| The Assembly of Bishops specifically demands the inviolability of the religious rights and freedoms of the Serbian people and of other peoples in Kosovo and Metohija. We, the bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the ancient and glorious Patriarchate of Pech, gathered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, for the regular convocation of the Holy Assembly of Bishops in the historic See of Serbian archbishops and patriarchs, the Monastery of the Patriarchate of Pech, and in the republic capital Belgrade. During this preparatory year for the Commemoration of the 800 th Anniversary of Autocephaly of our Church of Saint Sava (1219-2019), concerned with the survival and wellbeing of the Serbian people and their holy sites in Kosovo and Metohija, headed by His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch, direct this message to all faithful sons and daughters of our holy Church, as well as local and international media. The question of Kosovo and Metohija represents a Serbian church, national and state question of the first order. Our Church, the spiritual mother of our people, as a whole, and of Serbia, the country in which the largest number of Serbian people reside, to which the territory of Kosovo and Metohija belongs, bears the greatest burden of responsibility for the preservation of that historic province within the borders of Serbia and for the future of the Serbian people in it. Kosovo and Metohija, with its one thousand and five hundred Serbian Orthodox monasteries, churches, foundations and monuments of Serbian culture, represents the inalienable central part of Serbia. This is convincingly witnessed by the traditional spiritual conscienceness of our Church, in which the Kosovo Testament signifies the expression of the central message of the New Testament. Concretely, experienced in the historical experience of the Serbian people, as well as the conscienceness of the Serbian people with regard to their indentity, spiritual and ethical values and historical path. Kosovo and Metohija, from our standpoint, is neither a question of national ideology or mythology nor, even less, of mere terminology, but represents the very core of our being and existence as a church and people, without which we will be lost in the overall process of globalization and secularization. The prosperity of Serbia cannot be built on the disintegration of that which represents the cornerstone of its identity, history and statehood. |
| I wonder whether that clergyman and his like realize what it is they are asking us to give up. The independent Serbian Orthodox Church has been in existence since 1219, whereas his particular church was formed only a few decades ago. He also may not know that the Serbian Orthodox Church and her national hierarchy were essential factors in the contemplation and actualization of the Christianization of the Serbs. National consciousness among the Serbs, whether those who live in Serbia or others scattered throughout the world, depends very much on their religious consciousness, but their Orthodoxy also depends on their national identity. Further, without the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Serbs may not have been able to preserve their Christianity or to survive as a nation during the perilous period of the Turkish occupation, which lasted for almost five centuries. The history of the Serbian Orthodox Church, from her inception until the present day, has been the history of a heroic struggle for the preservation not only of religion, but also of national identity, and of cultural and ethical values. Furthermore, it is the history of a Christian church that, even under the most adverse circumstances, has remained faithful to her Lord and the Orthodox faith. Throughout her history the Serbian Orthodox Church has been tried by sword and fire, by martyrdom and suffering. During World War II, almost a million Serbs were slaughtered in Croatia simply because they refused to give up Orthodoxy! We are the descendants of those martyrs and all other Serbian martyrs who throughout Serbian history accepted martyrdom rather than give up their Orthodox faith! We are descendants of saintly kings who adorned the Serbian land with scores of monasteries and churches. It does not matter that we live on another continent. Those martyrs and those kinds are our ancestors, and we must never renounce the heritage we received from them. They were good Christians, and there was nothing wrong with their Orthodoxy, as there is nothing wrong with our Orthodoxy. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with the primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church DECR Communication service, 15.03.2024 On 15th March 2024 a meeting took place at the Patriarchal and Synodal Residence of Saint Daniel of Moscow Monastery between His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill and His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia Porfirije. His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia Porfirije had arrived in Moscow to attend the funeral and burial of the representative of the Patriarch of Serbia to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the dean of the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul at the Yauza Gates, which serves as the representation church (metochion) of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Moscow, the bishop of Moravica Anthony. Bishop Anthony reposed in the Lord on 11th March 2024. Attending the meeting on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church were the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations the metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony and the advisor to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia archpriest Nikolai Balashov. The Serbian Orthodox Church was also represented by the bishop of Baka Irinej. Before the meeting began the primates visited the domestic church of the Patriarchal residence. In conveying his heartfelt good wishes upon greeting the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia noted that in the past the representatives of the two churches held steadfastly to a common position: “In the person of the representatives of the Serbian Church we have always had the most reliable brothers. And if by the grace of God we have achieved any type of success, then this has always been with the participation of our brothers fr om the Church of Serbia. This is why we always remember with thanks our mutual cooperation.” |
