Dalj, Croatia, October 22, 2024
Photo: spc.rs
Over the weekend, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia consecrated one of the largest Serbian Orthodox churches in Croatia, that was previously closed by the Ustaše authorities.
The Patriarch led the consecration and Divine Liturgy at the renovated Cathedral of the Great Martyr St. Demetrios in the village of Dalj on Saturday, October 19, together with several other hierarchs, including the local Bishop Heruvim of Osijek-Polje and Baranja, reports the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Photo: spc.rs “Without God’s grace, without communion with God, whatever we are—famous, rich, powerful, successful—whatever we are and whatever we have, if we don’t have communion with God, everything turns into meaninglessness, into dust and ashes, sooner or later, because we are created in the image and likeness of God. We are created for eternity,” Pat. Porfirije preached in the newly reconsecrated church.
“We say that wherever we are, as long as there’s a church, as long as there’s the Liturgy, as long as there’s prayer, we exist, because then we’re in Christ, but what’s more important, not only that we exist here and now in history, but that we all together have eternity, we have the Kingdom of God, because that’s our goal. That’s why we are called from non-being into being; that’s why we’re born.”
Bp. Heruvim spoke of the glorious history of the Church of the Great Martyr Demetrios, which suffered much, as did the people who built it, renovated it and prayed to God in it.
Photo: spc.rs
“But the strength of the Church of Christ is precisely in that suffering, because suffering is the path to resurrection and confirmation of the true path of salvation. The entire history of the Church proves this: very often the Church was in an unfavorable position before persecutions or prohibitions, but it never faltered before any temptation, but, on the contrary, became stronger and stronger,” the hierarch said.
Following the Liturgy, His Holiness blessed the slava bread on the occasion of the feast of St. Stefan Štiljanović, the patron saint of the Diocese of Osijek-Polje and Baranja.
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The history of the cathedral:
Photo: spc.rs
The Cathedral of the Great Martyr Demetrios in Dalj is one of the most beautiful and largest churches of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Its history is as turbulent as the history of the Serbian people in the area of eastern Slavonia, western Syrmia, and Baranja.
The original wooden church was built in 1715, and the following year it was consecrated by Metropolitan Vikentije Popović Hadžilović of Karlovci. The construction of a new church made of solid material began in 1756. The current church was built in 1799, renovated four decades later, and consecrated by Metropolitan Stefan Stanković on the Nativity of the Theotokos in 1840.
During World War I, the bells were removed from the church. In World War II, the church suffered great destruction by the Ustaše authorities of the Independent State of Croatia, when it was closed on the feast of St. Peter in 1941. At that time, four bells were removed, the famous baroque iconostasis was demolished and destroyed, and the treasury was looted. The roof tiles were also removed from the church, the bell tower was mined, and the walls collapsed.
The church has been renovated and refurbished several times, and today, through the efforts of His Grace Bishop Heruvim of Osijek-Polje and Baranja, it begins to shine in full splendor, to the pride of the Serbian people and the Church of St. Sava.
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