His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije served on 4 May 2024, on the Great Saturday, the Holy Liturgy at the Cathedral Church of Saint Archangel Michael in Belgrade.

– Fear of complete and absolute solitude and darkness, of disappearance, fear of death is what the angel calls upon the myrrh-bearing women, the apostles, and all of us to leave aside, for behold, He is not in the tomb, the Lord has risen! And the Angel sent the myrrh-bearing women to testify to this to the apostles and to the whole world – His Holiness the Patriarch emphasized in the sermon on today's Gospel chapter.

His Holiness instructed the gathered faithful that the descent of Christ into Hades our Holy Church calls the First Resurrection, because where He is, there is no death, there is life. The Lord descended into Hades to break the bonds of death, to announce and herald the complete and absolute eternal resurrection of each of us. – We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who rose from the dead. And not only do we believe, but we also long for and have a need for life, we have a need to forever be one with others, with our parents who have gone before us, with ancestors and all forebears, with everyone beside us. This is nothing strange or unusual, it is not unnatural, on the contrary, it is the true goal and it is the only natural thing – concluded Patriarch Porfirije.

You can read the Patriarch Porfirije's entire sermon in Serbian HERE.

With the prayerful participation of His Grace retired Bishop kyr Filaret, His Holiness the Patriarch was concelebrated by: His Grace Bishop of Jegar kyr Nektarije; Archimandrite Danilo, Hegumen of the Dajbabe Monastery in Podgorica; Protopresbyters-Stavrophors Branko Topalović and Petar Lukić; Protopresbyter Slaviša Popović; priests Arsen Milovanović and Goran Nuhanović; Protodeacons Dragan Radić, Radomir Vrućinić, and Damjan Božić; deacons Nikolaj Vuković and Lazar Simić.