Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
April 28, 2006

PASCHAL GREETINGS OF PATRIARCH PAVLE TO THE HEADS OF THE SISTER CHURCHES AND OTHER HIGH CHURCH DIGNITARIES
LITURGY FOR THE DECEASED AND MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR BISHOP DANILO OF BUDIM OF BLESSED REPOSE
MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR THE VICTIMS OF CHERNOBYL

PASCHAL GREETINGS OF PATRIARCH PAVLE TO THE HEADS OF THE SISTER CHURCHES AND OTHER HIGH CHURCH DIGNITARIES

His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle exchanged Paschal greetings with all the heads of the autocephalous sister local Orthodox Churches and other high church dignitaries of all traditional Christian churches, as well as with the bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the land and abroad.

His Holiness also received greetings from the administrations of many monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the clergy, monks and nuns, respected figures from public and political life, as well as many faithful of the Serbian Orthodox Church from within the country and the diaspora.

As he is unable to thank everyone individually, the Patriarch would like to do so in this way, sending to all his best wishes, paternal greeting and patriarchal blessing.

Christ Is Risen – Truly He Is Risen!

LITURGY FOR THE DECEASED AND MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR BISHOP DANILO OF BUDIM OF BLESSED REPOSE

Great Thursday, April 20, 2006, was the fourth anniversary of the passing of Bishop Danilo of Budim of blessed repose.

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Pavle a Liturgy for the Deceased and memorial service for Bishop Danilo of blessed memory will be served on Bright Saturday, April 29, 2006, beginning at 8:00 a.m. in the monastery of Vavedenje on Topcider Hill.

Bishop Dr. Danilo (Krstic) of Budim reposed in the Lord on Saturday, April 20, 2002, in the fifth week of the Great Fast at Szentendre. He was born on May 13, 1927 in Novi Sad. He studied law in Belgrade and took a degree in literature at the Sorbonne in 1952. From 1954 to 1958 he studied theology at St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris, taking his doctorate at Harvard in the United States of America in 1968. He took his monastic vows in 1960 and in 1969 the Holy Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church appointed him auxiliary bishop to the Serbian Patriarch with the title of Bishop of Moravica. From 1984 he administered the Diocese of Budim, and in 1988 was elected as hierarch of the Diocese of Budim. He was the organizer and the first Dean of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Academy for Arts and Conservation, and the Dean of the first Academy of Fresco-Painting in the Serbian Orthodox Church from its creation in 1993 to the year 2000.

One of the most educated bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Bishop Danilo was well known throughout the Orthodox world. During his stay in Belgrade, in the capacity of the auxiliary bishop of the Serbian Patriarch, his exceptional erudition and pastoral words inspired young intellectuals, especially students of Belgrade University, for the word of the Lord and Christ’s Gospel. The rich theological and literary opus of Bishop Danilo was published in many publications, magazines and books published by the Serbian Orthodox Church as well as editions of other sister Churches.

Bishop Danilo of Budim was buried on Saturday, April 20, 2002 in the monastery of Vavedenje in the Senjak quarter of Belgrade. His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle officiated at the funeral with the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops and a number of bishops, priests and monks of the Serbian Orthodox Church. In his homily after the funeral Patriarch Pavle emphasized that the departure of Bishop Danilo “has left a space within the Serbian Orthodox Church that will be difficult to fill for many years because of his intellectual quality, nature and also because of his company in Belgrade, in Szentendre and in every place where Bishop Danilo stayed and not only spoke but by his life demonstrated how we should all serve God and our people in order to fulfill the meaning and purpose of our lives. For many years our brother Bishop Danilo prepared himself to serve God and his people in everything that is holy and good and worthy of example and today he departs before the face of the Lord to receive from Him his reward and that He may recognize and acknowledge him as his faithful servant and hear this pronouncement: My good and loyal servant, in the little you were faithful, be now in the joy of Your Lord. We will feel his absence and departure for a long time but we are not losing him. We have and will have before the Lord someone to pray for us, to pray that we endure on the path that we all endure on the path we are on, we bishops and priests and our entire people,” said Patriarch Pavle in his farewell to Bishop Danilo.

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR THE VICTIMS OF CHERNOBYL

Since April 26, 2006, is the twenty-year anniversary of the serious accident at the nuclear center in Chernobyl in which thousands of people were killed and injured and the ecosystem destroyed, a memorial service for all the victims will be served in the Orthodox Cathedral (Saborna crkva) in Belgrade on Monday, May 1, 2006, at 12:00 p.m. A memorial service will be served in all churches on the same day after morning services.