| Abbot of Viskoi Decani Serbian Orthodox Monastery on Kosovo " s Bid to Join UNESCO Abbot Sava Janjic Source: Save World Heritage November 1, 2015 Fr. Sava Janjic, the Abbot of Visoki Decani Serbian Orthodox Monastery, the first UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in Kosovo has released a video concerning Kosovo's bid to join UNESCO and the danger this poses to the Serbian spiritual and cultural treasures in the area. The video and text can be viewed here: I am taking this opportunity to convey most serious concerns Kosovo’s UNESCO bid has created in my Church and our community. As Kosovo has been a spiritual center of Serbian Orthodox Church since XIII century with tombs and relics of our Archbishops in our most holy shrines, our primary concern has always been to protect these holy sites. It is exactly due to danger our holy sites have been facing in the last 16 years that our UNESCO World Heritage Sites, all four of which are Serbian Orthodox churches, are also inscribed the List of the World Heritage in Danger. Regular attacks, verbal provocations amid the general atmosphere of intolerance have made it necessary our most important sites in Kosovo still remain under a special security regime by police and International peacekeepers. Regrettably, AFTER the war in Kosovo, unlike other civil-wars in Former Yugoslavia, particularly in Bosnia, in which vandalism of holy sites stopped after the end of hostilities, 150 Serbian Orthodox Churches and nearly 400 Serbian Orthodox Christian cemeteries in Kosovo have been destroyed or seriously damaged since the beginning of the UN peace mission in Kosovo in June 1999. Only in two days in March 2004, 34 of our holy sites were torched by thousands of Kosovo Albanian rioters. We had no help from that time and currently the same Kosovo leaders and Kosovo provisional institutions, except international troops NATO led troops of KFOR, which protected our most important shrines. My monastery, a XIV century site alone has been attacked by grenades four times since the end of Kosovo war in 1999, and that is the reason we still remain under a tight NATO protection. |
| His Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin of San Francisco and the West will represent His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon at the canonization of two clerics who served in North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—Bishop Mardarije [Uskokovic] and Archimandrite Sebastian [Dabovich]—at Saint Steven Serbian Orthodox Cathedral here September 5, 2015. Icons of Bishop Mardarije and Archimandrite Sebastian at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Serbian Orthodox Church, Fair Oaks, Calif. written by iconographer Miloje Milinkovic His Holiness, Patriarch Irinej of Serbia, will preside at the liturgical celebration, at which many visiting hierarchs, civil dignitaries, and others will be present. “This is a wonderful blessing for all of us Orthodox Christians in America, and for the whole Orthodox Church throughout the world,” said His Grace, Bishop Maxim of the Western Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church. “When one thinks of the tremendous sacrifices that these two holy apostles made, and the many sorrows that they endured, one is especially gratified that they are now universally recognized as being among the Church’s luminaries.” A detailed program for the liturgical celebration and related festivities may be found here . At their regular session in Belgrade May 29, 2015, the members of the Holy Assembly of Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church announced their intention to glorify Bishop Mardarije and Archimandrite Sebastian as “preachers of the Gospel, God-pleasing servants of the holy life, and inspirers of many missionaries” for their pastoral labors in America and their homeland. The glorification came in response to a recommendation by the Episcopal Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America. The annual commemorations of Saint Mardarije of Libertyville, Bishop of America-Canada, and Saint Sebastian of San Francisco and Jackson will be observed on November 29/December 12 and November 17/30 respectively. Ss. Mardarije and Sebastian Saint Sebastian was born Jovan Dabovich in San Francisco, CA in 1863—in the midst of the US Civil war. His parents were Serbian immigrants from Sassovae. From his early youth he was devoted to the Church and spent much of his time at the city’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, where he later served as a reader and teacher. In 1884, he was assigned to assist at Archangel Michael Cathedral, Sitka, AK. Shortly thereafter, he was sent to Russia for training and formation as a missionary priest. After completing three years of studies at the Saint Petersburg and Kyiv Theological Academies, he was tonsured to monastic rank and ordained to the diaconate in 1887. |
