News and Events - February 2015

NEWS AND EVENTS - Monday, February 16, 2016

MEETING OF THE LORD CELEBRATED AT MONASTERY IN MILTON

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Milton, Ontario - Serbian Statehood Day was solemnly celebrated on Sunday, February 15, 2015, on the Meeting of the Lord, at the Monastery in Milton, Ontario with the Divine Liturgy followed by an Academia in the monastery library. 

Protosingel Fr. Vasilije (Gavrilovic) celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the filled church. The Diocesan choir "Kyr Stefan the Serb" from Toronto, under the direction of Jasmina Vucurovic, enhanced the beauty of the service.

The choir opened the program dedicated to the Meetingo of the Lord - Sretenje as Serbian Statehood Day. Introductory remarks were given by the Diocesan Secretary Dr. Davor Milicevic who also introduced the guests of the Academia: keynote speaker Radovan Gajic and actors Ana and Dimitrije Porobic. Selections of peotic echoes of Serbian poets from the selection of legal documents by Ana and Dimitrije - from the Typicon of Studenitsa and Chilandar of St. Sava, then Tsar Dushan's Code, until the Candlemas Constitution (Sretenskog Ustava), were heard of this part of Serbian history - which was then illustrated in Gajic's inspirational and original vision of the history of Serbia's statehood. From the letters of the titled "The Meeting of the Lord - Srbinovo ponesenje", which St. Sava and Holy Scripture established as the two foundations of Serbian statehood, we highlight this conclusion:

"The state is an earthly kingdom and only has meaning if it can address God without disturbance and without ridicule; if it can freely exist with God, in faith in God without fear or uncertaintity for the next day. Therefore, if from this earthly, physical existence it is possible to always be in unobstructed connection with the heavenly, the timeless, eternal Kingdom of God. Only then does any sort of social-political determination, dinstictiveness, legality have any meaning - whether it be adopted, agreed upon or commanded through the enligtenment of the despot .... it doesn't matter. The Nemanjic's knew this, the mighty Tsar knew this, and those gathered at Maricevic's gully in Orasac also knew this. For, in this manner, the two documents of Serbian statehood - St. Sava and Holy Scripture - indestructibly exist. For Maricevic's gully was and will be, and we will never be without the crosses for Serbia, but as was once said by our young deacon, Martyr Deacon Avvakum, heading out in Belgrade on a stake in 1814: A Serb is Christ's and does not fear death.

This day is difficult, much of it we carry on our backs today, both that which is said and more of that unsaid: Yet, as many of the documents of Serbian existence and statehood which are destroyed, as well as with every honorable and suffering death, whenever a Serb attempted to establish the Cadlemas Serbia, it is for the glory of the Serb or Serbia; we don't do that today either; we Serbs - then and now - only give glory to the One Lord.

All glory only to God.

Serbian Orthodox Church
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