff, in the church where I concelebrated with Patriarch Irinej of blessed memory when it was consecrated. Before that, I had the joy of participating in the design and arrangement of this space and in transforming it into a place of prayer. At that time when returning clerics, i.e. military priests, in the structures of the Army began, I, as Vicar Bishop of Jegar, was the first Bishop who, with the blessing of our Church, took care of the process of returning military priests to the Army and who participated on behalf of the Church in formulating and shaping all decrees and laws which made that process possible, Patriarch Porfirije reminded and pointed out:

– Today we heard a pericope from the Acts of the Apostles which describes how King Herod persecuted Christians. We see the drama of many Christians’ suffering, and also at one point the Apostle Peter who was captured and taken to prison. Then we are faced with a miracle, the miracle of Peter's deliverance from the chains of slavery, from the dungeon, through the prayer of the Church, the prayer of the Pleroma of the Church. All of us in the Church are one organism, one body. Anyone who thinks that he can do great deeds on his own, without the support of others, without all kinds of support from brothers and sisters, and above all without prayerful support, is at least in a delusion. We often do not know why some movements happen in our lives, why miracles that we perceive in us and around us also happen, but since the Church i.e. the Council of Saints prays for all, often the good in our lives happens through the prayers of people we do not know, the prayers of the unknown. At one point in the Gospel, we even saw that the Lord answered the prayers of the faithful to heal a man who did not have faith. This means that we are one unique organism as the Church, and therefore we need to grow as much as possible with our talents and gifts, but to grow in accordance and symphony, in harmony with others, and to grow for others.

– When we share, when we give, when we live for others, we surely receive many times more through the grace of God. All of Christ’s apostles, like the apostle Peter, were in fact martyrs. The first who suffered death, as we also heard in the Acts of the Apostles, was the Apostle James, and later the other apostles as well. The Apostle Peter, being delivered from the dungeon together with the Apostle Paul, preached the truth of Christ, the Gospel of Christ, throughout the entire civilized world. He preached the truth that this world is vanity, that this world is empty and meaningless if it does not have Christ within itself, if it does not have the solid and unshakable foundation in itself, which is the eternal and imperishable truth of Christ. One of those who renounced the vanity of this world is Saint George, whom we celebrate today, the Patriarch emphasized and continued:

– We all know that Saint George was a military leader, a successful duke in the army of Emperor Diocletian, but in an army that hated Christ, that did not want Christ, that persecuted Christians. When Saint George should have been glorified even more and when he has been called to experience that glory precisely because he would persecute Christians, he, carrying Christ in his heart, refused honors and glory and chose Christ instead. His deed and action may at least seem strange to many, both then and today, but the person of Saint George was a place of the encounter of two logics, two justices, two truths, two worlds, and two eons. In his person, this world that lies in evil, as the apostle says, clashed with the world of the Kingdom of God, the world of eternity and the world of truth. This world, as we know, does not want Christ, because the Lord Himself says: “If I had not come, they would have no sin." This world does not want Christ. Why? Because Christ is the mirror, in Him one can see the difference between justice and injustice, the difference between truth and lie. In Him, black differs from white. That is why Christ is a hindrance to people who want glory, power, wealth and the first place in this world. He represents an impediment to them in doing their jobs, or on the other hand, Christ, His truth and His Church might be welcome only if it is perceived as useful for achieving the goals of this world, only in a utilitarian profitable context. Saint George chose Christ and death, he chose the wisdom of Christ which is madness for logic and for the wisdom of this world. The same thing was done by Saint Prince Lazar who said speaking in our name: “The earthly kingdom is for a while, and the Kingdom of Heaven is always and forever”, and he thus manifested in practice what Saint Sava founded as our identity: the identity of truth, justice, peace, love, eternity, the eternal life in Christ, which is not all imaginative and abstract in the future age. That is the reality and the value through which we need to live here and now. Regardless of how weak and powerless we are, it is important that we have the decisiveness and commitment to this truth of Christ within us.

– The Lord said: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another." Saint George, Saint Sava, Saint Prince Lazar, and numerous martyrs and Christians over the centuries have been opting for this commandment of Christ, because love towards the neighbor turns even the one who hates us, and who is our enemy, and who sees himself as our enemy, into our brother! That is the Gospel of Saint George, that is the Gospel that we choose, that Gospel triumphs in eternity! It may be that peace, justice and truth temporarily seem to suffer here because the world does not want the choice of Saint George and does not want the choice for Christ, but it is only for a while, for the eternal and eternity are to the ages of ages. Saint George, living in the Roman Empire, did not want the honors of legions that disappeared without a trace; no individual from that time was remembered, and he who was seemingly a loser at that time, is woven into the Calendar of the Church of Christ and we glorify him, the entire Church of Christ glorifies him; he has been glorified then, and is glorified now and will be glorified to the ages of ages, where he and all the saints glorify – and we as well join our prayers and our praise and glorification to theirs – the One God in the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Christ is risen! –Patriarch Porfirije concluded.

The host of the Patron Saint day, the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army, General Milan Mojsilović, welcomed the guests and congratulated the feast to all members of the Serbian Army. The festive gathering was attended by members of the Collegium of Chiefs of the General Staff, as well as numerous officers, non-commissioned officers and civilians serving in the General Staff of the Serbian Army.

