Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
January 11, 2005

PATRIARCH PAVLE NAMED HONORARY CHAIR OF FUND FOR KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
FUNDRAISING CHRISTMAS RECEPTION FOR KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
ARCHIMANDRITE JUSTIN OF BLESSED MEMORY REPOSES IN THE LORD
CELEBRATION OF THE HOLY NATIVITY IN LIPLJAN
NATIONALISTIC INCIDENT MARKS CELEBRATION OF ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS IN VUKOVAR
PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA VISITS SERBIAN ORTHODOX PARISH IN JOHANNESBURG
MAHMUD ABBAS ATTENDS CHRISTMAS LITURGY IN BETHLEHEM
ORTHODOX METROPOLITANATE OF HONG KONG AND SOUTHEAST ASIA HELPS DISASTER VICTIMS

PATRIARCH PAVLE NAMED HONORARY CHAIR
OF FUND FOR KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

FUNDRAISING CHRISTMAS RECEPTION FOR KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle and a large number of bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church attended a fundraising Christmas reception last night organized by Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica on the occasion of the founding of a special fund to assist the unfortunate Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. The first donor was his Holiness the Serbian Patriarch. The reception was attended by several hundred eminent figures from the economic, political, public and cultural life of Serbia.

Patriarch Pavle and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica together called on all those who are able to donate to the new fund. Patriarch Pavle said, among other things: “In this time of Kosovo and Metohija misfortunes, we must make an effort to help. At the same time, we must do everything we can to ensure that the people remaining in Kosovo and Metohija can survive there.”

ARCHIMANDRITE JUSTIN OF BLESSED MEMORY
REPOSES IN THE LORD

On January 11, 2005, Archimandrite Justin Tasic, the elder of Savina Monastery in Montenegro, reposed in the Lord.

Father Justin of blessed repose was born on February 5, 1936 in the village of Macute near Visegrad. He completed the Seminary in Prizren in 1971, and he was tonsured and ordained a hierodeacon in spring of 1963. He was elevated to the office of hieromonk on St. Thomas Sunday the next year. He was for many years the elder of Visoki Decani Monastery. He was made an archimandrite in May 1992. After briefly administering Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery, since September 2, 1992 he became the elder of Savina Monastery.

A Liturgy for the deceased and memorial service will be served in Savina Monastery on January 13, 2005 in the afternoon.

"A man usually dies as he has lived. A joyous and optimistic man cannot die otherwise," spoke Archimandrite Justin. And truly, he spent his life in joyous service of the Lord and his people. In every person, regardless of faith, he saw God's creation and he accepted them, listened to them and advised them with love. He also said that "it is most difficult for the Christian to heed the advice of St. John Chrysostom: to be harsh toward oneself and lenient toward others." Father Justin truly lived in accordance with this principle.

The memory of the great spiritual leader will be guarded and he will be mentioned in the prayers of many generations whom he showed and guided on the true path toward Truth and Love by his personal example, in deed and word, with gentleness and love.

CELEBRATION OF THE HOLY NATIVITY IN LIPLJAN

Although they have been without electrical power for the past 18 days and live surrounded by barbed wire, the members of the remaining Serbian households in Lipljan welcomed the third day of Christmas with great joy, and Holy Hierarchal Liturgy served, with the blessing of Bishop Artemije, by Vicar Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan with the concelebration of the parish priest, Father Randjel Denic, and Decani Hieromonk Andrej Sajc.

Bishop Teodosije, who as vicar bishop bears the title of the medieval Diocese of Lipljan (ancient Ulpiana Secunda), joyfully conveyed Christmas greetings to the people living in this area on behalf of Bishop Artemije, the priests, nuns and monks of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren, wishing them much peace and spiritual joy in the coming year. "We live in difficult times and we are asked to show much endurance and sacrifice; however, this is also an opportunity for us to witness our faith in Christ, who Himself, as the Son of God, took on a human nature and became incarnate that by His death He might conquer death and grant humanity and all of creation Life Eternal. Let us remain firm in our faith and God will give us the strength to remain in our ancestral homes next to our churches and holy shrines as we survived for centuries despite all misfortunes and trials," said Bishop Teodosije.

