The Feast of Holy Pentecost is celebrated each year on the fiftieth day after the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha (Easter) and ten days after the Feast of the Ascension of Christ. The Feast is always celebrated on a Sunday.

The Feast commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, a feast of the Jewish tradition. It also celebrates the establishment of the Church through the preaching of the Apostles and the baptism of the thousands who on that day believed in the Gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ. The Feast is also seen as the culmination of the revelation of the Holy Trinity.

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The Serbian Orthodox Church to her spiritual children at Pascha, 2021

PORFIRIJE

By the Grace of God

Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Paschal greeting:

Christ is Risen!

Come, on this auspicious day of the Resurrection, Let us partake of the new fruit of the vine of divine gladness and of the Kingdom of Christ, praising Him as God unto the ages.
(Paschal Canon, Ode eight, the first troparion)

With these words, dear brothers and sisters, glorifying the Resurrection of Christ, the Church calls and gathers us to the pious paschal joy, the joy which surpasses and exceeds all of our earthly celebrations. The pious joy which the Lord has prepared for us is the joy of eternal Life, the eternal victory of Good over evil and the conquering of demons. The most wonderful John Chrysostom exclaimed in the festal delight: “Let no one today be afraid of death, for the Savior’s death has made us free: it is extinguished by Him Whom it had held captive, Hades is despoiled by Him Who has descended into Hades, by receiving His Body Hades has been embittered.”

Dear brothers and sisters, dear priests and believers of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland; those of you who have recently arrived from the home land and those of you who were born here, parents and children and in particular the elderly in nursing homes and the ill in hospitals; those in mourning and those who are distressed or alone, scared and without hope, confused by events that surround us and in the world: to all of you I exclaim with joy, happy Festival of festivals!

CHRIST IS RISEN – HE IS RISEN INDEED!

In the events, suffering and resurrection of the Son of God the secret of life was revealed to us. The Lord God Jesus Christ, the source of life, filled with grace and love, carries our wordly nature and shows us that we are man created in his image, so that together with Him in his glorious festival we show ourselves, always renewed, like the defeaters of death and inhabitants of paradise.

Stevan Nemanja, the great ruler of the Serbian people, unifier of the Serbian lands, creator of an independent Serbian government, defender of Orthodoxy, driver-out of heresy, was first baptised in the Latin Church, but later became a member of the Orthodox Church. In its Organisation, it was at first dependent on Greece, but later shook off this dependence and became completely autonomous. When he had strengthened the state and the Orthodox Church within the state he then, following the example of his son Sava, received the monastic habit at the monastery of Studenica in 1195, being given the name Simeon. His wife Anna also received the monastic habit and the name Anastasia, and retired to a women"s monastery. After two years" monasticism at Studenica, Simeon went to the Holy Mountain. There he stayed at first in the monastery of Vatopedi, together with Sava. Father and son spent days and nights in prayer. They built there six chapels: to the Saviour, the Unmercenaries, St George, St Theodore, the Forerunner and St Nicolas. They bought the ruins of Hilandar and built a beautiful monastery, in which Simeon lived only eight months before his death. When he was at his last breath, Sava, according to his wish, placed him on a simple rush mat. With his eyes fixed on the icon of the Mother of God with the Saviour, the blessed elder pronounced these words: "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." And he went to the Lord, on February 13th, 1200.

source: www.crkvenikalendar.com

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ our Lord,

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (1Tim 3,16)

After this last year of many difficulties and tribulations, 2020, we will be warmed by the grace of the festival of Christ’s birth. We have arrived on foot and with prayer and fasting to Bethlehem’s cave, and with the shepherds and the wise men, enter and bow to the new born infant Christ our Lord.

The Serbian Orthodox Church to her spiritual children at Christmas, 2020

The Holy Hierarchical Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church

With all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Christmas greeting:

Peace from God! Christ is Born!

Christ is born, glorify Him!
Christ is come from Heaven, welcome Him!
Christ is on earth, be lifted up!
Sing unto the Lord all the earth!

With these words Saint Gregory the Theologian begins his Nativity sermon, and these same words we, sixteen centuries later, sing in our services. Sing to the Lord, all the earth, for the joy prophesied by the Old Testament prophets (Isaiah 2:2-3; 9, 6; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Ezekiel 34:23; Micah 5:2) and the righteous (Genesis 12:3; 18:15) has been fulfilled. The most difficult task of man’s life is to comprehend how that announced and then fulfilled joy is not like any earthly joy; rather it represents the very essence of life and our faith. Every earthly joy and celebration is limited by time and space, but the joy of Christmas is an event which lasts, giving meaning to all of our relationships and our whole life here and now. This joy has manifested itself, it has begun, it is already given to us according to Christ’s words: “Your joy no one will take from you.” (St. John 16:22)