On the occasion of the 31^st anniversary of the great suffering of thousands of Orthodox Serbs in the Middle Podrinje and Birač, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije will visit the faithful people in Bratunac – Diocese of Dabar-Bosnia, on Saturday, 1 July 2023.

The Church-People Assembly, titled Lest We Forget, will begin at 9 o’clock in front of the Bratunac church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, with a solemn welcome of the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Serbs. The Patriarch will then preside over the Holy Hierarchical Liturgy, with the concelebration of His Eminence Metropolitan of Dabar-Bosnia kyr Hrizostom, and several other Hierarchs from the homeland.

A procession will follow to the town cemetery and the military cemetery, where His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije will serve a memorial service for all the Serbs who have suffered death in the Middle Podrinje and Birač.

The region of Middle Podrinje and Birač is marked by the largest burial grounds of the Serbian people, who here reaffirmed the oath of Saint Prince Lazar that the earthly kingdom is transient, while the heavenly is eternal and everlasting. These words of Patriarch Porfirije best describe the heroism and suffering of the Serbs in Bratunac. The report published on the Bratunac Municipality’s website at the following link provides detailed information about the scale of suffering, plans and implementation of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Orthodox population in the municipalities of the Birač region, and the most brutal crimes for which no one has yet been held accountable before earthly courts:

https://www.opstinabratunac.com/media/bfopeakb/stradanje-srba-u-podrinju-i-bircu-duzi-narativ.pdf