Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral Church in Belgrade, on April 25, 2021, on the feast of the Entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem.
“The Lord Jesus Christ was not the expected messiah who is a great military leader and ruler, because the grace of God does not change the world from the outside, and God does not want slaves and submissive people. The Lord Jesus Christ goes victoriously and triumphantly through Galilee towards Judea and passes through Bethany. And through that story, we see that nothing is accidental in the life of Christ, and also nothing is accidental in our lives,” Patriarch Porfirije said, emphasizing that in Bethany the Lord brought back to life Lazarus who had been enslaved by death for four days:
“Christ deliberately waited four days until he came to his friend who had already died. The goal of that act was to make sure that he was really dead so that no one would suspect that act. And the Lord’s weeping over a dead friend is a confirmation to us that death is not something that is natural, it is not something that was given to us by God,” Patriarch Porfirije taught.
“Having passed through Bethany, the Lord enters Jerusalem where he is greeted by a multitude of people. They all came in delight believing that this was the Messiah they had been waiting for. But they waited for the great military leader to subdue all the nations of the world. They expected the Messiah as an earthly king. With the help of when they should rule the world. To everyone’s surprise, however, the Messiah didn’t come with trumpets and fanfares but on a humble donkey. Thus, the Lord Christ showed that God created man in his image and likeness as a free being, so that man would freely respond to the infinite love and mercy of God. In this way, man responds to the love that saves the whole world and saves all people but not by force. Not by imposing salvation, but by adopting it with love and faith,” concluded Patriarch Porfirije.
Patriarch Porfirije was concelebrated by hieromonk Sava (Bundalo), priest Arsen Milovanovic, protodeacon Damjan Bozic, and deacon Radomir Vrucinic, subdeacons Vladimir Jelic and Njegos Stikic, as well as readers Andrej Jelic and Pavle Jovanovic.
Source: Serbian Orthodox Church
