OUR NEW SERBIAN PATRIARCH

Patriarch Irinej

His Holiness Patriarch Irinej (Gavrilovic) of Serbia was born in the village of Vidova, near Cacak in 1930 by his father Zdravko and mother Milijana. When he was baptized he was named Miroslav. He finished the elementary school in his village, and then in Cacak he finished the high school. After the end of the high school he enrolled and completed a seminary in Prizren, and then he finished the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade. Upon graduation, he went into the army. Following his return from the army he was soon appointed a professor of the Prizren seminary. Before taking the office of the professor in October 1959, at the Rakovica monastery he was tonsured by His Holiness Patriarch German, gaining the monastic name of Irenej.

That same month, on St. Petka’s day, October 27, 1959 at the Ruzica church on the Kalemegdan, he was ordained to the rank of hieromonk. While he worked as the professor at the Prizren seminary he was sent to the postgraduate studies in Athens. In 1969 he was appointed as the head of the monastic school at the monastery of Ostrog, from where he returned back to Prizren and there he was appointed a rector of the Prizren Seminary. From that duty in 1974 he was elected for a vicar bishop of His Holiness Patriarch of Serbia with the title of Bishop of Moravica. A year later, in 1975 he was elected for Bishop of Nis, where he has been until now.

Taken from www.spc.rs

Patriarchal Nativity Greeting

The Serbian Orthodox Church to her spiritual children at Christmas, 2009

+AMPHILOHIJE

By the Grace of God
Orthodox Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coastlands, Locum Tenens of the throne of the Serbian Patriarchs, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Christmas greeting:

Peace from God! Christ is Born!

Again this year, our dear spiritual children, here we are before the cradle of the Divine Child Jesus Christ. The immense mystery beyond comprehension of the birth of God the Logos took place in a lowly cave in Bethlehem, which from that moment, once and for all time, became the center of the world – the center of God’s glory and a source of comfort to all those who have sought after God throughout human history. The great father of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, when speaking of the Nativity Feast says: “Honor, brothers, the feast days, but most of all the day of Christ’s Nativity; for he who calls Christ’s birth the mother of all feast days makes no mistake…” From the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord all the feast days spring forth, as rivers spring forth from their sources. According to the holy Chrysostom, the birth of Christ is a new creation of the world, and the Incarnation of God the Logos is the cornerstone of everything. Another great father of the Church, St. Gregory the Theologian, begins his Nativity homily with the doxology – glorification of God:

Christ is born – let us glorify Him!
Christ comes from heaven – let us welcome Him!
Christ is on earth – let us be lifted up!
Sing to the Lord all the earth!

And he continues: “Let the people that sit in the darkness of ignorance see the great light of the knowledge of God. The old is gone – look, everything has become new! The letter of the Old Covenant withdraws – the Spirit takes over; shadows disappear – the Truth arrives.”

According to the narrative of the Holy Evangelists, the Lord Jesus Christ was born in the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus in Bethlehem of Judea, the city of prophets and of King David, from whose offspring, according to the prophesies of the Old Testament prophets, was to be born the Messiah promised by God – the Savior of the world.

Saint Gregory Palamas, the theologian of the light of Bethlehem and of Tabor, in his Nativity homily reveals the deep meaning of the Messiah’s coming: “With the incarnation and birth of Christ the Messiah into the world, universal joy and peace have been granted to the world. Listen to the end of the song of the Angel, the deliverer of the good news, and you will discover it – it says: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men (Luke 2:14); for God came in the flesh in order to bring His peace to the world and to reconcile it with the Most-High Father.” Christ’s peace is not the same as the peace of this world. St. Gregory Palamas calls the peace of Christmas “the spirit of adoption, because those who are bearers of this peace with faith became inheritors of God and coinheritors of Christ (Romans 8:17). “That is why, according to this same saint, only those who live in love with one another, and who according to the words of the Holy Apostle Paul “bear with one another, and forgive one another…even as Christ forgave you,” live in the same Savior and in the spirit of Christmas. (cf. Colossians 3:13)

The far removed and exalted God, Who in the Old Testament conversed with Moses on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 3:5), with Christ’s birth bowed down the heavens and became “Emmanuel, which means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23), without losing anything divine. St. John of Damascus confirms this when he talks about Christ’s Nativity by saying: “That is why we don’t say about Him that He is a man made God; rather He is God Who became man: because He being perfect God according to His nature, became perfect Man without changing His own nature nor the divine economy.”

