Pec Patriarchate: Final Liturgical Celebration of Eight Centuries of the Autocephaly of the Serbian Church

The ancient historical and spiritual throne of the Autocephalous Church of Serbian and Maritime Lands was celebrated by the Divine Liturgy marking the end of liturgical celebrations of this great jubilee of our local Church. – The event took place in the Royal Laura of the Patriarchate of Pec monastery.

With the blessing of His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch, the Liturgy was officiated by His Eminence Amfilohije, Metropolitan of the Montenegro-Littoral and Exarch of the Throne of Pec, with the concelebration and prayerful participation of twenty-two bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, several abbots and abbesses and clergymen from the Diocese of Raska-Prizren as well as from other dioceses of the Church.

A choir of students of the Prizren Theological Seminary, nuns of the Pec Patriarchate led by the Very Venerable abbess mother Haritina, quite a number of monks and nuns and more than a thousand faithful, including many children from Kosovo-Metohija enclaves, participated in the Holy Liturgy.

Metropolitan Amfilohije delivered an inspired sermon about the significance of the 800th anniversary of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is, besides the Zica monastery as the first see of the autocephalous Serbian Archdiocese, celebrated in the Patriarchate of Pec as well, where quite a number of Serbian archbishops and patriarchs performed their archpastoral ministry for centuries, in front of the coffins with venerable relics of the Serbian Saints, and so left deep traces in the history of the Serbian Church and her faithful.

After the Holy Liturgy, a slava cake was blessed in honor of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, patron saint of Bishop Sergije of Bihac-Petrovac whereupon the hierarchs, surrounded by many children, greeted the assembled faithful people.

The celebration ended with a luncheon in the monastery's refectory with hymns chanted by students from Prizren Theological Seminary. With their visit and liturgical celebration in the Patriarchate of Pec, the bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church reaffirmed their unity while following the path of Saint Sava and his successors, for whom Kosovo and Metohija had always been and remained the heart of Serbian Orthodoxy and Saint Sava’s identity. At their last three regular sessions, the Holy Assembly of Bishops unanimously emphasized that any kind of division or recognition of Kosovo and Metohija was unacceptable to the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The historic celebration in the Patriarchate of Pec was not attended by any of Serbian political representatives of Kosovo and Metohija. This time too, it is shown that the Serbian Orthodox Church remains the authentic representative of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija and the guardian of their unity and faith on the basis that the Holy Sava has left us with all the great and holy hierarchs of our Church throughout history.