Serbian Orthodox Church and believers celebrate the feast of the Ascension of Christ and the glory of Belgrade this Thursday. This year's celebration of the city's glory has great ecclesiastical significance, because it is in Belgrade with Mount Athos The Holy Belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is kept in the Vatoped monastery, arrived.
This shrine was built yesterday. airport "Nikola Tesla" was welcomed by the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Porphyry and archbishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God will be at the head of the Salvation Day procession this Thursday evening, which will begin at 19 p.m. at the Temple of the Ascension of the Lord. Lithium will move along Knez Miloša Street, then Kralja Milana Street to Slavija, and then along Oslobodenje Boulevard to Temple of Saint Sava.
Photo: Tanjug/ Miloš MilivojevićPatriarch Porfirije and Aleksandar Vučić
The Holy Cross will be carried at the head of the procession by Andrej Drobnjaković, a student of the Mathematical High School and winner of numerous medals at international competitions. After the liturgy and worship in the Church of St. Sava, 300.000 ribbons consecrated on the Belt of the Blessed Virgin in the Vatoped Monastery will be distributed to the faithful.
For believers, the arrival of this shrine is an important spiritual event. The Serbian Orthodox Church states that throughout history the Belt was in Jerusalem, Cappadocia, Constantinople and Bulgaria, and that it was also in Serbia at one time, after which Prince Lazar, together with a part of the Holy Cross, presented it to the Vatoped Monastery, where it is still kept today.
Veselin Milić, a bon vivant who knows progressive secrets
The affair of wiretapping the election of Porphyry as patriarch
However, the Serbian Orthodox Church has not been in the center of attention in recent days due to the Day of the Savior and the arrival of the great saint.
Namely, the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN) announced that the bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church were secretly filmed during the 2021 Council when Porfirije was elected patriarch. According to CIN, the cameras that recorded the election were hidden in the crypt of the Church of St. Sava, although the recording of the Assembly is expressly prohibited, and the bishops, as stated, received a written guarantee from the Synod that they would have privacy and "spiritual peace" during the voting.
Source: FoNet/SPCThe election of Porphyry as patriarch was secretly recorded.
CIN claims that the video material was delivered to Ljuban Eći, the former deputy head of the State Security Center of the Republic of Srpska, an hour after the election of Porfirio as patriarch. The text also states that Ećim is a friend of Luka Bojović, as well as that both were close associates of Željko Ražnatović Arkan.
The relationship between Vučić and Porfirio
The relationship between President Aleksandar Vučić and Patriarch Porfiri has been commented on a lot in the public in the last two years - from the prayer before Vučić's trip to New York in 2024, when the patriarch spoke about the resolution on Srebrenica as about "falsehood and injustice", until the recent signing of the founding memorandum Serbian Orthodox University "Sveti Sava".
Photo: Tanjug/ Miloš MilivojevićPatriarch Porfirije and Aleksandar Vučić
For part of the public, it is a sign of the strong closeness of the state leadership to the Serbian Orthodox Church. Criticisms against the patriarch were numerous in the previous period - from Porfiry's speech about the "colored revolution" in Moscow, through the closed doors of the Saint Sava Temple for students and citizens after the protest in January of this year, to the dismissal of Metropolitan Justin of Žica.
That's why this year's Salvation Day for believers, on the one hand, a great holiday and a rare opportunity to pay homage to the great Orthodox saint, while on the other hand, questions of the relationship between the top Churches with the regime of Aleksandar Vučić.
Sources: RTS, CIN
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