PATRIARCH CONSECRATES CHURCH IN DRAŽANJ

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 4 /SRNA/ - His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije consecrated today the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in Dražanj, in the Belgrade municipality of Grocka, and stressed that, with God's help, anything can be achieved.

"The church is a place where we gather to meet God, to pray to Him, where we establish and build a community with God, and by struggling with our selfishness, egoism and self-love, we also build a community among ourselves, because that is the Church," the Patriarch said. The Patriarch noted that wherever the Serb people go and settle, they strive to build a church, as is the case in America, Europe and every place where there is a Serbian diaspora, according to the website of the Serbian Orthodox Church /SOC/. "That was also the case throughout history, when our people, under the force of powerful rulers, were forced to leave their homes and ancestral houses and move from one part of the country to another," the Patriarch said.