After the service, General Mojsilović arranged a reception for Patriarch Porfiije, with whom he discussed the history of cooperation between the Serbian Army and the Serbian Orthodox Church, the results of the work of military priests, and plans for further development of religious service in the Serbian Army, concluding that the cooperation of the two institutions is on a very high level and that it fully functions in the aim of strengthening the spiritual and moral values ​​and patriotism of members of the Serbian Army.

The General Staff of the Serbian Army has been celebrating the day of its Patron Saint – Saint George's Day, since 2018, thus continuing the tradition of celebrating the Patron Saint day in the Serbian army, which began in 1888.

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Πατριάρχης Σερβίας κ.κ. Πορφύριος: Το Ευαγγέλιο επέλεξε ο Άγιος Γεώργιος και εκείνο θριαμβεύει στην αιωνιότητα

Με μεγαλοπρέπεια εορτάστηκε στις 6 Μαΐου 2022 η Σλάβα του Γενικού Επιτελείου Στρατού της Σερβίας, που ο προστάτης του είναι ο άγιος Μεγαλομάρτυρας Γεώργιος. Στο παρεκκλήσι, αφιερωμένο στον θεάρεστο αυτό αγωνηστή, που βρίσκεται στον στρατώνα «Μπάνιτσα 2» στο Βελιγράδι, ο Μακαριώτατος Πατριάρχης Σερβίας κ.κ. Πορφύριος προεξήρχε της Αρχιερατικής Θείας Λειτουργίας, πλαισιούμενος από τον Θεοφιλέστατο Επίσκοπο του Νις και του Στρατού κ. Αρσένιο και συν αυτώ τους στρατιωτικούς ιερείς.

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Проповедь Патриарха Порфирия  в день Святого великомученика  Георгия

Сегодня мы услышали один  отрывок из Деяний Апостолов, описывающиц, как царь Ирод преследовал христиан. Мы видим драму страданий многих христиан, и в какой-то момент апостола Петра, который был схвачен и взят в тюрьму. Тогда перед нами одно чудо, чудо избавления свяятого апостола Петра от уз рабства, из темницы, и это есть от молитвы Церкви, молитвы Собора Церкви. Мы все в Церкви один организм, одно тело. Тот, кто думает, что может совершать великие дела самостоятельно, невзирая на поддержку других, поддержку братьев и сестер, всячески и прежде всего без молитвенной поддержки, по меньшей мере находится в заблуждении. Мы часто не знаем, почему в нашей жизни происходят какие-то внезапные сдвижения,  или даже происходят чудеса, которые мы замечаем в себе и вокруг себя, а ведь, на самом деле,имея в виду что еще со времён Церкви, т.е. Собор Святых, молится о всех, часто то что самое лучше  в нашей жизни происходит по молитвам совсем незнакомых нам людей, по молитвам незнакомцев. В одном месте в Евангелии мы даже видели, что Господь ответил на молитвы верующих об исцелении того, кто был неверующим. Итак, мы, как Церковь - единый и единственный организм, и поэтому нам нужно как можно больше расти своими талантами и развивать наши дарования, но расти в гармонии и  в симфонии, с другими и расти ради других.

Мы все очень хорошо знаем, что  Святой Георгий был военачальником, удачливым князем в армии императора Диоклетиана, но  он был в армии, ненавидевшей Христа, не желавшей Христа, преследовавшей христиан. Потом, когда святому Георгию нужно было еще более прославиться и когда он был призван испытать эту славу именно потому, что будет гнать христиан, он, носящий Христа в своем сердце, отказался от чести и славы и решился на Христа. Его подвиг и поступок могут показаться странными по крайней мере многим людям и тогда и в сегоднашнее время, но в личности Святого Георгия встретились две логики, две справедливости, две истины, два мира, два века. В его личности столкнулись два мира -  этот мир, лежащий во зле, как говорит апостол, и мир Царствия Божия, мир вечности и мир истины. Этот мир, как известно, не хочет Христа, потому что Сам Господь говорит: «Если бы Я не пришел, не было бы на нас греха». Он не хочет этого мир, мира Христа. Почему? Поскольку Христос есть зеркало, в Нем вы можете увидеть, что есть справедливое, а что такое несправедливость, что -  истина, а что ложь. В Нем черное отличается от белого. Вот почему Христос является помехой для людей, стремящихся к слае, власти, богатстве и желающихся   добиться первого места в этом мире. Они обеспокоены выполненяя своё дело , или, с другой стороны, Христос может приветствоваться, Его истина и Его Церковь, только если это полезно для достижения целей этого мира, только в утилитарно-выгодном контексте. Святой Георгий решился на  Христа, он выбрал смерть, Он выбрал мудрость Христову, представляющееся  собою безумие для логики и мудрости этого мира. Святой князь Лазарь сделал то же самое от нашего имени, сказав: «Царство земное мало, а небесное всегда и навеки» и таким образом проявил  на практке то, что Святой Савва заложил как наше тождество : тождество истины, справедливости, мира, любви , вечности, вечной жизни Христовой, что не все вдумчивые и абстрактные существительные в будущем веке. Это действительность и ценности, которыми мы должны жить здесь и сейчас. В независимости  от того, насколько мы слабенькие, а важно, чтобы у нас была решительность  и приверженность на эту истину Христа.