Belgrade, April 8, 2015
On April 10, 2015, an official delegation of the Serbian Orthodox Church headed by Bishop Jovan of Slavonia will depart for Jerusalem to bring the Holy Fire to Serbia.
The Serbian delegation will participate together with a delegation from Russia in the prayer before the descent of Holy Fire.
According to a tradition of many years, the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation will organize festivities on the day before Pascha in Jerusalem for the Russian delegation, and this year also for the Serbian delegation.
Then a special flight will deliver the Holy Fire to Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport, where it will most likely be met by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.
From the airport by motorcade Holy Fire will be transported to the main church of Belgrade – St. Sava’s Cathedral – where at midnight the Patriarch of Serbia will distribute it among the faithful and begin the Easter Divine Liturgy.
According to a letter of Patriarch Irinej of Serbia addressed to all the dioceses and faithful members of the Serbian Church as well as the Russian party, “the forthcoming event is arranged with our blessing and has a full support of three Patriarchates (the ancient Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the sister Russian Patriarchate and our Serbian Patriarchate); however it would have been impossible without the selfless participation of numerous pious people from both Serbia and Russia, whose charity and labors deserve every reward”.
“The miracle of descent of Holy Fire and its transportation from the Church of Holy Sepulcher to all the corners of the Orthodox world is highly symbolic: this Holy Fire for us is a tangible expression of the Resurrection of Christ, which renews and revives the whole Universe. Our fraternal Serbian nation is a part of this Universe as well; and this year for the first time Serbia will be illuminated by the Paschal Light of Jerusalem. And I believe its flame, as never before, will show the Serbian people that truly the Light comes from the East – the Light of genuine life, moral purity and spirituality,” noted Constantine Malofeyev, founder of the St. Basil the Great Charitable Foundation, commenting on the forthcoming event.
The Ruski Ekspres Belgrade-based media-center is in charge of the coordination of efforts of all the participants and organizers of this event.
The Holy Fire is also to be transported to the territory of Kosovo and Metohija – to the Gracanica Monastery. In addition to this, the flame will be brought to Montenegro, Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Croatia.
According to reports by Ruski Ekspres, the ceremony in Serbia will be broadcast by RTS Television channel. At the same time, Tsargrad TV in Russia will show the ceremony live.
The very moment of delivery of Holy Light at St. Sava’s Cathedral in Belgrade will be shown by federal Russian TV channels as part of the direct transmission of the Paschal Divine Liturgy from the Patriarchal Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
