On 10 August 2024, at the church of Saint Sava on Vračar, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije received over three hundred young and talented athletes, participants of the sports camp “Serbia Calls You.”

Welcoming dear guests from Kosovo and Metohija, as well as from the surrounding region and the diaspora, the Patriarch said: – May God’s blessing come upon all of you, your parents, your brothers and sisters, your friends, and your relatives. It is a great joy and blessing for us that you have come, as I hear, from seventeen countries around the world, and especially because you have come to the covenant church of the Serbian people, the church of Saint Sava, which, as you can see, is magnificent and probably one of the most beautiful churches in the world.

Emphasizing the importance of Saint Sava for the Serbian people, Patriarch Porfirije told the young athletes: – It is good to gather for prayer, to come to the church and pray to Saint Sava. Saint Sava is the one who once and for all directed our people on the path of truth, love, justice, and freedom. He guided us to follow Christ, and Christ is the God of love who grants us justice, freedom, and meaning. You are involved in sports, and you are probably also studying in various schools, and who knows what you will become in life. However, it is important to know that whatever you do and whatever you are involved in, everything should begin with prayer and end with prayer to God. This means that every task we undertake should be a prayer, should in some way be worship. When we set things up this way, we will do the best we can, and God will grant that the result, the fruit, and the outcome of what we do will always be to our joy and spiritual benefit, but also to our external material benefit. The life of each one of us becomes spiritual, in the strictest sense of the word, when we go to church, when we pray, light candles, and fast. However, spirituality is not only that; the entire life, everything we think, say, and do should be spiritual and becomes spiritual only when we place it within a spiritual framework when everything begins and ends with prayer, and when we do what we do to the glory of God, calling upon God to lead our efforts to the best possible result. And this, dear children, is evident in sports as well.

– You have probably heard the saying: A sound mind in a sound body. However, we often omit the first part of this saying when we say it, and probably you didn’t know the first part of the saying, which was said by a Roman poet named Juvenal. The saying goes: Pray that there may be a sound mind in a sound body. He wanted to say that we can never be completely and fundamentally spiritually healthy if there is no grace of God, the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of the Holy Spirit is where there is prayer – emphasized Patriarch Porfirije, concluding:

– I am glad that we have gathered here. I, as the Patriarch, am very happy to go wherever our people live. I have been to America, to many European countries, to the Republic of Srpska, everywhere in the region. I haven’t been to Australia, is there anyone from Australia here? There is, that is nice. In the autumn, I am supposed to go to Canada. So, wherever our people are, there is also our Church, and many churches are dedicated precisely to Saint Sava. Wherever I have come, everyone has welcomed us with great joy, and I have also been glad to see that our people, wherever they live, preserve our faith. It is important that wherever you live, you preserve your faith, but also that you are fully integrated into the life of that country and that people and do not feel any handicap. It is important to know that every person is the image of God, and we become true Christians when we love ourselves and our own when we know who we are and what we are, but in no way should we view those around us with distrust, hatred, or exclusivity. On the contrary! We should look at them with deep respect and have no problem with the fact that they know who they are and what they are and that they hold on to their own. However, for this to be so, it must be preceded by what we said: that we know well who we are and what we are, that we have no problem with that, that we are proud, and that having churches like this church of Saint Sava makes us part of the family of cultured and civilized nations. And how many holy places do we have!? From Dečani, Gračanica, the Patriarchate of Peć, Our Lady of Ljeviš, many magnificent holy places that are located on Kosovo, but also wherever our people have lived for centuries, and wherever they have gone, they have built their churches. You are welcome here! I believe you had and are having a great time and that when you return to your homes, you will speak with enthusiasm about the experience you had here, but most importantly, that you will come again, that you will return here, and that you will never forget who you are and what you are, knowing your roots, trusting in God, but also striving to be true and accomplished people. May the Lord keep you and grant you health, joy, and love, to you and all your loved ones. Many years!

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The “Sportstars” Sports Association, with the support of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Serbia, and the Directorate for the Diaspora of the Republic of Serbia, gathered 320 talented young athletes from Kosovo and Metohija, the region, and the diaspora from 1 to 11 August. They trained under the mentorship of top athletes such as Bogdan Obradović, Milan Gurović, Željko Tanasković, Nenad Peruničić, and others. The goal of the “Serbia Calls You” campaign is to develop sports among young people and to preserve Serbian tradition and identity.