For decades, the Orthodox Faculty of Theology at the University of Belgrade has been cherishing the prayerful memory of the professors and students of this famous church-educational school, who left a deep mark on the Church with their lives, spiritual feats and theological efforts. Their zeal in faith and science was recognized, and the Lord abundantly rewarded their deeds.

The celebration of the Saints whom they taught and who were taught at the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade began with a solemn vigil served in the chapel of St. John the Theologian by His Grace Bishop Hilarion of Novo Brdo, Vicar of the Serbian Patriarch. On the day of the feast itself, February 6, 2025, the Holy Liturgy was presided over by His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, with the concelebration of the Most Reverend Bishops Hesychius of Valjevo and Hilarion of Novo Brdo, Archpriest Prof. Dr. Zoran Ranković, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, and several clergy, former and current students of that famous theological school. After the reading of the Holy Gospel, Bishop Hilarion gave a sermon, and at the end of the service, the slava gifts were blessed. On that occasion, His Holiness the Patriarch Porfirije emphasized:

– May God grant that the prayers of those who studied here and who studied, and God glorified them as His saints and witnesses of His truth, be with us. We pray to them to follow their paths, and at the same time to imitate them, knowing that the goal of our existence is to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, that theology is not just one of the sciences or an art among other arts, but rather theology is the science above all sciences, the art above all arts, and that theology implies both mind, thought, word, and deed. Theology implies that only when we pray truly and in the right way, which means in humility and in repentance, can our word be theological. Only then are we theologians. We are theologians precisely because, on the other hand, we direct our prayers to the Lord and ask Him to transform us with His presence and His grace, precisely according to the word that fully expresses the tradition of our Church when it comes to Christian life, which is: If you want to be a true theologian, then pray truly and in the right way, and if you pray truly and in the first way, then you are a true theologian. May the Lord grant that we may imitate the saints whom we celebrate today, who were also taught at this school, and later became teachers at this school, because they became theologians with their entire lives after the model of the First and Only Theologian in His essence, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, but as a man reveals to us the full truth about God and at the same time the full truth about man. May it be a happy and blessed holiday and may the prayers of the saints who studied and have studied here and of all the saints be with us and may we together with them celebrate the One in the Trinity of God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Happy slava!

Source: Serbian Orthodox Church