The newly revealed Abba Justin of Celije said that “on Christmas God, according to His immeasurable love, entered history, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, incarnate from the Ever-Virgin Mary Theotokos, and became a real man.” In this way in the new born Child – the Divine Child Jesus Christ God – we have been given every abundant gift of the Heavenly Kingdom, bringing with Himself eternal Truth, eternal Justice and eternal Life which, according to Saint Maxim the Confessor, we taste in advance in the life and the liturgy of Christ’s Church. The Feast of Christmas has divided the entire history of mankind into two parts — into the time of anticipation and into the time of salvation. The biblical anticipation of the Messiah and Savior already began with the promise to the first-created people Adam and Eve (see Genesis 3:15), and more concretely to our forefather the patriarch Abraham, to whom God promised that in his descendants all peoples would be blessed (see Genesis 22:18), which was fulfilled precisely by the Birth of the God-Man Jesus Christ.

All the Old Testament prophets pointed to the great mystery of the Messiah’s birth. Therefore, looking at the Old Testament with the eyes of the Holy Apostle Paul, we can repeat after him that the Old Testament in its entirety is “our tutor to bring us to Christ”, (Galatians 3:24), an instructor which before Christ pointed all God-loving souls to Bethlehem’s Cave. On the other hand, the three Magi from the East, whom the grace-filled Bethlehem star brought to the place where Christ was born, signify, according to the interpretation of the Holy Fathers, the entire polytheistic world, which through its philosophy of men (cf. Colossian 2:8) could not penetrate into the depths of the mystery of God’s Incarnation. To both the God-loving souls and the polytheistic world, the heavenly angel during the Birth of Christ revealed the great mystery of the world’s salvation, delivering the Good News to Bethlehem’s shepherds, and through them to all of us: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) From that proclamation of glad tidings to Bethlehem’s shepherds right up to today, the Birth of Christ is the Feast Day of heavenly and earthly joy in which angels and saints participate together, but also every God-loving soul enlightened by Bethlehem’s light. Like the three Wise Men from the East who came to worship the Divine Child Jesus Christ, all of us are called as well to worship Him, and to offer our gifts to the newborn King of heaven. (cf. Matthew 2:2) Is not all the good from God that we have done this year our biggest gift to the Divine Child? If we have fed the hungry, given a drink to the thirsty, and visited the sick, in doing so did we not offer our gifts to God? If we have glorified God with our life, living a holy and God-pleasing life, in doing so did we not offer the gold of the virtues to the Divine Child? If we have loved God’s Church and with our diligence have adorned the Lord’s House, in doing so did we not offer a God-pleasing sacrifice? If we have acknowledged the suffering of our brothers, and have comforted them with our works, in doing so did we not do good to Christ Himself? (cf. Matthew 10:42) You see, in return for His limitless love the Divine Child Christ expects such gifts from us. That is why Christmas is also a feast day before which we re-examine our faith and everything which we, as God’s creatures and sons and daughters of God, are called to do, as was so often repeated by our Patriarch Pavle of blessed memory.

This Nativity season we are especially filled with joyous sadness that our great Patriarch Pavle has left us and has gone on from earth to heaven. We deeply believe that he, in accordance with freedom given to him by God, “with all the saints of our nation” continues to offer his prayers for our Church and our crucified people, together with Saint Sava, Saint Simeon the Myrrh-gusher and all our holy ancestors who recognized and received Patriarch Pavle “as one of their own and as their equal.” This Christmas we also remember all those who are afflicted, the suffering, those in exile, and all those who have had any injustice done them; we want to comfort them with the words: Christ is Born! Rejoice, for behold, the Lord comes to wipe away every human tear. (See Revelation 21:4)

With His birth on earth Christ has sanctified every aspect of human life – from conception to death and resurrection. That is why the Nativity reminds us not to raise our hand against the fruit of our womb, but rather to live according to God’s commandment: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) By respecting this blessing of God, Rachael’s weeping over our people and for our children who are no more (see Matthew 2:18) would cease, and the inextinguishable life that has shown forth from Bethlehem’s cave would blossom.

This Nativity season we are also with our brothers and sisters in Kosovo and Metohija — the cradle of our people. In Christ’s love we ask them to return to their homesteads in Kosovo and to stay there to live with their holy shrines, safeguarding our Kosovo, that “wretched place of judgment.” Let us never lose hope that God will enlighten the minds of those to whom He has given earthly power and control over other countries and peoples; that they, in the spirit of divine and human justice, will re-examine their unjust decisions regarding Kosovo and Metohija. Only in this way will peace and community in the Balkans and Europe be renewed, and the wounded dignity of the Serbian Orthodox people be returned. We also pray to the Newborn King of Peace that He eradicates war, violence and injustice everywhere in the world, so that finally peace and justice might reign among all peoples and nations.