| Enthronement Homily of His Holiness Patriarch Irenej of Serbia Patriarchate of Pec, October 3, 2010 By the Providence of God and as graciously deigned by the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, I have been elected and today presented in the Sacred Throne of the Serbian Patriarchs. Having been led into the Throne which was established by the first autocephalous Serbian Archbishop and Enlightener Saint Sava, I am fully cognisant of my weaknesses and unworthiness for such an exalted calling. The administrative enthronement of my humility was effected immediately following the election, on 23 January of this same year in the Cathedral Church of Belgrade. Today follows the conclusive, official and traditional enthronement in this ancient See of the Serbian Archbishops and Patriarchs, in the Church of the Holy Apostles in this Holy Laura of Pech. For seven and a half centuries, this all-Serbian and pan-Orthodox sanctuary continuously protects under its shelter the Throne into which are ushered and from which the successors of Saint Sava guide the ark of Christ's Church within the borders of their canonical jurisdiction. They guide the ark to which the Serbian people have tied their history, their being and their fate. On the tempestuous sea of life, this ark and its passengers, have been ensued by winds and storms, thunder and lightning, have sailed by many Scylla and Charybdis, guided by Him, who „has built His Church against which not even the gates of Hades will prevail " (Matt 16:18). Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and unto the ages, the Lord of my glorious predecessors on this Throne, by Whose Divine might and wisdom they have guided His Church and His faithful people, will not, I trust and believe, as their successor, lacking in much and unworthy of this enormous honour, strip of His Grace in the steering of His Church. Today, I have been solemnly ushered into and elevated onto the most exalted Throne of the Serbian Patriarchs, to a height upon which it is impossible to survive without the help and support of God. |
| The Serbian Church and Milosevic Скачать epub pdf Содержание Patriarch Pavle Patriarch and Peacemaker Church, People and The Serbian Orthodox Church has consistently criticized and opposed the Milosevic government. The «open letter» of Bishop Artemije of Ras-Prizren in Kosovo written on Orthodox Good Friday is no exception. It rather testifies to what has been the unwavering rule of Serbian Church leadership toward the Milosevic government since the fall of marxism. Speaking of the «crimes» of President Milosevic, Bishop Artemije relates in his letter how he and lay leaders of an «embryonic» democratic movement in his country visited world leaders in The US, France and Russia five times between February 1998 and February 1999. He describes their written and verbal pleas to the highest-ranking officials, including US Secretary Albright, to give democracy a chance in his country. He underlines their warnings of the disastrous consequences of all military solutions, including NATO intervention. And he laments with indescribable sorrow how their hopes have been buried in the rubble of the NATO attacks and the savagery which it inevitably produced. Patriarch Pavle Most of the bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church have been installed since the end of Marxist domination in former Yugoslavia. Many of them, including the present Patriarch, were staunch anti-communists who were greatly persecuted in communist times. They were fervent followers and co-workers of the confessing priest Fr. Justin Popovich, already venerated by many as a saint, who spent his adult life imprisoned in a monastery. To insure that there would be no government interference in the election of the new patriarch in 199O, and even no possible charge of such interference, the Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church elected three candidates for the Church " s primatial see. The names of these candidates were placed in a sacred vessel. After vigil, fasting and prayer Bishop Pavle of Ras-Prizren in Kosovo, the compromise third candidate elected by the Synod, was chosen by lot to be patriarch. |
| Joint Statement of the Serbian and Antiochian Orthodox Patriarchates Irenic & Official visit of His Beatitude Patriarch JOHN X to the Serbian Orthodox Church From October 11 th to 19 th , 2018 Click here to download PDF version BELGRADE – 19 th of October 2018 – This historical visit, the first since Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch THEODOSIOS VI (Abou-Rjaili) visited Belgrade, was made in the context of the difficult and painful circumstances that are facing the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Syria, Lebanon and the Middle East. This visit also coincides with the crisis that is currently facing the world-wide Orthodox Church, where developments are evolving rapidly and in a disturbing manner, and could lead to the occurrence of permanent detrimental impacts on the bonds of communion, peace and unity between brothers. 1. The visit was an important fraternal occasion for the brothers to meet, and for the Serbian and Antiochian Churches to embrace themselves. It provided a chance to discuss various issues which are common to their Churches’ testimony and witness in today’s world in crisis. It was an occasion also to have a fraternal consultation between both Churches about general Orthodox Church matters and the means to avoid deepening the rift between the brothers, and about the requirements needed to consolidate consultation processes, and the consensus between the Local Orthodox Autocephalous Churches. 