On the occasion of the temple celebration, His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Mr. On June 4, 2024, Porfirje celebrated the Holy Liturgy in the church of St. John Vladimir, Prince of Serbia, in the Medaković neighborhood of Belgrade.

Recalling that the word of the Lord is very clear, unambiguous, precise and, of course, mild, and at the same time healing and bitter, because it requires a feat, effort and a cross, Patriarch Porphyry emphasized:

- In today's passage from the Gospel according to John, the Lord is clear. He first talks about the fact that love is meaning and that He is love. At the same time, he does not promise that we will pass through this life simply and easily if we fulfill the commandments of God, if we fast and pray. It goes without saying, because it is our natural state, but the Lord says that we will have trials and, moreover, he uses a very strong, harsh, brutal word. He says: The world will hate you. It is very important that we understand that the world will hate us and that we should not live up to the spirit of this world, that we should not court it, that it should not be our goal to please it. Our goal should be to pray for all people, to have love for all people, because the Lord himself also says: Love your enemies! Therefore, the world will hate you, but you should pray for everyone, forgive everyone, try to love them because they are also icons of God, because the Lord created them too.

The leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church was served by: Archimandrite Paisija, elected Bishop of Dioclia; Archimandrite Nectaria, chief secretary of the Holy Synod of Bishops; archpriests-stavrophorians Branko Topalović, Jovan Blagojević and Risto Perić; archpriests Đorđe Stojisavljević, head of the Cabinet of the Serbian Patriarch, and Dragan Šovljanski; proto-deputies Milan Marić and Igor Lukić; priest Igor Gračun; as well as protodeacons Dragan Radić, Radomir Vrućinić, Milojko Topalović and Dušan Todorović.

Source: SPC