We greet our entire God-loving people with the greeting of Bethlehem, asking that we safeguard our Orthodox Faith, our language and our alphabet, on whatever continent we might live. We Serbs are an ancient Christian nation, because through baptism by Cyril and Methodius and enlightenment by St. Sava we became part of the culture of the entire Christian world. We in this way have left an indelible stamp on the history and civilization of modern Europe and the world, embedding ourselves, once and for all, in their future. The Nativity of Christ always calls all of us to live in brotherly love, in love for God and in evangelical humility, living from the work of our hands and holding fast to the New Testament teachings: that we not do to others anything that we would not wish them to do to us. (cf. Acts 15:29)

In summarizing this great and inconceivable mystery of the Nativity, Saint Gregory the Theologian said: “This is our holy day. This is what we celebrate today: God’s coming to mankind — so that we might come to God; or to put it more suitably: so that we might return to God; so that we might put off the old man and put on the new, and so that just as we have all died in Adam, we may come to new life in Christ, that we may be born again with Christ, and be crucified along with him, and be buried with Him, and resurrect along with Him.”

Concluding our Nativity encyclical with the words of this Godly-wise Church father, we greet you all, dear spiritual children, and we greet all peoples and all nations with the all-joyous greeting of Bethlehem and of peace:

PEACE FROM GOD – CHRIST IS BORN!

Given at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade at Christmas, 2009.
Your intercessors before the cradle of the Divine Infant Christ:
The locum tenens of the throne of the Serbian Patriarchs,
Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coastlands AMPHILOHIJE
Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana JOVAN
Metropolitan of Libertyville-Chicago CHRISTOPHER
Metropolitan of Dabro-Bosna NIKOLAJ
Bishop of Sabac-Valjevo LAVRENTIJE
Bishop of Nis IRINEJ
Bishop of Zvornik-Tuzla VASILIJE
Bishop of Srem VASILIJE
Bishop of Banja Luka JEFREM
Bishop of Budim LUKIJAN
Bishop of Canada GEORGIJE
Bishop of Banat NIKANOR
Bishop of New Gracanica-Midwestern America LONGIN
Bishop of Eastern America MITROPHAN
Bishop of Zica CHRYSOSTOM
Bishop of Backa IRINEJ
Bishop of Great Britain and Scandinavia DOSITEJ
Bishop of Ras and Prizren ARTEMIJE
Bishop of Bihac and Petrovac CHRYSOSTOM
Bishop of Osijek and Baranja LUKIJAN
Bishop of Central Europe CONSTANTINE
Bishop of Western Europe LUKA
Bishop of Timok JUSTIN
Bishop of Vranje PAHOMIJE
Bishop of Sumadija JOVAN
Bishop of Slavonia SAVA
Bishop of Branicevo IGNATIJE
Bishop of Milesevo FILARET
Bishop of Dalmatia FOTIJE
Bishop of Budimlje and Niksic JOANIKIJE
Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina GRIGORIJE
Bishop of Valjevo MILUTIN
Bishop of Western America MAXIM
Bishop of Gornji Karlovci GERASIM
Bishop of Australia and New Zealand IRINEJ
Retired Bishop of Zahumlje and Hercegovina ATANASIJE
Vicar Bishop of Hvosno ATANASIJE
Vicar Bishop of Jegar PORFIRIJE
Vicar Bishop of Lipljan TEODOSIJE
Vicar Bishop of Dioclea JOVAN
Vicar Bishop of Moravica ANTONIJE
THE ARCHDIOCESE OF OCHRID
Archbishop of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skoplje JOVAN
Bishop of Polos and Kumanovo JOAKIM
Bishop of Bregal and locum tenens of the Diocese of Bitolj MARKO
Vicar Bishop of Stobija David                                                                                                    [Path of Orthodoxy translation]

21st Sunday After Pentecost

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ today we heard the familiar parable of the sower in the Gospel. When our Lord concludes this parable He says “he that has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 8:8) Jesus says this to indicate to those present that there is a deeper meaning to the story then what is on the surface; just seed being scattered and sprouting.

The disciples realize this and ask “What might this parable be?” (Luke 8:9) The Lord replies to this question with “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.” (Luke 8:10)

In this response our Lord Jesus Christ makes a distinction between His followers and those that just hear His words and see His works. God bestows His grace upon those that choose to follow Him. When we choose to follow Him our spiritual eyes are opened so that we may know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. As followers of Christ our God, He may at times speak to us in very direct terms. The Gospel of Saint John reminds us of this in Christ’s last conversation with His disciples before His death; “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time comes, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs.” (John 16:25)

What is the deeper meaning of this parable?

“A sower went out to sow his seed” (Luke 8:5) is the start of the parable. The sower is Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ who left His eternal existence with the Father and Holy Spirit to enter into time. The incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, went out into His world. The world that He created out of nothingness as described in the Book of Genesis.

