Serbian Patriarchate Announces New Canonizations
Serbian Council of Bishops canonizes six new saints, three groups of holy martyrs
Belgrade—At this year’s regular session of the Holy Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, held in the Temple of St. Sava in Belgrade from May 13 – 17 and presided by His Holiness Porfirije, Patriach of Serbia, six individuals were canonized along with three groups of holy martyrs.
According to a release from the Council, the following persons were added to the list of the Church’s saints:
Bishop Nikodim (Milas) of Dalmatia, to be commemorated October 4/September 21.
Archpriest Kiril (Cvjetkovic), confessor of Bezdin and Dalmatia-Boka, to be commemorated October 12/September 29.
Fr. Mihailo Barbic, parish priest of Krtoli, to be commemorated January 22/January 9.
Fr. Ilja Rodic, to be commemorated May 9/April 26.
Monk-martyr Jovan of Stjenica, to be commemorated August 10/July 28.
Blessed Ana, mother of St. Basil of Ostrog, to be commemorated May 13/April 30.
Martyrs of Reskovac, who suffered at the hands of the Turks in 1688, to be commemorated May 4/April 21.
Martyrs of Rmanj, to be commemorated September 10/August 28.
Martyrs of Garavice and Bihac-Petrovac, to be commemorated July 27/July 14.
The date of commemoration for the children martyrs of Jastrebarsko and Sisak was also changed from August 26/August 13 to July 13/June 30.
The release from the Council also noted that this year’s session took place in “an atmosphere of commemoration of two great anniversaries – 1700 years since the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea and 850 years since the birth of St. Sava, the first Serbian Archbishop and Enlightener.”
The Church plans to celebrate both anniversaries with liturgical gatherings. In his welcoming address, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije stated, “This holy gathering of bishops stands as a living icon of our common conciliar experience and our unity – each of us deeply feels that he is not an isolated jurisdictional authority over the diocese entrusted to him, but an organic member of the same Body of Christ, a branch of the same heavenly Vine, a humble servant of the same House of God. We do not meet, therefore, only to discuss administrative issues of church life, but primarily for the sake of a common spiritual reflection on the life of the Church of Christ in our historical time and space.”
The Council again reminded relevant international institutions of the suffering of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, Syria, Palestine and more locally in Kosovo and Metohija. The Council addressed the spiritual consequences of these conflicts and appealed to all who have the power to prevent further bloodshed, hatred, intolerance, injustice and lawlessness.
The Council also established a new decoration—the Order of St. Prince Lazar—which will be awarded to members of the Church for general merit.
For all of the actions taken by the Council, the full release can be found here.
