On September 7, the Holy New Martyrs of Jasenovac were prayerfully celebrated with the archbishop's Liturgy in the Monastery of the Birth of St. John the Baptist in Jasenovac. The liturgical celebration organized by the Diocese of Pakrac-Slavonska was held in memory of the victims of the genocide that the NDH carried out against the members of the Serbian nation during the Second World War on its territory.

The Holy Liturgy was served by His Eminence Metropolitan Athanasius of Milesev, reverend gentlemen, Bishop Jovan of Pakrac-Slavonia, Hesyhije of Valja, Western European Justin, Most Reverend Archimandrite, Bishop-elect Paisij of Diokli, as well as Archpriest Predrag Šćepanović, Archpriest of Podgorica-Kolašinj, priest Aleksandar Lekić, clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church church, with the presence of faithful people and high dignitaries from Serbia, Republika Srpska and Montenegro.

After the liturgy on the mound in the Jasenovac memorial complex, the celebration cake was broken and the exhibition area of ​​the former Ustasha hospital was dedicated, and the sermon was delivered by His Eminence Bishop Valjevski, Mr. Hesychius.

"In this solemn place, since the earliest days, since the earliest Church, the Holy Liturgy and Holy Prayers have been offered precisely on the graves of the Holy Martyrs. And the Holy Martyrs watered the newly planted sapling with their blood. And the Church grew. And the more there was persecution and suffering, the stronger the Church was and it grew and encompassed the entire universe. And in all the centuries that our Church has lasted until now and in all the centuries that God wills it to last in this time, there will be suffering and persecution. The Church can never be friends with those who have conformed to this world. The greatest shrine, if we can compare the shrines from recent times, is precisely this city of martyrs, this countless number of sanctified bodies, which are under our feet with their relics. And who in the heavens entered the glory of God and whom our Holy Church glorified as Holy Martyrs.

Until recently, we prayed for them and each of us was aware to some extent, in our hearts, of their martyrdom and holiness. But here the Church itself, when the time was ripe, proclaimed them as the Holy New Martyrs of Jasenovac. And instead of praying for the repose of their souls, now to them as saints of God, as those who live in His vicinity and represent our unworthiness, we pray to them and offer glorious gifts, as is the custom in our nation, and we pray for their representatives prayers. Each one of us is called to pray today, but also at other times, to ascend and plunge into the mystery of suffering, as we heard in the sermon, into the mystery of Christ's suffering, into the mystery of the martyrs. If we pray deeply, we can, by God's grace, experience a little bit of suffering and their glory in God's grace. "Because suffering for those who believe in God is a cross, everyone who suffers has the memory of the Lord in him at every moment, and to the extent that the Lord is pleased, he receives his help," said Bishop Hesihije.

The celebration was also attended by the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, Minister of Information and Telecommunications of Serbia Dejan Ristic, Minister without Portfolio Đorđe Milićević, Prince Filip Karađorđević, Director of the Archive of Vojvodina Nebojša Kuzmanović, Acting Director of the Museum of Genocide Victims from Belgrade Bojan Arbutina, Consul of Russia from Zagreb Aleksandar Nurizade, Ambassador of Serbia in Croatia Jelena Milić and numerous believers.

The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik said that everyone knows what kind of suffering it is and that more than half a million Serbs were killed in that camp during the Second World War. "It is a pogrom, a large camp in which more than half a million Serbs were killed in the Second World War, and in Jasenovac there were a total of 700,000 victims," ​​said Dodik.

The Minister of Information and Telecommunications of Serbia, Dejan Ristic, pointed out that Jasenovac is the site of the greatest Golgotha ​​of the Serbian people in its entire history. "At the same time, Jasenovac is also a place of victory of life over death and love over hatred, because the Serbian people, despite the immeasurable suffering in the context of the genocide perpetrated by the Croatian state during the Second World War, emerged victorious from that armed conflict," he said. Ristic.

On Wednesday, September 11, the Church of the Birth of St. John the Forerunner in Jasenovac was consecrated. The consecration was performed by Reverend Bishops, Jovan from Pakračno-Slavonia and Sergije from Petrovac, Bihać. After the consecration of the Temple with the Holy Bishop's Liturgy, His Holiness Bishop Sergius presided over it, with the concelebration of Bishop Jovan.

Ljubica Vukićević

Source:

Jasenovac Monastery

RTS