Belgrade, February 19, 2021
YouTube screenshot
The newly-elected primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije, formerly the Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana, was formally enthroned during the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael in Belgrade today.
The Liturgy began at 9:00 AM, and the cathedral bells rang out at 11:25, proclaiming that His Holiness had been enthroned.
Watch the video of the Divine Liturgy below, beginning at the 12:35 mark:
The people first begin to cry “Axios!” for their new primate at the 2:09:20 mark.
In his address to the gathered faithful, His Holiness emphasized the weight of the Patriarchal ministry and the importance of prayer and full reliance on Christ our God:
I accept today the fact that I am unworthy of the worship of God, elevated to the holy and Divine throne of St. Sava, on which a worthy communicant of the apostolic seat should sit. I pray to God and I ask all of you to support me in prayer […] that as the 46th Patriarch and the 57th Head of the Serbian Church, the modest successor of my great predecessors. I am the successor of the great Patriarch Makarije Sokolović and Dimitar Pavlović. Let us follow the footsteps of wisdom of Patriarch German, Patriarch Pavle, and Patriarch Irinej.
I confess that I have nothing to boast about but my weaknesses. This does not fill me with hopelessness, but with calm and hope that the prayers of all of us, and especially through the prayerful intercession, of my spiritual father, Bishop Irinej of Bačka, will help. I want our Serbian Orthodox Church to live its life to the fullest, for every Orthodox Christian to live true freedom, the freedom in Jesus Christ. Christ is our measure, our mover but also our mirror. He is the one Who will measure us up. We come to the Church to touch and receive the Cross of Christ, that is the basic task of the Church. It is not social nor political…
The mission of the Church is to build peace. If we have the peace of God in us, we will be reconciled with our fellow man and we will be reconciled with ourselves. I want to remind you of the Apostle Paul’s request that there be no discord among us, but that we all be perfected in one mind. Be of one thought with each other and may the God of suffering and consolation give us the same thoughts among ourselves … so that we may glorify God with one voice and one mouth. With this, I want to dedicate time to my Patriarchal ministry. My program will not contain elements of modern alienation and partial involvement in politics…
In my prayers, the Serbs in the affected Kosovo and Metohija will occupy the first place. Kosovo is a covenant for us, and that covenant is related to the New Testament, the foundations of which are holiness…
On July 2014, I said in Zagreb and I maintain that I will work on connecting people, on building bridges, on establishing a dialogue with everyone. And through that dialogue, I made friends, and I am convinced that both the Serbian Church and the Serbian people gained them as well.
May God grant His Holiness many blessed years of service to His Church!
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