The field that our Lord went out to is that of human souls. He went out into the field of human souls to sow the seed of salvation. God desires our salvation as it says in Saint Paul’s first epistle to Timothy; He “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1Timothy 2:4) Additionally, God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) The seed of salvation is sown into the souls of men through Christ’s teachings.

The parable tells us that three parts of the seed is lost. The parable makes it clear that the failure of this seed is not the fault of sower or the seed but of the ground upon which it fell. We need to be willing to cooperate with God in order to receive salvation. This means that we must abandon our self will and follow Christ in order to receive salvation. We are given an example of this when our Lord calls His disciples James and John. They leave their work and their father for Christ when He says the words “Follow Me.” (Matthew 8:22)

The lost seed in the parable does not mean that God will not benefit from making His word known to those that will not receive it. We only need to look to the parable of talents to see that even in the case of the servant that made no use of the talent given to him that the Lord still received that talent back. This is further demonstrated for us when Jesus sends His disciples out to teach giving them the following instructions “And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.” (Matthew 10:13)

So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ be the good soil that receives the seed of God’s salvation so that you may have the ears to hear and the eyes to see the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.

Amen

Delivered by Fr. Milan Medakovic at Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church, Youngstown Ohio on the 21st Sunday After Pentecost 2009

20th Sunday After Pentecost

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ we heard of one of the miracles’ of Christ in today’s Gospel reading. That miracle was the raising of the widow’s son at Nain.

In this Gospel we see our Lord revealing Himself as the Son of God, the promised Messiah of Israel, by raising the dead. When Saint John the Baptist wanted to know if Jesus was the Christ, the promised one of Israel, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus. Jesus responded to them “tell John what things you have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.” (Luke 7:22)

It is interesting that this revelation of Jesus as the Son of God occurred in the shadow of Mount Tabor; the village of Nain is located in a valley below Mount Tabor. It was on Mount Tabor that our Lord was transfigured revealing the fullness of His divinity to His disciples Peter, James and John.

Is our Lord just performing this miracle to reveal Himself as God or out of compassion for the widow as the Gospel states? The answer to both of these questions is yes but there is a deeper meaning to this miracle. From the beginning of time man has feared death. This fear of death comes from not knowing what will happen to the soul once death occurs. Thus, there is a fear of all that can take away biological life. Our Lord reminds us “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” (Matthew 10:28)

This should remind us that our bodies are just garments for the soul. We are further reminded of this on Great and Holy Friday in the Holy Prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones. In this vision God asks “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel answers “O Lord GOD, you know.” (Ezekiel 37:3) In this vision the dead are brought back to life and the souls of the departed are reunited with their bodies. Through this prophecy we see that the body may become worn out but, God will renew it by reuniting soul and body once more in the resurrection.

If we should not fear our physical death, what then should we fear? We should fear is that which can kill our soul. Who or what can kill our soul? The answer to this question is that we kill our own soul through our sin and failing to care for the soul. The Gospel reminds us that we must not just care for the body in the parable of the rich man with many store houses. The man in this parable thinks that he can rest and take it easy because of his many possessions however; our Lord says to him “Fool, this night your soul shall be required of you.” (Luke 12:20)

How then can we care for the soul? The answer is given in the Gospel of the Last Judgment by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, taking in the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting those that are sick or in prison. (Matthew 25:31-46)

While caring for the soul in this manner is most helpful, the most important thing that we can do is to avoid sin. We must realize that to live a Christian life we must live our lives according to a set of rules. That not everything is permissible as Saint Paul reminds us “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.” (1 Corinthians 6:12)

Thus we must always keep in our minds that we can do anything through our free will but is it in keeping with the ways of God so that we avoid sin. One of the ways to avoid sin is to question our motives and thoughts against the following four questions.

Is what I am about to do or say honest?

Is what I am about to do or say unselfish?

Is what I am about to do or say loving?

Is what I am about to do or say pure?

If whatever we do or say cannot pass through these four questions it is probably not in line with God’s will for us. We should avoid actions that cannot pass through these questions because they will lead us into sin which will kill our soul.

In our human fragility, we are not perfect. Thus, no matter how hard we try not to sin we will fail due to our own imperfections. God provides a way for us to heal our souls once we have inflicted damage on our soul through sin. That healing grace comes through our repentance. That is the full repentance of acknowledging our sin before God and His appointed witness; the priest. This type of healing through repentance is only given through the Holy Mystery of Confession. Our Lord tells us this in the Gospel when He said to His disciples “Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18)

So my dear brother and sisters in Christ tend to your souls through acts of mercy, avoid sin and confess your sin for our Lord said “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” (John 5:25)

Amen

Delivered by Fr. Milan Medakovic at Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church, Youngstown Ohio on the 20th Sunday After Pentecost 2009