Greeting letter from His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia Mr. Porfiria at the commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Cers and the martyrdom of Šabac in the First World War, which was produced in front of the Memorial Ossuary in Tekeriš, on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, August 19, 2024, by the emissary of the Most Holy Patriarch, the Vicar Bishop of Jegar and the elected British-Irish Mr. Nectaries

Most Reverend and Most Reverend Brothers Archbishops, Honorable Mr. Envoy of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Ladies and Gentlemen, Ministers, Representatives of the Republic and Local Authorities, Gentlemen, Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers of the Serbian Army, Honorable Representatives of Cultural and Educational Institutions and Associations, Honorable Clergy, Venerable Monks, Dear Brothers and sisters!

There are days that are above all others and there are places that are beyond all others. There are events that stand out for their importance and personalities that stand out for their greatness, and today's day and this place where we gathered, as well as the event that we remember, together with those who participated in it, stand out from everything else. gave birth and what happened on this piece of earth and under this piece of sky.

All of our history is a sign of the cross and resurrection, because our people promised themselves to Christ through Saint Sava, and through Saint Prince Lazar, they confirmed that promise in blood. And so, from Sava to Lazarus and from Lazarus to our days, that dedication to Christ and confirmation of belonging to Him in the Serbian people is constantly taking place, bringing new fruits and multiplying the chorus of holy God's delights, known and unknown, sifted in our family. In the endless book of our history, there is a chapter that is measured by four years, in which the most tragic, but also the most glorious, page of our history is written. It is clear that it is a question of an unprecedented military war in terms of its scale and horrors, then called the Great War and later the First World War, and the first sentence in that chapter was the first victory of the allied countries of the Entente, which was won by small numbers, but with courage and skillful, great Serbian army right on the slopes of the proud Cer, at the foot of which we are located and on the vast, beautiful fields of the Jadar river valley.

It is clear to everyone that it is the famous Battle of Cer, initially called the Battle of Jadra, which was fought in this area from August 16 to 19, i.e. August 24, 1914, and in which nearly 400,000 soldiers from both warring sides participated. About this battle, that is, about the historical facts related to it, a lot has been said, a lot written, a lot sung. That's why I won't talk about it now, since I believe that you all know it well. I will not talk about it also because it is the work of historians, who could provide much more and better in this field.

My wish, as the spiritual father of all Orthodox Serbs and as the head of the Church of Svetosavska, is to say a few words about the message and lesson that their struggle and their feat.

Everything that is great, holy, virtuous and eternal in our history and in our family was born by the Orthodox faith, i.e. the teaching of the Gospel, which our ancestors planted in the foundations of our national ethos and social order. Hence the struggle that our physical and spiritual fathers led in these areas exactly 110 years ago, their feat and their sacrifice, the fruit of that faith and devotion to Christ and His Gospel. We think and believe that this is so, because only the one who is truly rooted in the love of Christ, which is embodied in the twofold love for God and for his neighbor, can find strength and courage in himself, can despise himself and his life for the sake of his neighbors, for the sake of of his race and his Motherland. And such were the Serbian warriors who stormed these fields and hills on these very August days in 1914, who put their chests in front of the enemy's bayonets and rifle and cannon barrels. You, by the standards of this world, were simple and semi-literate people, but rich in the wisdom that comes from God, like everyone else from all strata of Serbian society at that time, they were aware of their duty and responsibility before their ancestors and descendants, and before the past and in front of the future.

In that consciousness of theirs lies the answer to the superhuman feat and sacrifice they made, and according to historical sources, their sacrifice is counted at around 3,000 dead and 15,000 wounded soldiers. However, this sacrifice is far greater when one takes into account the suffering of a huge number of our absolutely innocent civilians - women, children and the elderly, the weakest Serbs who were attacked by the rampaging Austro-Hungarian soldiery throughout Mačva, Jadra, Pocerina, Radjevina and Podrinje. In particular, during the military operations on Cer, the city of Šabac, once named as the First City of Serbia for its cultural and economic progress, and later, due to the terrible destruction it experienced and the unprecedented suffering of its population, was called the Serbian Verden.