His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Mr.. Porfirje celebrated the Holy Liturgy on December 1, 2024 at the Monastery of St. Stephen the Archdeacon in Slantsy.
In the ancient shrine near Belgrade, which according to one tradition was founded by St. Sava at the beginning of the 13th century, and according to another - its founder was St. Dragutin, today many faithful people gathered from all over the world to take part in the Holy Liturgy, at which His Eminence the Vicars Served to the Patriarch, Bishops Alexei from Hvostan and Dosifej from Lipli, the abbot of the monastery Hieromonk Stefan and the priestly fraternity of Slan.
Throughout the centuries, the monastery in Slanci has preserved the turbulent history of its people. When Despot Stefan proclaimed Belgrade as the capital in the 15th century, the monastery flourished. It was also of great importance during the reign of Despot Žurađ Branković. Then, out of respect for the restorer and in honor of Branković's baptismal glory, the monastery, which until that time had been dedicated to the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, began to honor St. Stephen the Archdeacon. According to legend, Despot Žuraž also gave the monastery part of St. Stephen's relics. The great sanctuary suffered greatly under Turkish rule, but it always managed to revive with its people. The greatest restoration was initiated by the Serbian Patriarch Herman in the second half of the last century, when a statute was laid in the foundation of the shrine, which read: Restoring with God, with the help of Nemanjić, this shrine, we entrust This is a sacred mission, which in it, as in the monastery of Hilandar on the Holy Mountain, is prepared by young men. monks for ascetic life in the monastery of Hilandaru . The recent history of the monastery is marked by famous clergymen: Andrei, Avakum, Mihailo and Stefan Karulski.
In his sermon after reading a passage from the Holy Gospel Patriarch Porphyrius said:
- There are two things that are dishonorable, i.e. demonic forces want to draw us away from the path of God and diminish our feat, the feat of prayer, faith and repentance, the feat of cooperation with the grace of God in terms of our salvation. Demonic forces tell us, people that there is time, that there is time for the feat, for repentance, for love and that we do not need to work hard and fight with their passions, first of all with pride, with self-love, with self-centeredness, and then with all other passions. There is time - that is what demonic forces tell us, and we know from the Gospel that the Lord Himself says that no one knows when the Bridegroom will come, i.e. when we will be called before the face of God. There are various troubles and hardships that we go through, and we think that our resistance to those things will make us think that we will be called before God. hardships and temptations that come from the outside, we will be able to deceive and cheat the coming of the Bridegroom, i.e. we either postpone or avoid leaving this world altogether.
- The second, even more difficult deception of demonic forces, the deception by which they want to blunt the point of our faith in God, is to convince us that in fact demonic forces do not exist, that the devil does not exist. It often happens that even when we believe in God, in Christ crucified, we have the impression that demonic forces do not exist, and we avoid calling them by their proper names. In general, especially today, the modern world is not ready to hear that strong and bitter word about the forces of evil, evil forces, demonic forces, which in various ways trying to take possession of our souls. Most of all our deed is paralyzed by their way of convincing us that they don't really exist. They do exist, brothers and sisters! And this Gospel story we heard today unequivocally informs us of that fact. Of course, demonic forces have no power over us humans, they have no power over us humans unless we give them a reason and give them the right to lord it over us. We give them that right in these two ways: when we postpone our deed, and when we think they don't exist, and we give them that right whenever we choose to do so in countless ways. We give them that right by our free choice, by our will. There is no power that can control a man unless he opens his heart to all power. The only power that governs man, the only will that is stronger than our will, is the will of God, and our will, identified with the will of God through our free determination, becomes all-powerful and invincible through this will of God, love. God and the power of God," emphasized His Holiness Patriarch Mr. Porphyria.
In the ancient shrine near Belgrade, which according to one tradition was founded by St. Sava at the beginning of the 13th century, and according to another - its founder was St. Dragutin, today many faithful people gathered from all over the world to take part in the Holy Liturgy, at which His Eminence the Vicars Served to the Patriarch, Bishops Alexei from Hvostan and Dosifej from Lipli, the abbot of the monastery Hieromonk Stefan and the priestly fraternity of Slan.
Throughout the centuries, the monastery in Slanci has preserved the turbulent history of its people. When Despot Stefan proclaimed Belgrade as the capital in the 15th century, the monastery flourished. It was also of great importance during the reign of Despot Žurađ Branković. Then, out of respect for the restorer and in honor of Branković's baptismal glory, the monastery, which until that time had been dedicated to the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, began to honor St. Stephen the Archdeacon. According to legend, Despot Žuraž also gave the monastery part of St. Stephen's relics. The great sanctuary suffered greatly under Turkish rule, but it always managed to revive with its people. The greatest restoration was initiated by the Serbian Patriarch Herman in the second half of the last century, when a statute was laid in the foundation of the shrine, which read: Restoring with God, with the help of Nemanjić, this shrine, we entrust This is a sacred mission, which in it, as in the monastery of Hilandar on the Holy Mountain, is prepared by young men. monks for ascetic life in the monastery of Hilandaru . The recent history of the monastery is marked by famous clergymen: Andrei, Avakum, Mihailo and Stefan Karulski.
In his sermon after reading a passage from the Holy Gospel Patriarch Porphyrius said:
- There are two things that are dishonorable, i.e. demonic forces want to draw us away from the path of God and diminish our feat, the feat of prayer, faith and repentance, the feat of cooperation with the grace of God in terms of our salvation. Demonic forces tell us, people that there is time, that there is time for the feat, for repentance, for love and that we do not need to work hard and fight with their passions, first of all with pride, with self-love, with self-centeredness, and then with all other passions. There is time - that is what demonic forces tell us, and we know from the Gospel that the Lord Himself says that no one knows when the Bridegroom will come, i.e. when we will be called before the face of God. There are various troubles and hardships that we go through, and we think that our resistance to those things will make us think that we will be called before God. hardships and temptations that come from the outside, we will be able to deceive and cheat the coming of the Bridegroom, i.e. we either postpone or avoid leaving this world altogether.
- The second, even more difficult deception of demonic forces, the deception by which they want to blunt the point of our faith in God, is to convince us that in fact demonic forces do not exist, that the devil does not exist. It often happens that even when we believe in God, in Christ crucified, we have the impression that demonic forces do not exist, and we avoid calling them by their proper names. In general, especially today, the modern world is not ready to hear that strong and bitter word about the forces of evil, evil forces, demonic forces, which in various ways trying to take possession of our souls. Most of all our deed is paralyzed by their way of convincing us that they don't really exist. They do exist, brothers and sisters! And this Gospel story we heard today unequivocally informs us of that fact. Of course, demonic forces have no power over us humans, they have no power over us humans unless we give them a reason and give them the right to lord it over us. We give them that right in these two ways: when we postpone our deed, and when we think they don't exist, and we give them that right whenever we choose to do so in countless ways. We give them that right by our free choice, by our will. There is no power that can control a man unless he opens his heart to all power. The only power that governs man, the only will that is stronger than our will, is the will of God, and our will, identified with the will of God through our free determination, becomes all-powerful and invincible through this will of God, love. God and the power of God," emphasized His Holiness Patriarch Mr. Porphyria.
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