2. The discussions between the two Churches were driven by a high degree of the spirit of brotherhood, love, peace and transparency, and were thus based on true ecclesiastical principles which are distinct from unilateralism and approaches driven by certain interests. This spirit of brotherhood generated consensus and harmony between the two Churches in their discussions. The two delegations reviewed the many similarities in each Church’s respective historical experience (Serbian and Antiochian), given that each of them could be considered as a “witnessing” or “martyrial” Church. This experience helps both Churches, despite difficulties and suffering, to witness to the Truth and to Christ in her original historical jurisdiction and in the world. The discussions covered the common relations between the two Churches and the means to develop and consolidate them. The importance of active and ongoing cooperation and relations between the two churches was emphasized. Such ongoing active relations will include various theological, academic and cultural aspects, etc. The two Churches confirmed that the irenic visit that His Beatitude, Patriarch IRENEE, will make to the Antiochian Patriarchate, will take place in the near future. |
| At their regular session here on May 29, 2015, the members of the Holy Assembly of Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church announced the glorification of two clerics who served in North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—Bishop Mardarije [Uskokovic] and Archimandrite Sebastian [Dabovich]. Both saints are being recognized as “preachers of the Gospel, God-pleasing servants of the holy life, and inspirers of many missionaries” for their pastoral labors in America and their homeland. The glorification came in response to a recommendation by the Episcopal Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America. The annual commemorations of Saint Mardarije of Libertyville, Bishop of America-Canada, and Saint Sebastian of Jackson will be observed on November 29/December 12 and November 17/30 respectively. Saint Sebastian was born Jovan Dabovich in San Francisco, CA in 1863—in the midst of the US Civil war. His parents were Serbian immigrants from Sassovae. From his early youth he was devoted to the Church and spent much of his time at the city’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, where he later served as a reader and teacher. In 1884, he was assigned to assist at Archangel Michael Cathedral, Sitka, AK. Shortly thereafter, he was sent to Russia for training and formation as a missionary priest. After completing three years of studies at the Saint Petersburg and Kyiv Theological Academies, he was tonsured to monastic rank and ordained to the diaconate in 1887. Returning to San Francisco, he served as a deacon at the cathedral and taught in the newly established pastoral school. On August 16, 1892, he was ordained to the priesthood and assigned to pursue missionary work in California and Washington. The following year, he succeeded Father [now Saint] Alexis Toth as rector of Saint Mary Church, Minneapolis, MN and taught at the Missionary School. In 1894, Father Sebastian returned to California, where he established the first Serbian Orthodox parish in the US in Jackson, CA. Two years later, he was reassigned to San Francisco’s Holy Trinity Cathedral while continuing his missionary efforts in Jackson. In recognition of his abilities, Archbishop Tikhon assigned him as part of the North American Mission’s Administration. During this time he wrote a book titled The Ritual, Services and Sacraments of the Holy Orthodox Church . In 1902, he was transferred to Alaska, where he served as Dean of the Sitka Deanery. |
| Representative of the ROC Spoke at the 19th All-American Council Meeting Source: DECR Pravmir.com team 16 August 2018 The 19 th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America was held from July 23 6to 27, 2018, in St. Louis, Missouri. Its opening was preceded by a solemn thanksgiving presided over by His Beatitude Tikhon, Metropolitan of All America and Canada. The sessions were attended by members of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America, hierarchy, clergy and laity from all over North America. Among the guests were hierarchs of the Orthodox Churches of Constantinople and Alexandria, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, as well as the Finnish Autonomous Orthodox Church. With a blessing of His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Bishop Flavian of Cherepovets and Belozersk. The theme of the 19 th All-American Council, ‘For the Life of the World’, was based on the work of the same name by Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann. The history of the writing of this book, loved by many Christians, was told to the Council by Father Alexander’s son Serge. In his introductory speech, His Beatitude Tikhon reminded the gathering that in his numerous works, St. Tikhon the Patriarch of All Russia, when he was a bishop in North America in the period from 1897 to 1907, often called people ‘to be partakers of the Body of Christ’. His Beatitude reminded the gathering that this call is relevant in our days as well. Metropolitan Tikhon also spoke on several urgent problems facing the Church today and reminded the Council of the Orthodox Church in America’s calling to the evangelical mission. Bishop Flavian brought greetings to the Council on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. He noted in particular, ‘The Russian Orthodox Church has never weakened her communion in prayer with her beloved sister – the Orthodox Church in America. |
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