CELEBRATION OF 800 YEARS OF THE AUTOCEPHALOUSSERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN OTTAWA

On the occasion of 800 years of the autocephalous status of the Serbian Orthodox Church, a commemorative ceremony was held in Ottawa on November 23, 2019, where members of the church, believers and guests celebrated this significant anniversary with a ceremonial academy and exhibition. The Serbian Centre, organized by the Board of Directors of the Church-School Municipality of St. Stefan, hosted this celebration.

SAN Magazine reporters from Toronto and London were guests of this beautiful event. Our kind hosts were also Mr. Krste Mitrić, his wife Jelena, a member of the church choir, and their son, a participant in the recital.

We visited the exhibition in the gallery of the Serbian Centre, which is of a historical and documentary character. The organizers of the exhibition were valuable workers, Mrs. Živana Kostićas well as her husband,Nikola. The photographs and paintings revived the centuries-old history of the Serbian church as well as the history of the Serbian immigrant community in the Canadian capital.

The church choir, under the conducting baton of Elias Dubelstein, inspired a series of spiritual songs, along with songs by the Serbian composer [Stevan] Mokranjac. The stage recital "Poetic Pilgrimage to Saint Sava" was performed by members of the theatre group "Miloš Crnjanski" under the direction of Mr. Dragomir Vukosavljević. This theatre group has existed for twenty years and during that time has performed numerous theatre performances by Serbian authors and many other shows.

In a speech appropriately entitled, “Following the Path of the Holy Traveller”, Mr. Dragomir Vukosavljević Vuk said, among other things:

From that, in the Serbian history of the crucial year 1219, and everything, behold, to this day in 2019, we, the spiritual descendants of Saint Sava, blessed with the spiritual sight of Saint Sava, save ourselves from being sunk into the darkness of history, into the darkness imposed on us by others and into the ungodly abyss.

Returning from Nicaea to Žiča, all enchanted by the grace of God, words from the great grammar of the Patriarch Manuel flashed in the mind of Archbishop Sava: "I, Manuel, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the city of Constantinople, New Rome, on behalf of our Lord Jesus Christ, consecrated Sava, archbishop of all Serbian and coastal countries, and gave him, in the name of God, the power to consecrate bishops, priests and deacons in his territory, to bind and forgive the sins of men and to teach and baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In doing so, all of you Orthodox Christians, listen to him as you have listened to me."

Let these last words from the grammar of the Ecumenical Patriarch of 1219 be a message to all of us assembled here as well as to all Serbs throughout the Universe.

Leaving Ottawa, the sense of belonging to the same cultural and ethnic community also exuded pride, because wherever they are, Serbs do not forget their culture, tradition, language and orthodoxy; values that last forever. A big thank you to the hosts, who were kind, accommodating, and who heartily sent greetings to our readers in other parts of Canada and America.