Bishop Nikodim of Dalmatia celebrated the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in the Dragovic Monastery on September 20, 2020.
Within the last week before the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the faithful traditionally gathered with their Bishop to celebrate together the church dedication feast. “Today we have gathered to celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, as we have been gathering here for decades and as our glorious ancestors gathered. I am glad to see, brothers and sisters, that you foster the faith to come and pray to the Lord, despite all the troubles and this disease that has befallen the whole world. “Through this prayer of ours today, we have given our small contribution in order to participate in the House of Salvation and to try together to gain the Kingdom of Heaven,” said Bishop Nikodim.
“In today’s Gospel reading we heard the Lord say to a woman, ‘Martha, Martha, you care about many things, and only one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen a good part.’ We should understand that when we come to church and gather around one cup, it is necessary to leave all our worries and to stand before the Lord as human beings, to realize how small we are and to surrender ourselves as an offering to Him. Then we should give up mobile phones, taking pictures, recording and everything that distracts from dedicating our thoughts and our lives to the Lord. We should all be aware that none of these things will matter once we stand before the Lord, but the only thing that will matter is how much we love Him and how much love we had for everyone. This especially refers to the time when we are gathered in the church and when we should reject everything that torments us and come to the Lord with pure hearts and pray for the salvation of the whole world,”said Bishop Nicodemus.
Source: Serbian Orthodox Church
