Serbian Patriarch Porfirije conducted the rite of consecration of the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Maribor
His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije presided on 5 October 2025, over the solemn rite of the great consecration of the Church of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius in Maribor, followed by the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated House of God.
At the festive service, together with the numerous faithful from Maribor and the surrounding areas, His Holiness was concelebrated by the hierarchs: His Eminence Ilarion – Metropolitan of Timok; His Eminence Arsenije – Metropolitan of Niš; His Grace Jovan – Bishop of Pakrac and Slavonia; His Grace Sergije – Bishop of Bihać-Petrovac; His Grace Kirilo – Bishop of Buenos Aires, South and Central America and Administrator of the Diocese of Zagreb–Ljubljana; and His Grace Nikon – Vicar Bishop of Jenopolje.
At the beginning of his sermon, delivered after the reading of the Gospel passage, His Holiness the Patriarch expressed his joy over the consecration of the new Maribor church and repeated before several hundred faithful the teaching about love for the Lord and love for one’s neighbor and every human being.
– We are gathered in great grace and joy because we have consecrated this house of prayer, a house of assembly for those who believe in the word of Christ, a house where people encounter Him, the one God and our Savior, but also encounter one another. We have consecrated a house where we learn faith and the word of Christ, learning that His word should be the beginning and end, the foundation and source of our life. In this church, we learn the commandments of God and decide that those commandments shape our lives, that the truth of God becomes our own truth, which declares that God created the world and humankind so that all may be brothers and that love should be the meaning of life.
At the festive service, together with the numerous faithful from Maribor and the surrounding areas, His Holiness was concelebrated by the hierarchs: His Eminence Ilarion – Metropolitan of Timok; His Eminence Arsenije – Metropolitan of Niš; His Grace Jovan – Bishop of Pakrac and Slavonia; His Grace Sergije – Bishop of Bihać-Petrovac; His Grace Kirilo – Bishop of Buenos Aires, South and Central America and Administrator of the Diocese of Zagreb–Ljubljana; and His Grace Nikon – Vicar Bishop of Jenopolje.
At the beginning of his sermon, delivered after the reading of the Gospel passage, His Holiness the Patriarch expressed his joy over the consecration of the new Maribor church and repeated before several hundred faithful the teaching about love for the Lord and love for one’s neighbor and every human being.
– We are gathered in great grace and joy because we have consecrated this house of prayer, a house of assembly for those who believe in the word of Christ, a house where people encounter Him, the one God and our Savior, but also encounter one another. We have consecrated a house where we learn faith and the word of Christ, learning that His word should be the beginning and end, the foundation and source of our life. In this church, we learn the commandments of God and decide that those commandments shape our lives, that the truth of God becomes our own truth, which declares that God created the world and humankind so that all may be brothers and that love should be the meaning of life.