07.01.2020.
Members of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces Welcomed Christmas Day in the Saint Sava Church
Precisely at midnight, Christmas, the most joyous Christian holiday, was welcomed with the Divine episcopal liturgy served in the crypt of the Saint Sava Church in Vračar by Bishop Stefan of Remesiana, Vicar of Serbian Patriarch Irinej and Archpriest of the Saint Sava Church.
The divine service in the largest Serbian church was attended by Secretary General of the President of the Republic of Serbia Nikola Selaković and Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin, while numerous believers welcomed the holiday at the plateau in front of the Church.
On the occasion of the great Christian holiday, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej sent a Christmas message which reads that “the main message of this year’s Christmas should be that the Orthodox faith should be preserved at any cost” and that “the practitioners, no matter how deserving they are, should be reminded that nothing is done without accord and unity with all others, and that nothing can be done by force”, so that, as he says “the image of the Infant-Christ that lies in us would not be desecrated”.
The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church said to the believers “everywhere in the world that the rule applies to heal oneself and others in a mild, truthful and holy-fatherly way” and reminds in his Christmas message that “we must never forget our Old Serbia - Kosovo and Metohija” since we should treat that holy ground as to Serbian votive thought, word and heritage - inseparable from our people’s being”.
Moving toward Christmas, on the Christmas Day, members of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces attended traditional yule-log burning at the plateau in front of the Saint Sava Church, while cutting, consecration and burning of yule-log was organised in barracks all over Serbia.
Christmas is celebrated for three days, the first day being 7th January, when in the morning, before the sunrise, all church bells ring on all Orthodox churches announcing the arrival of Christmas celebration. Apart from the Serbian Orthodox Church, Christmas is celebrated by all churches that calculate time in accordance with the Julian calendar.
