Niš, Serbia, November 16, 2022
Photo: mospat.ru
His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church was honored with a peace award at a ceremony at the National Theater in Niš yesterday.
The Humanitarian Organization of Nađi Raula unanimously decided to bestow its Plaque of Peace upon the Patriarch after he was proposed by elementary, high school, and college students in Niš, the Serbian Church reports.
In their explanation, the students emphasize that the Patriarch’s work amazes, inspires, and motivates them and makes them proud, especially as concerns his charitable work and the openness of the Serbian Church to the youth of the nation.
“The basic task of the Church, the priest, the bishop is exactly that—not only to preach peace, but to live in peace with his whole being, to witness to peace and spread peace around him,” His Holiness said at the ceremony.
“We know that peace isn’t, first of all, an external category, that it’s not only and exclusively the absence of conflict between people, but that peace is primarily an internal spiritual category and that if we don’t have spiritual peace, which is always the result of the quality of our relationship with God, then it’s impossible to build peace around ourselves,” the Serbian primate explained.
The Nadji Raul organization, founded in 2011, engages in charitable work and has so far helped a large number of institutions, individuals, and vulnerable families, with special attention given to promoting the talents of the youth.
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