His Holiness, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, opened the exhibition “The World in Pictures – The Image of the World” on December 23, 2024, at the Historical Museum of Serbia.
– I am grateful from the bottom of my heart to those who organized tonight’s exhibition, and most of all to the artists, above all to them, in this time of unrest, not only perso

nal unrest, the unrest that everyone carries within themselves, but also local and global unrest. However, all of these are unrests that exist and will exist until the Second Coming of Christ, because He is peace, He is the King of Peace. As long as we are outside of Him, there will and will be unrest, and until He finally comes in His fullness, unrest will exist, at the very least, as a challenge, as a potential, as a possibility, because there can be no peace without the only Peacemaker, without the King of Peace, without the Prince of Peace, without Christ who is peace in himself, said His Holiness at the opening of the exhibition, which is the result of the joint work of the Historical Museum of Serbia, the Directorate for Cooperation with Churches and Religious Communities under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia, and the Patriarchal Board of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

– Where that most local, inner, personal peace exists, it is a pledge and a kind of guarantee of every other peace. Therefore, in this time of unrest, we are grateful to all the organizers, and above all to the artists, for giving us the opportunity to enjoy what is only natural for us, in a special peace, in the peace of art. It is especially valuable and important that here before us are gathered works of art that express in a special way the vision of authentic, true and genuine peace and authentic, true and genuine existence, and at the same time the search for meaning. No one promised us that there would be happiness here, on earth. Ultimately, that is not the goal of our existence and our existence. The meaning and goal of our existence is to find meaning, to have meaning. That is why tonight's exhibition is even more valuable because artists, but also deeply believing people, from most churches and traditional religious communities that exist, live and work in Serbia, have exhibited their works here – said Patriarch Porfirije.

– We experience the works collected in this way as a sense of national unity and an incentive to strengthen fraternal dialogue and mutual respect between all people, regardless of religion and nation in our country. To be together, to be for one, to be for one and unique, which is necessary and necessary for every human soul. To be for good, for that one, for virtue, for love in the final analysis, for fulfilling what God wants from us, and that is not something that is foreign to us and beyond our being and existence. It is what is innate to us, what belongs to our nature, what makes us who we are, what makes us human. The very fact that at this exhibition we can enjoy the spiritual art of the Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Islamic Community, the Jewish Community, as well as some Protestant churches from our homeland of Serbia, speaks volumes about the symphony that is given, but also given to us. The symphony of diversity about the invaluable importance of peace and mutual understanding is something that has been given to us, brothers and sisters, Orthodox Serbs, brothers and sisters from the Roman Catholic Church, from the Islamic community, from the Jewish community and all other religious communities, as a gift from God, but it has also been assigned to us! In other words, it has been entrusted to us, we have received it freely from the Lord. Will we be worthy of this gift, will we not only preserve what we have received, but also consistently, on the basis of our gifts, multiply and fulfill the will of God and the very purpose of our existence will depend on our, first, understanding, and then our readiness to fulfill our task – emphasized Patriarch Porfirije.

– Art itself has special characteristics, because it should reflect the spiritual world, the spiritual consciousness of the individual and specifically of the Church or religious community, just as it is, in a broader sense, a reflection and image of the world in which it is created, but also a reflection of prayer for that world. Exhibitions like this are an opportunity to learn about each other, to find positive ways of interacting and connecting while respecting differences and appreciating uniqueness, so that we can ultimately understand that we are actually created as one and unique human race, as one man. We Christians define this with the word: one Adam, the new Adam. We are therefore one man. Those who do not understand this still have a lot to listen to the word of God and work on themselves, with a lot of asceticism and a lot of prayer. It is up to us to believe that we understand each other sufficiently, but to also know that this is not enough, but that it is necessary to make efforts and efforts, and to confirm and demonstrate this to each other and to the world through our example - His Holiness emphasized.

The team of authors, who set the conceptual foundations and selected the works of 52 artists, was led by the chief curator of the exhibition, Prof. Dr. Oliver Tomić, professor at the Academy of Technical Vocational Studies in Belgrade, in collaboration with experts from the Academy of the Serbian Orthodox Church for Arts, Conservation and Restoration, the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Institute for Cultural and Christian Studies. The exhibition catalogue will be specially presented and promoted in 2025. Those interested will be able to visit the exhibition from 24 December every day, except Monday, from 12:00 to 20:00 (ticket sales until 19:00). The exhibition is open until 31 March 2025, and a diverse accompanying programme is planned for its duration.

The audience was also addressed by the Director of the Historical Museum of Serbia, Dr. Dušica Bojić, and Dr. Vladimir Roganović, Director of the Directorate for Cooperation with Churches and Religious Communities. The opening of the exhibition was attended by His Graces, Vicar Bishops Hilarion of Novo Brdo and Tikhon of Moravica, Archbishop of Belgrade Cardinal Ladislav Nemet, as well as representatives of traditional churches and religious communities.

Source: TV Hram