Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
June 22, 2004

ORTHODOX CHILDREN FROM KNIN AND BENKOVAC VISIT KRKA MONASTERY

His Grace Bishop Fotije of Dalmatia served Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in Krka Monastery on Sunday, June 20, 2004, which was attended by all the Orthodox religious instruction students in Knin and Benkovac, who also took communion. This event in Krka Monastery confirms the words of the Gospel: “O Lord, whose glory is chanted by the mouth of babes and infants” and represents the hope and future of Orthodoxy in Dalmatia.

RELIGION STUDENTS FROM LJUBLJANA AND ZAGREB VISIT LEPAVINA MONASTERY

On Saturday, June 19, 2004, when our Holy Church celebrates the Venerable Bessarion and the Venerable Hilarion the New, His Eminence Metropolitan Jovan of Zagreb and Ljubljana served Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in the church of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple in Lepavina Monastery with the concelebration of the Most Venerable Archimandrite Gavrilo, Abbot of Lepavina Monastery, Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Peran Boskovic from Ljubljana, Presbyters Savo Kosojevic and Dalibor Djukic from Zagreb, and Hierodeacon Vasilije, one of the monastery brothers.

Six buses of pilgrims arrived on the pilgrimage to the Lepavina holy family, including three buses with children receiving religious instruction and their parents from Ljubljana, led by Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Peran Boskovic; one bus with children receiving religious instruction and their parents from Zagreb, led by Presbyter Savo Kosojevic and Presbyter Dalibor Djukic; and two buses of pilgrims from Vienna, led by Mr. Aleksandar-Aleksa Jovanovic and his wife, Vesna.

During the liturgy Metropolitan Jovan delivered a sermon on the importance of religious instruction in Christian life, addressing words of praise the religion students from Ljubljana, Zagreb and Veliki Poganac who enhanced the service by their chanting.

In his sermon His Eminence also addressed some of the problems of the modern world, comparing the words of the Gospel with today’s lifestyle and explaining, “that only those who carry out the words of the Gospel win the Kingdom of Heaven and become a part of the community of heavenly joy and peace in this world and life. To win the peace of Christ and the joy of the angels should be the inextinguishable and every person so that we can celebrate the Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit together and thus build a place in our souls full of the love and joy experienced by the Holy Apostles when Christ experienced Transfiguration”. At the conclusion of the liturgy, nafora (blessed bread) was distributed to the faithful who came Lepavina Monastery on pilgrimage.

After a short rest the faithful again gathered in front of the miracle-working icon of the Most Holy Mother of God of Lepavina where Fr. Gavrilo read prayers of healing, and then invited all present to partake in the luncheon prepared by the industrious hands of faithful Christian women.

"Every visit to Lepavina enriches us with new prayer experiences,” wrote Metropolitan Jovan among his comments in the book of impressions.

ORTHODOX IN CROATIA STRICKEN BY POVERTY

More than 50 percent of Orthodox faithful in Croatia live in poverty as a result of unemployment, which exceeds 50 percent among the Orthodox population, warned Protopresbyter Milenko Popovic, the parish priest in Zagreb.

The Serbian Orthodox Church collected these alarming statistics regarding the social status of its faithful on the basis of reports from the parishes. According to the same source, between 35 to 50 percent of the Orthodox “live in average social circumstances” while only 10 percent described their living conditions as good.

The situation is most difficult for returning Serbs whose property has not yet been returned, who have no jobs and who are barely managing to survive, said Father Milenko. He said that a meeting of representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia and members of government of premier Sanader are scheduled to meet at the beginning of July to discuss the difficult social position of Orthodox Serbs in Croatia.

[Serbian Translation Services]