On the first preparatory Sunday for Great Lent—dedicated to the Gospel parable of the Publican and the Pharisee—on February 9, 2025, Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Church of Saint Sava in Vračar.
Following the reading of the Gospel passage about the humble tax collector and the proud, self-righteous Pharisee, His Holiness delivered a sermon:
“Such a state of mind (like that of the proud Pharisee) breaks the sense of community, which is the only normal, correct, healthy, and God-blessed way of existence. Community always implies the presence of others, regardless of who they are. But it also requires the struggle of humility.
It calls us to measure ourselves against Christ, to evaluate ourselves through His Gospel, to use Him as our mirror.
We must measure ourselves against the saints of God, against our need to grow in every virtue, in spiritual struggle, and always strive to be better in Christ.
This means identifying ourselves with Him, who showed the utmost humility towards us. He, the perfect God—without beginning, limitless, infinite—took upon Himself everything that we are and everything that He, by His nature, is not.
He confined Himself to our measure of existence so that we might unite ourselves with Him in love and in that ultimate, boundless humility shown by the publican.”
During the Divine Liturgy, Patriarch Porfirije was assisted by Auxiliary Bishops Petar of Toplica and Nikon of Jenopolje, as well as clergy including Archpriests Dimitrije Kasapis, Đorđe Stojisavljević, Nenad Jovanović, Jordan Marko (from the Diocese of Budimlja-Nikšić), Dragan Šovljanski, Predrag Prodić, and Ivan Štrbački; Priests Miroslav Vasić, Dalibor Stojadinović, and Vladimir Blagojević; and Protodeacons Dragan Radić, Radomir Vrućinić, and Mladen Kovačević, along with Deacon Vasilije Perić.
Source: spc.sr
