Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia presided over the Divine Liturgy on May 17, 2026, at the Church of Saint Sava in Vračar, Belgrade, concelebrating with numerous hierarchs, clergy, and faithful of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
During the service, Metropolitan Siluan of Australia and New Zealand delivered a sermon interpreting the Gospel passage of the healing of the man born blind.
“What would this world be, brothers and sisters, had the God-man Christ not appeared in it?” Metropolitan Siluan asked. “What would this world be without the Incarnation of Christ, without the three-day Resurrection, without the glorious Ascension, without Holy Pentecost? This world would be a sorrowful valley inhabited by many who are spiritually lame and blind from birth.”
He stressed that humanity is in need of Christ’s light and salvation, saying that “man without Christ remains blind, remains in darkness, remains a slave to demons, to sin, to passions, and to death itself.” He added that through Christ, the world has once again become “a place of joy, consolation, hope, faith, love, and forgiveness.”
At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, Patriarch Porfirije greeted the faithful with the Paschal proclamation “Christ is Risen!” and prayed that God would heal the spiritual blindness caused by sin and estrangement from God.
“May the Lord grant that our spiritual eyes, often blinded by our sins and passions, may be touched by the grace of God, so that we may receive true and healthy spiritual sight, be healed, and always glorify our Lord Jesus Christ together with the Father and the Holy Spirit,” the Patriarch said.
Concelebrating with the Serbian Patriarch were numerous hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, including Metropolitan David of Kruševac, Metropolitan Ilarion of Timok, Metropolitan Arsenije of Niš, Metropolitan Methodije of Budimlja and Nikšić, Metropolitan Justin of Paris and Western Europe, and several other bishops and clergy from Serbia and abroad.
Also participating in prayer were Metropolitan Irinej of Bačka and Metropolitan Nikodim of Dalmatia.
