On June 3rd, 2025, the Feast of Saints Constantine the Great and Helen, Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church dedicated to these God-glorified Saints in the district of Voždovac.
During the Divine Liturgy, Patriarch Porfirije elevated Fr. Jovo Kalinić to the rank of Protopresbyter.
“The word of the Lord, addressed to all of us, is a word that calls us to freedom—true and essential freedom; not the kind of freedom that is promoted in our times, which suggests that because you have the right to freedom, you can do whatever you want, and that you are only truly free when you act according to your desires.
But a truly free person is free from our real, true, and only enemies. And our enemy is the devil, brothers and sisters. No matter how much we may think he does not exist, or say that such things are just ‘old wives’ tales,’ no matter how much we try to avoid the reality of his existence, he is not stronger than us. He is not stronger, provided we are united with the One who alone is mighty; provided we are joined to Christ through our faith.
Death is also our enemy, for it holds every person in bondage. Yet it, too, is not stronger than us, if we are firmly united with Christ through faith and love.
Of course, sin is also our enemy. As long as we remain slaves to these threefold enemies—the devil, sin, and death—no matter what we do, no matter what we choose, no matter how much we follow our heart’s desires, we are slaves. Freedom that is, in reality, slavery to the devil, sin, and death, is the greatest deception for any human being.
Only in the freedom of communion with Christ does this enemy, who appears with three faces, have no power over us,” emphasized Patriarch Porfirije.
