Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
April 29, 2002

With the blessing of His Grace Artemy, Orthodox Bishop of Raska and Prizren, a great church-national gathering will be held in the Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery in Ras, on May 6, 2002, the feast of Saint George the Great Martyr, this year the second day of Easter, wherefore the mentioned gathering will be called the Paschal Feast of Saint George. Patriarch Pavle is going to serve the Holy Hieararchal Liturgy together with other hieararchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, cut the Slava cake, consecrate the new Monastery lodgings, whereupon a suitable performance will follow - all that with the aim to mark 830^th anniversary of the establishment of Stefan Nemanja's first ruler endowment and renewal of the common monastic life type in this monastery after 313 years - it was stated today at the press conference in the Patriarchate Palace in Belgrade. His Grace Artemy - Orthodox Bishop of Raska/Prizren, Mr Branislav Lecic - Minster for Culture in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Ms Jovanka Kalic - Academician, Protosyncellos Petar (Ulemek) - head of the Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery and Mr Predrag Ceranic - representative of Free Communications (marketing agency covering the media campaign of the festivity) spoke about this year's feast on the press conference.

Feast in the Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery, one of the most important and the oldest medieval Serbian shrines, surpasses by its meaning the geographic location of Novi Pazar, Raska and Serbia. While churches and monasteries are being destroyed and razed to the ground in Kosovo and Metochia, old endowments resurrect on the other side. When souls are renovated and when faith in them resurrects, then shrines are renovated too. The renovation of Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery signifies the total national renovation - said Bishop Artemy.

Minister of Culture, Branislav Lecic pointed out that the celebration of Saint George feast in the Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery was an opportunity to gather "State, Church and people, for which both the State and the Church exist". He added that "it is high time that we, after painful experiences in the past, elevated, gathered around a spiritual vertical and stopped thinking about disagreements and strife. There comes the moment when Serbs should return, step by step, to their true spiritual being in the Djurdjevi Stupovi and through the Lord's Resurrection". Minister Lecic will mark his Slava (family patron Saint, St. George) together with his family in the Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery, on May 6, 2002.

Academician Jovanka Kalic underlined the historical, state and artistic meaning of the Stefan Nemanja's endowment in Ras.

Protosyncellos Petar especially thanked all the people who helped the renovation of the Monastery and the preparation of the "Paschal Feast of Saint George".