London, November 25, 2024
Photo: spc.rs
His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church presided over the enthronement of the bishop for the newly created British-Irish Diocese on Sunday, November 24.
The service of enthronement of His Grace Bishop Nektarije (Samardžić) was held at St. Sava Cathedral in London, which was consecrated by St. Nikolaj (Velimirović) in 1952, reports the Serbian Orthodox Church.
At its session of May 14–18, the Serbian Holy Assembly of Bishops decided to divide the British-Scandinavian Diocese and form the British-Irish Diocese with its seat in London. Bp. Nektarije, formerly of Jegar, vicar of the Serbian Patriarch, was chosen to occupy the new cathedra.
It is estimated that there are about 40,000 Orthodox Serbs living in London and its surroundings.
His Holiness was joined by four hierarchs of the Serbian Church, His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh of the Moscow Patriarchate, His Grace Bishop Anastasie of Bogdania of the Romanian Orthodox Church, as well as clergy from the Churches of Serbia, Constantinople, Macedonia-Ohrid Archbishopric, and ROCOR.
Photo: spc.rs
After his enthronement, Bp. Nektarije said in his inaugural address:
The unusual mystery of God’s providence continues to manifest itself in my life. I find myself today in this holy place, in this grace-filled position from which one oversees and directs, preaches and witnesses, and above all, following the example of Christ the Great High Priest, “serves,” for the Lord has woven these words into our episcopacy as the meaning and program of bishopric in the Church Militant: I have not come to be served, but to serve.
With such faith I come here today and begin my new service. And today my heart trembles, for I have been elevated to the sacred throne of the British-Irish bishops, as the first bishop of the newly established diocese, but I stand in a place from which honorable hierarchs of our Holy Church have preached the Light of Christ’s Gospel… From this hour, “Christ’s gentle yoke” has been placed around my neck so that, serving God and His Church, I might obtain salvation.
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Photo: spc.rs
Bishop Nektarije (Samardžić) was born on May 18, 1983, in Sarajevo. In Baptism, he was given the name Ratko. His family later moved to Sweden due to the war events of the 1990s.
With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Dositej of British-Scandinavian Diocese, he enrolled in the Seminary of the Three Holy Hierarchs (today of St. Peter of Dabar-Bosnia), which he completed in 2003. He then graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy in 2006.
He was tonsured into the small scheme on June 1, 2007, receiving the name Nektarije, in honoe of St. Nektarios of Aegina. He was ordained a hierodeacon the next day and a hieromonk on June 16. He temporarily served as parish priest at the Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Malmö, Sweden.
On May 3, 2009, he was appointed abbot of the newly established Monastery of St. George in Olofström, in the southeastern Swedish region of Blekinge, where he succeeded in organizing monastic life and arranging the monastery complex. On September 10, 2011, during the consecration of the new iconostasis, he was elevated to the rank of protosyncellus, after which he was sent for further theological studies in Athens. In July 2013, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.
He completed the Theological Faculty at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2016 with a thesis on “The Eucharistic Controversy in the Post-Byzantine Period.” He continued his education in postgraduate studies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with the topic “Pastoral Aspects of the Ecclesiology of St. Nektarios of Aegina,” which he defended on April 4, 2019, in Thessaloniki.
During his 11-year stay in Greece, he frequently visited Mount Athos where he learned monastic life at Hilandar Monastery, where he continuously spent two years living in the sacred brotherhood. At the invitation of Bp. Dositej of the British-Scandinavian Diocese, Fr. Nektarije came from Hilandar Monastery to Sweden and on November 24, 2020, was appointed as the head priest of the Church of St. Stefan of Dečani in Gothenburg with the task of advancing spiritual life in the city on the Göta.
In October 2021, Archimandrite Nektarije moved to a new obedience at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade, where he became an official in the Office for Inter-Church Relations of the Holy Synod of Bishops. He was serving in this position when he was elected Bishop of Jegar, vicar of the Serbian Patriarch, at the regular session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops on May 23, 2022, in the crypt of St. Sava Memorial Church in Belgrade.
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