The church dedicated to Sts. Florus and Laurus, the First-Martyrs of Lipljan, was full of the faithful, especially children, some 300 of whom came to share in the joy of Christmas with Bishop Teodosije. After Holy Hierarchal Liturgy and communion, Bishop Teodosije presented the children with Christmas presents in the form of monetary assistance collected by Christians in the United States of America through the Decani Monastery Relief Fund.

"In our prayers let us also remember our donors who keep thinking of us in these difficult times and let as pray that God grant them every blessing from the Lord for their good deeds," the Bishop said to those gathered.

NATIONALISTIC INCIDENT MARKS CELEBRATION OF ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS IN VUKOVAR

After the Christmas holidays and the great celebration of the Serbian people in Croatia, between the night of Saturday, January 8, 2005 and early Sunday morning provocative and nationalistic graffiti appeared in Borovo Naselje: “Kill the Serb”, “Ante Gotovina”, “NDH” [Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska – the Nazi puppet government of Croatia during WWII] and simply “U” [Ustashe – Croatian Nazi fascists] in the location where an Orthodox church is soon to be built. Croatian police have made no official statement regarding the incident.

Parish priest Slobodan Blazic said that the most recent large gathering of the Orthodox occurred at the burning of the Yule log [on Orthodox Christmas Eve, Jan. 6] when approximately 2,000 Orthodox faithful gathered in Borovo Naselje, and that the graffiti were most probably in response to this.

Croatian police have not yet resolved the case of the desecration of an Orthodox Christian cross in the same location, which occurred in March 2004.

PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA VISITS
SERBIAN ORTHODOX PARISH IN JOHANNESBURG

His Beatitude Theodoros II, the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, visited the Metropolitanate of Johannesburg and Pretoria on Wednesday, December 22, 2004. On this occasion His Beatitude met with the Serbian parish priest in Johannesburg, Hieromonk Panteleimon, and the members of the Church Council of the local church parish of St. Sava. After a warm and sincere discussion, Patriarch Theodoros blessed the Orthodox Serbs and wished them success in their South African parish, and promised to keep the Serbs in South Africa, as well as the entire Serbian nation, in his prayers.

The newly elected Patriarch of Alexandria lived many years in Russia and has an excellent command of the Russian language and special ties with the Slavic peoples.

After the sorrow and pain we shared with our Greek brothers following the tragic death of Patriarch Petros VII of Alexandria of blessed repose, we are encouraged and joyful for the warmth and love demonstrated by the newly elected Patriarch Theodoros. We have hope and faith that the Serbian Orthodox people in South Africa will advance even further in unity and love on the path of Christian ideals through his prayers.

MAHMUD ABBAS ATTENDS CHRISTMAS LITURGY IN BETHLEHEM

Mahmud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, was among those present at Holy Liturgy served on Christmas Day, December 25, 2004, in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Although Mr. Abbas is Muslim by faith, he attended the midnight service.

The celebration of Christmas began with a parade of Palestinian scouts who carried flags and played bagpipes in front of the Church of the Nativity. They prepared a formal welcome for His Beatitude Ireneos I, Patriarch of Jerusalem.

It was the first time in three years that Israel permitted Palestinian leaders to attend Holy Liturgy on Christmas Day.

ORTHODOX METROPOLITANATE OF HONG KONG
AND SOUTHEAST ASIA HELPS DISASTER VICTIMS

Hong Kong – The Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia has undertaken a series of measures to help the victims of the catastrophic earthquake and fatal tsunami in Southeast Asia.

Toward this end His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas has set up a special “Orthodox Asian Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund”. At the time was fund was established the exact number of persons killed and missing, and the extent of the damage was not known. In the meanwhile, we have learned that a village was destroyed near Jakarta among whose victims are all the members of an Orthodox family. Many churches and schools in this area have also sustained great damage.

Thanks to the generous donations of many organizations and individuals, the Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia has sent tens of thousands of dollars in assistance to the most devastated areas.

Archimandrite Konstantin Cilic spent one week in Thailand helping tsunami victims on the island of Puket.

Those who would like to help can get more information on the web site of the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia:

http://www.cs.ust.hk/faculty/dimitris/metro/hkmetropolis.html

For more information on this campaign or related projects in this region, contact the Office of Philanthropy by telephone or email.

Christopher Ebe, Director
Office of Philanthropy
Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia
+ 852 2573 8328
philanthropy@omhksea.org

[Serbian Translation Services]