Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
January 25, 2002

A special wristwatch AVATON made by the fameous Swiss firm "SWATCH" and a picture book "Prince Rastko - Saint Sava" were presented yesterday, in the premises of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Serbia. The funds collected from the sale of this watch will be donated to the St. Sava's Memorial Church at Vracar, as a contribution to further construction works. The Diocese of Backa issued the picture book.

On Sunday, January 27, the feast of Saint Sava, the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Serbia will organize a festive performance dedicated to Saint Sava. On that occasion, handicapped children, parentless ones and exiled ones, from Serbia and Montenegro, will be given packages containing school stationery, provided by the Charity Fund of the Serbian Orthodox Church "Philanthropy". His Holiness Pavle, Serbian Patriarch, is supposed to attend the performance, then also Her Royal Highness Princess Catherine Karadjordjevic and members of Government of the Republic of Serbia. The Ministry of Religious Affairs is also the main sponsor of street athlete race "Saint Sava's Race 2002", which is held on Sunday in Valjevo, and which is organised by the Athlete Club "Metalac" and the City of Valjevo - it was announced today at the press conference in the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

As Milos Stanojevic, representative of the firm "AGRAKS TRADE", general distributor of the firm "SWATCH" for Yugoslavia, said people from the country and abroad would help the construction of the Church at Vracar by buying one of 2000 Swatch-AVATON wristwatches. The watches are embellished by Byzantine ornaments and inscribed with the following words "St. Sava's Church, 2004" which is the date when the Church should be completed. The watch is packed in a special case which contains a book with stories on St. Sava's life, Monastery of Chilandar and texts on the construction of the Vracar Church with illustrations of the famous Architect Aleksandar Deroko, as well as the Charter of Donation. AVATON, the name of the Swatch model, means "Immortal" in Greek. It was created on the occasion of the exhibition "Treasure of Mount Athos" which was the central event in Thessalonike in 1997, when this city was the capital city of European culture. The watch costs YUD 6 000.