His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Mr. On the feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist - Ivanjdan on July 7, 2024, Porfirius served the Holy Bishop's Liturgy in the vowed Memorial Church of St. Sava in Vračar.

- The Christian faith is not an idea, it is not an ideology, but Christianity is the Church. It means community. This implies an unbreakable relationship and communion in the community of man with God, and not abstractly with God, but with concrete God, the God who revealed himself to us in the person of his Son. It is communion and communion with God in Jesus Christ, and then through Him, and communion and communion of those who are in communion with Him. So, for that reason, Christianity is a community - the Church. It is something that is a natural and logical consequence of the attitude of Christ, the attitude of the Son of God, towards us humans. He did not come to bring us some idea or some theological concept, he did not come to realize a certain project, he did not primarily bring us a system of values, but He came personally. All that we have listed are only the results and more or less significant consequences of His arrival, the arrival that establishes a concrete relationship with us people - the Holy Patriarch preached during the Holy Bishop's Liturgy.

The magnificence of today's liturgical gathering was also contributed by the singing of the Russian Orthodox Male Choir from Sydney (Australia). Archpriests Nenad Jovanović and Dragan Šovljanski served His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch at the Liturgy; priests Dalibor Stojadinović, Borislav Petrić, Dimitris Kasapis, Branislav Klicković and Miroslav Vasić, protodeacon Dragan Radić and deacon Siniša Duvnjak.

The liturgy was attended by children from the Mladost Tennis Club from Mačvanski Prnjavor, as well as participants from the Mirijevo Chess Club, who were invited to be guests of His Holiness in the organization of the Office for Youth of the Serbian Orthodox Church. After the Liturgy in the Parish House of the Church of St. Sava, Patriarch Porfirije received the guests, spoke with the young athletes and presented them with gifts as an incentive for further sporting success.

The tennis club Mladost from Prnjavor is currently outstanding not only in this area but also in Serbia. On the initiative of the current president of TK Mladost, Mr. In the spring of 2019, Dejan Vasić's long-conceived idea of ​​founding a club in Mačvanski Prnjavor was realized. Soon, an unorganized area near the kindergarten was converted into a tennis court. The crown of this whole sports story was the founding of the Mladost Tennis Club on April 26, 2019. 46 students aged 5 to 14 train in the club. The tennis club from Prnjavor is unique in that it has the first court with a natural grass surface, which is also the only court of this type in Serbia. The club cherishes other important values, such as education, culture, tradition, religion and history of our country. For the members of the club, various educations, gatherings, outings in nature and overall nurturing of a positive and friendly atmosphere are organized. The club bears witness to Orthodoxy and truly works every day on the path of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before each visit, the club gathers at the Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah in Prnjavor, where prayers for the journey and health are read to the children. In the five years of its existence, the club has won hundreds of medals and trophies. Tennis players from Prnjavor were also hosted by the famous Novak Djokovic.

Mirijevo Chess Club has been successfully operating since 1988. The men's team competes in the highest level, the Premier League, and from 2023, a women's team was formed, which is the pride of this club. It consists of 11 players, and the team itself is among the youngest in Serbia by average age, because the basis of the team is made up of school-age girls. The biggest success of this year was winning the Belgrade Cup, and member of SK Mirijevo Vera Vujović became European champion in the under-12 age group. The club has been headed by priest Borislav Petrić from the Church of St. Elijah in Mirijevo for ten years.

Source: SPC

Sermon by Patriarch Porfirio - TV Hram Beseda Patrijarha Porfirija – TV Hram