Speech of His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Mr. Porfiria at the ordination of the Bishop of Diocletian Mr. Paisija on September 22, 2024 in the temple of Saint Sava in Vračar

Brothers and sisters, venerable fathers, monks and nuns, brothers and sisters, as Metropolitan Joanikije said in his letter after the reading of the Holy Gospel, we participated in a Holy Spirit event, in the event of the Holy Spirit that descended on all of us, but and on the newly ordained bishop Paisius. The bishop was appointed in the Church to be in the place of Christ, but also to perform the service of the holy apostles, and this service is exclusively related to the Church. As an apostle, dear Bishop, you also received a command or, rather, an obedience from the Lord himself to go and preach the Gospel of Christ, baptizing all nations and all people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

However, since the Church of Christ has no boundaries either in time or space, because She is Christ Himself, as St. John Chrysostom says, and as St. Abba Justin repeated many times in the same spirit, that the Church is the prolonged Christ for ever and ever, and the apostle Paul says of Christ that He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow forever and ever, speaking in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Therefore, the service of the bishop is related to the Church, and the Church has no boundaries in time and space. However, in the Church everything is arranged according to order and order to be good, again according to the words of the Gospel, and that is the paradox of the Church and life in the Church. In Her there is absolute and complete freedom, freedom in Christ, freedom from sin, death and the devil, but on the other hand, from the outside, it could be said that life in the Church is at the same time a deprivation of freedom. It looks like that, but actually it is not deprivation of freedom, but obedience to the Church, and that obedience implies crucifying oneself and one's will, renouncing oneself and one's will through identification with the will of Christ, and that is nothing but true and real freedom. According to that order and order, our Parliament, together with the Holy Spirit, found it appropriate for you to be a vicar bishop, an auxiliary bishop to the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral. This means that everything that is the service of Christ and the apostolic service will take place according to the order of the Church and the Providence of God in the Eparchy of Montenegro and the Littoral, in that area, in the land of St. of many known and unknown saints of God, in Montenegro, which we all truly and deeply love and see as an organic part of our local Church. There you will perform the service of Christ and the service of the apostles by baptizing, bringing everyone to Christ and the Church of Christ, first of all the children of Saint Sava, first of all the Serbian saints, and then all other people who long for truth, justice and beauty, for fullness, for salvation, because in the Church To Christ there are no Greeks and Jews, as the apostle Paul says, but we are all one in Him.

May the Lord give you His blessing on this day, which was brought to you by the grace of the Holy Spirit, throughout all the days of your life. Therefore, in the name of the Council, we say: Take this scepter to feed the flock of Christ entrusted to you! Let it be a support and strengthening for the obedient, and guide the disobedient and disobedient with chastisement and gentle education, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Worthy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67wQPIFCH1g

Source: SPC