On 27 January 2023, on the feast day of Saint Sava, the first Serbian Archbishop – Saint Sava’s Day, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije served the Holy Liturgy at the Serbian Club in New York.

His Grace Bishop of Canada kyr Mitrofan, Protopresbyters-Stavrophores Velibor Džomić and Živojin Jakovljević, Archpriest Milan Dragović, as well as Protodeacon Dragan Radić concelebrated with His Holiness, with the prayerful participation of the faithful. On that occasion, His Holiness kyr Porfirije held a sermon:

– We are rejoicing today because our entire Serbian people are rejoicing wherever they live. All the way from Vancouver to New Zealand, numerous churches have been built in honor of Saint Sava. Saint Sava is celebrated today on every continent, first of all by his spiritual descendants, his children who were born in Saint Sava’s cradle, but he is also celebrated by all the Orthodox people because Saint Sava is a saint of God.

We, Orthodox Christians, glorify the saints because by glorifying them we glorify the living God, and by glorifying God we confess our true and real designation. We show the world who we are and what we are, where we spring from, and what our goal is. All Orthodox Serbs are rejoicing today, but the heavens are also rejoicing together with the Church that is at war on the earth because the Church is a heavenly-earthly organism, where there are no dead, and no those who have disappeared. Whoever was baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity and entered into the mystery of the Church, he entered into the mystery of eternity, into the mystery of eternity which has its beginning here and now, and its ending is infinity. Its ending is the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, the heavens are celebrating with us today, because one of those who are the inhabitants of the heavens and yet also one of those who are part of us is being celebrated, and that is the one who is ours, moreover, who gave birth to all of us Orthodox Serbs.

We all know Saint Sava well, we know everything about him: that he was a great diplomat, that he was of imperial descent, and that he was a builder. We know that he took care of the external organization of his people, but he also took care of the spiritual condition and spiritual health of his people. All that is good in our nation – is so due to Saint Sava. That is why our people have seen the seal of Saint Sava everywhere they may be, and in everything they are. Wherever they may have walked, they saw Sava’s peaks, Sava’s springs… Our people saw Saint Sava in everything. Hence, wherever we are, we could say that the name of Saint Sava contains our name and surname. We are everything that Saint Sava is. We wish and want to follow his footsteps, and his ways because he was above all a man of Christ. He reconciled people who were quarreling, reconciling also his brothers. He taught them forgiveness and love. He taught them to fight against grudging. It is important, brothers and sisters, that we know this in America, and in New York as well. Stubbornness is fruitless! The same goes for vanity and pride, self-love and persistence in the conviction that we are the only right ones!

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Tomorrow, 28 January 2023, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije will serve the Holy Liturgy also at the Serbian Club in New York (7254 65th Place, Glendale, New York), which is to begin at 9:00 a.m. After the divine service, at 11:30 a.m., the Saint Sava’s Day Ceremony will follow, where the Patriarch will offer Saint Sava’s Day presents to the children.