On the feast day of the Birth of St. John the Baptist, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of Saint Sava in Vračar. The service drew a large congregation, including children from the Mladost Tennis Club from Mačvanski Prnjavor and participants from the Mirijevo Chess Club.
The event was organized by the Office for Cooperation with the Youth of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Young chess players and tennis players enjoyed a meal of love and a pleasant gathering in the Parish House of the Church of Saint Sava. Patriarch Porfirije welcomed the guests, engaging them in conversation, offering his blessing, and presenting them with gifts to encourage their future success in sports.
“The Christian faith is not an idea, nor an ideology,” Patriarch Porfirije proclaimed during the Divine Liturgy. “Christianity is the Church. It signifies a community that involves an inseparable relationship and communion of man with God—not an abstract God, but the concrete God who revealed Himself to us in the person of His Son. Thus, Christianity is a community—the Church.”
Patriarch Porfirije further explained that Christ did not come into the world to bring an idea, a theological concept, or even primarily a system of values. Rather, He came to establish a concrete relationship with humanity.
Speaking about the significance of the day, Patriarch Porfirije noted, “Today we celebrate Midsummer Day, the Birth of St. John the Baptist. The Lord appeared through the Archangel Gabriel to the parents of St. John the Baptist, who longed for the Savior, the Messiah, with their whole being. Though it was biologically impossible for them to see the secret of the Messiah, the Lord used them to reveal it, not only to them but also to us. God’s presence and appearance gave us John the Baptist, the one who prepared the way for the coming of the Savior and Messiah, Jesus Christ.”
