Patriarch Porfirije: The Church does not exist to adapt to every current spirit of the times
On 9 August 2025, the feast of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije presided over at the Divine Liturgy in the church built in honor of this wondrous saint of God in Mirijevo.
Delivering sermon to the pious people gathered in the church, whose foundations were laid in 2002 with the placement of specially prepared granite brought from Hilandar Monastery, His Holiness said:
– Glory to the Great Martyr Panteleimon, the saint of God! Glory to God, in Whose honor we are raising this church, this place where we gather together, all of us who believe in One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and in His Father and the Holy Spirit. We gather so that, standing before the face of God, we may become one with Him in the Holy Mystery of Communion, and also so that among ourselves we may become one body and one organism. We gather to pray to Him, our Lord, for our salvation, for the salvation of our neighbors, to pray for peace, as we say at the very beginning of the Holy Liturgy, for the salvation of the entire world, and also for our peace, for peace within us, and for peace among us.
Reminding that, because we know that everything good and virtuous is a gift from God and comes from Him, we likewise know that everything that is His and comes from Him is perfect, the Patriarch emphasized:
– God is absolute perfection, beyond any perfection or goodness conceivable to us. Nothing can be added to Him, nor, on the other hand, can anything be taken away from Him. We can only be made worthy to, by His grace and love, have something of His truth opened to us in our hearts and souls when we walk the path of humility and spiritual struggle. Nothing can be added to or taken away from His Church.
– Therefore, we see how wrong – sometimes even malicious – are the notions that the Gospel should be modernized, that the Church should be modernized, that the word of Christ should be updated, as if the Church lacks anything, as if His Gospel lacks anything, as if there were something concerning salvation and eternity missing from the Church, or, conversely, as if there were something superfluous that should be removed – His Holiness stressed and reminded:
– In all times there have been those who believed that the Church should be aligned with the spirit of the age, which means conforming the Church to their own mold and measure, fitting into their own limits that which is limitless, and that which exists precisely to lead each of us individually, as well as the whole world, into the mystery of life beyond time and space – that is, into the mystery of eternity, which means into the mystery of unbreakable communion with God.
– The Church is eternal because the Lord, as her Head, is eternal. He is beyond time and space. The Church does not exist to adapt to every current spirit of the times, but to transform the spirit of the times, to embrace and permeate it, and to call and lead all into transformation. In that sense, there is no one who can be above the Church, or to her left, or to her right, or beneath her. In each of these cases, the one who places himself above the Church is in fact to the left, to the right, beneath, and outside the Church, and can add nothing to her, nor take anything away from her – concluded His Holiness the Patriarch, who was concelebrated at the Divine Liturgy by His Grace Bishop of Moravica kyr Tihon, together with the brotherhood of the Mirijevo Church of Saint Panteleimon.
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The chronicle of the Church of Saint Panteleimon in Mirijevo records that the foundations of the new church were consecrated by Serbian Patriarch Pavle on 9 July 2005. In June 2006, on the feast of Saints Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena, Patriarch Pavle celebrated the first Divine Liturgy there and consecrated the crosses. The bells of the church were consecrated by late Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije after the Divine Liturgy served on the church’s patronal feast day in 2007. Regular liturgical life in the church began with the Divine Liturgy served by Protopresbyter Miodrag Bašović on the feast of Saint Paraskeva in 2007.
Delivering sermon to the pious people gathered in the church, whose foundations were laid in 2002 with the placement of specially prepared granite brought from Hilandar Monastery, His Holiness said:
– Glory to the Great Martyr Panteleimon, the saint of God! Glory to God, in Whose honor we are raising this church, this place where we gather together, all of us who believe in One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and in His Father and the Holy Spirit. We gather so that, standing before the face of God, we may become one with Him in the Holy Mystery of Communion, and also so that among ourselves we may become one body and one organism. We gather to pray to Him, our Lord, for our salvation, for the salvation of our neighbors, to pray for peace, as we say at the very beginning of the Holy Liturgy, for the salvation of the entire world, and also for our peace, for peace within us, and for peace among us.
Reminding that, because we know that everything good and virtuous is a gift from God and comes from Him, we likewise know that everything that is His and comes from Him is perfect, the Patriarch emphasized:
– God is absolute perfection, beyond any perfection or goodness conceivable to us. Nothing can be added to Him, nor, on the other hand, can anything be taken away from Him. We can only be made worthy to, by His grace and love, have something of His truth opened to us in our hearts and souls when we walk the path of humility and spiritual struggle. Nothing can be added to or taken away from His Church.
– Therefore, we see how wrong – sometimes even malicious – are the notions that the Gospel should be modernized, that the Church should be modernized, that the word of Christ should be updated, as if the Church lacks anything, as if His Gospel lacks anything, as if there were something concerning salvation and eternity missing from the Church, or, conversely, as if there were something superfluous that should be removed – His Holiness stressed and reminded:
– In all times there have been those who believed that the Church should be aligned with the spirit of the age, which means conforming the Church to their own mold and measure, fitting into their own limits that which is limitless, and that which exists precisely to lead each of us individually, as well as the whole world, into the mystery of life beyond time and space – that is, into the mystery of eternity, which means into the mystery of unbreakable communion with God.
– The Church is eternal because the Lord, as her Head, is eternal. He is beyond time and space. The Church does not exist to adapt to every current spirit of the times, but to transform the spirit of the times, to embrace and permeate it, and to call and lead all into transformation. In that sense, there is no one who can be above the Church, or to her left, or to her right, or beneath her. In each of these cases, the one who places himself above the Church is in fact to the left, to the right, beneath, and outside the Church, and can add nothing to her, nor take anything away from her – concluded His Holiness the Patriarch, who was concelebrated at the Divine Liturgy by His Grace Bishop of Moravica kyr Tihon, together with the brotherhood of the Mirijevo Church of Saint Panteleimon.
***
The chronicle of the Church of Saint Panteleimon in Mirijevo records that the foundations of the new church were consecrated by Serbian Patriarch Pavle on 9 July 2005. In June 2006, on the feast of Saints Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena, Patriarch Pavle celebrated the first Divine Liturgy there and consecrated the crosses. The bells of the church were consecrated by late Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije after the Divine Liturgy served on the church’s patronal feast day in 2007. Regular liturgical life in the church began with the Divine Liturgy served by Protopresbyter Miodrag Bašović on the feast of Saint Paraskeva in 2007.