Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia presided over the Divine Liturgy on January 19, 2025, the Feast of Epiphany, at the Saint Sava Church in Vračar.
“Let us be more just and better. You should be more just, and you should be better, and I, a hundred times more than you, should strive to be better. Then things will improve for all of us, and we will understand that our God is both Trinity and One.
The Holy Trinity reveals that each person is unique, yet affirms their uniqueness within the community because of the unity, because it is One.
Therefore, everything we do must be tested by this mystery and truth: does it build up or tear down? And we will know this if each of us stands before Christ and His Gospel, examining ourselves in the light of His commandments. The Gospel is our mirror. Test yourself when you try to fulfill God’s command. Then we truly come to know ourselves,” Patriarch Porfirije told the large gathering of faithful who celebrated this great feast under the dome of the Saint Sava Church.
He continued: “Can you, when the Lord says, ‘Take up your cross and follow Me,’ actually follow Him? As He said to the young man who asked Him, ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ (Matt. 19:16).
The young man sought perfection and fullness, and the Lord told him what to do and concluded: ‘If you want to be perfect, take up your cross and follow Me.’ But the young man went away sorrowful. He hungered for eternity but was unwilling to deny himself, to be transformed, to strive to be better—not better according to the parameters, values, and ideologies of this world, but better in alignment with the Gospel of Christ.
May the Lord, brothers and sisters, grant that we strive to be better, to repent, to kneel before Christ individually and together, and in our kneeling, prayer, tears, and effort to improve, the grace of the Holy Spirit will shine upon us and bring true and meaningful improvement to our lives.”
Concelebrating with His Holiness were Bishop Tikhon of Moravica, Vicar of the Serbian Patriarch; Protopresbyters-Stavrophor Radivoje Panić and Dimitrije Kasapis; Protopresbyters Đorđe Stojisavljević, Dragan Šovljanski, Predrag Prodić, Ivan Štrbački, and Nenad Jovanović; Priests Branislav Kličković, Dalibor Stojadinović, and Miroslav Vasić; Protodeacons Dragan Radić, Radomir Vrućinić, and Mladen Kovačević; and Deacons Siniša Duvnjak and Vasilije Perić.
Source: spc.sr
