At the invitation of the leadership of the Beograd Student Center, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Mr. Porfirje delivered a lecture on March 5, 2024, in front of several hundred academics who, eager for words of love and fatherly guidance, filled the small hall of the Karaburma Student Hostel to the last seat and accompanied the presentation of their First Hierarch with great attention.
The students, who spend the most beautiful days of their youth in one of the most important student institutions of our country, welcomed the Serbian Patriarch in a homely, traditional way, in beautiful Serbian folk costume, with bread and salt, even though they were away from their homes and families. The Primate of our Holy Church responded to the love and efforts of the students with an instructive lecture on faith, a lesson in love, and a common meal in the student dining hall.
On this occasion, His Holiness the Patriarch expressed great joy that he was able to spend the evening with the dear students and noted that in our Holy Church, but also in him personally, the students will always find the necessary support in all important and virtuous endeavors. .
- The essence of our nation is the Orthodox Faith and the Orthodox Church," Patriarch Porphyrios emphasized, and then explained that our nation throughout history, despite all the trials, has always remained so, as it is. - Suffice it to recall five centuries of slavery under the rule of the Turks, without a state, without political tribunes and leaders. We not only survived, but also creatively proved ourselves in such circumstances, creating remarkable cultural and spiritual monuments, which today are values recognized by many others. Let's look at the Orthodox churches in Rijeka, Sentandrej, Djeru, Jegre.... These are pearls of spirituality and culture, and all these churches were built before the Cathedral Church in Belgrade was built," Patriarch Porphyrios explained and emphasized: - The Gospel of Christ creates an ethos, one mentality, one nature of our existence. It is a way of imitating Christ Himself. The question is not whether a person believes, the question is what he believes. When Christ lives in me, then death does not exist!
His Holiness pointed out to the students the dangers of the modern era: "When we talk about the so-called neoliberal system, post-truth, it hides its principles under the cover of human rights and freedoms, and in fact it is true. I do not mean the other , but the pyramid at the top of which I am . Only what I want is right, and since man is a relative being, what we want is also relative and impermanent, everything else is in constant transition and change. The point is that freedom is manifested there, like in a supermarket, so of course it creates confusion with values, with principles, and in the end each individual gets confused, because then there is no community.
At the end of his important and heartening lecture, Patriarch Porphyry concluded: "To put on Christ means to see what is written in the Gospel, it means to know that the beginnings of the Gospel correspond to our nature, that this is what we should be, and that the various manifestations of our freedom are an expression of impermanence, uncertainty, frustration and passion.
- Do what your heart desires, but first see what kind of heart you have," His Holiness concluded.
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