His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije celebrated the Liturgy on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, February 8, in the votive Church of Saint Sava in Vračar. In the prayerful joy of the second preparatory week before Easter Lent, His Holiness was concelebrated by His Grace Bishop Nikon of Jenopolje, Vicar of the Serbian Patriarch, the clergy, the monastics, with the prayerful participation of numerous faithful people of God who filled the space of the Church of Saint Sava.

Speaking about the Gospel story of the Prodigal Son, His Holiness emphasized that the three characters of this story – the father and the two sons – are a picture of man’s relationship with God and emphasized that the father in the story is actually God himself, while the sons represent two different models of human behavior.

Patriarch Porphyrios warned of the dangerous spiritual trap of self-sufficiency, which arises when a person attributes his gifts and successes exclusively to himself, forgetting that everything we possess is actually a gift from God, and the greatest rebellion against God is precisely the belief that everything depends on ourselves. Such pride turns people into “whitewashed tombs,” making them living dead who have voluntarily chosen alienation from the source of life.

As the only cure for such a state, the Patriarch emphasized repentance, humility, and mercy. Recalling the words “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” he said that we are all created in the image and likeness of God and are called to imitate Him.

After the service, His Holiness held a cordial, fatherly conversation with numerous gathered believers.

Source: TV Khram