On 22 January 2026, in the lead-up to the feast of Saint Sava, the crypt of the Serbian people’s vow church on Vračar hosted the presentation of the thematic scientific volume “Saint Sava 1175–2025,” a major new publication of the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Later the same day, the Parish House on Vračar opened the exhibition “The Church of Saint Sava: From Idea to Dome,” tracing the long path from vision to realization.
Published for the 850th anniversary of Saint Sava’s birth (and also marking 790 years since his repose), the 500-page volume brings together studies by thirteen distinguished scholars across fields including history, church history, canon law, theology, philology, hymnography, art history, and architectural history, offering both a synthesis of existing scholarship and new academic insights.
Addressing the gathering, Patriarch Porfirije emphasized the enduring foundations Saint Sava laid for the Serbian people’s identity, recalling a landmark moment from 1981 when Bishop Danilo Krstić described the unfinished храм as “not ruins, but indestructible foundations… not a wall of lamentation, but a wall of hope.” Patriarch Porfirije said that those words were fulfilled, as the jubilee is now being marked “under the vaults of the completed and adorned magnificent church” bearing Saint Sava’s name, calling the new volume “a call to further, comprehensive diligence” and a safeguard against forgetting.
The program also highlighted Serbia’s cultural and scholarly institutions supporting the commemoration. Culture Minister Nikola Selaković said the publication is not only academic work but a living witness that Saint Sava’s legacy remains a force for spiritual, cultural, and social reflection today, describing Saint Sava as a “person of synthesis” and “a living source of inspiration for personal transformation and community grounded in love and responsibility.”
The day concluded with the opening of the exhibition “The Church of Saint Sava: From Idea to Dome,” which covers the period 1895–1989 and documents the church’s development through archival material. Declaring the exhibition open, Patriarch Porfirije told those present: “Today we are all blessed… we feel the blessing of Saint Sava,” adding that each generation discovers itself anew in Saint Sava, and expressing gratitude to all who contributed to completing and adorning the храм in recent years.
