Uroševac, Kosovo, September 14, 2023
Photo: eparhija-prizren.com
A Serbian Orthodox church in southern Kosovo saw liturgical life for the first time in 20 years on Monday, September 11, the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Forerunner.
The feast is also celebrated as the slava for the city of Uroševac, in southern Kosovo, where the Church of Tsar St. Uroš is located. The occasion also marked the 90th anniversary of the consecration of the Church, reports the Diocese of Raška and Prizren.
Hundreds of believers, including displaced Uroševac residents and pilgrims from throughout Kosovo gathered in the church to mark the feast and jubilee.
Photo: eparhija-prizren.com
The celebration began with the Holy Hierarchical Liturgy served by His Grace Bishop Teodosije of Raška and Prizren, who said in his sermon:
All the hardships we suffer in this life find their meaning in the Resurrection and the life to come. The Lord said, If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you, but we never despair because of our sufferings and the various torments we endure for the sake of Christ, truth, and justice. We have faith and believe in the Lord Who has risen and opened the way to resurrection and eternal life for us. The only thing we were afraid of was sin, because sin is what separates us from God and eternal life. We, as God’s people, are chosen, called to bear witness to the truth and justice in this world. We often suffer in recent times, and this Church has suffered, but thanks be to God, it is being restored, not just in a physical and material sense but also spiritually. Here, the Holy Liturgy is served; we come to the church resurrected because the light of the Resurrection gives us more joy than we had before. So, we rejoice in this church, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary. We rejoice in the holy Prophet, the Forerunner John the Baptist.
Those who kill, destroy, and burn God’s holy sanctuaries should seriously question their fate and future. One cannot wage war against God, the Church, and the sanctuaries. No one is so hungry or thirsty as to renounce their ancestors, heritage, their Kosovo and Metohija. The death of St. John the Prophet and Forerunner obliges us all to have faith and to do good deeds with faith, and good will return to us. May today be blessed, and may the name of God never cease to be mentioned and praised in this Church and other sanctuaries.
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