Patriarch Porfirije Distributed Scholarships to Students from Kosovo and Metohija

SPC.rs – OCP News Service – 12/01/2024

Belgrade-Serbia: On 6 January 2024, during the Christmas Eve ceremony held at the Cultural Center in Gračanica, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije distributed scholarships from the Sima Igumanov Foundation to students from Kosovo and Metohija. On this occasion, Patriarch Porfirije conveyed:

– First, inspired by what Brother Živojin (Rakočević) said in his brief introductory speech, let me say – and forgive me for saying it, but I cannot express it otherwise – that I am who I am right here, in the place where you are, together with you. Above all, to say technically and formally, Kosovo and Metohija is the spiritual matrix where I first gained Christ’s vision and where, although weak, I began to walk, owing to His love and providence. Namely, the monastery of repentance or the place of repentance, as it is usually said; the place where I took my monastic vows, the place where I received my monastic name and started to live as a monk, is the Dečani Monastery. So, this is the place where I was born and reborn. It was God’s will that the position that I undeservedly and unworthily hold, the position of the Head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, has its full meaning, its foothold, and its root, right here in the Patriarchate of Peć. Through your love and God’s love, beside this formal, not much more than by blood and soul, I am what I am right here. Therefore, it is completely inappropriate to speak and think that someone can be something else if they leave themselves. If I were far from you in any sense of the word – as Živojin said: Don’t leave us! – if I left you, if I left everything that we are here – I would actually be leaving myself! And that simply is not possible! If it is formally possible, theoretically and hypothetically, then I would no longer be me. I would be dead and a corpse, and whether after that I would be someone else, only God knows.

Our Lord warns us that He will recognize us by our love for one another. If we love one another, then we are His disciples. In fact, we owe only and exclusively love to each other, and that debt can never be repaid. The more we try to repay it, the greater it becomes, but we are not – to follow up Živojin again – poorer and emptier. The more indebted we are and the more we repay the debt – in the paradox of love – the more fulfilled we are and the more we become what we are.

Today, we have come to actualize love and obedience in relation to the one who knew that love makes him a disciple of Christ; and to fulfill the act of love of Sima Igumanov, who is an offspring of Kosovo and Metohija, and who gave everything he had, his being and his heart, to Kosovo and Metohija, who shared his heart and being, conditionally speaking, into two parts. One part of his heart, his love, and his being, he left to the Theological Seminary in Prizren, and the other part he left to the youth of Kosovo and Metohija, to those who learn and grow in knowledge so that they can, in a new circle of love, weave and give their knowledge and what they are to their people again. From the Sima Igumanov Foundation, a large portion, half of the income, is given to the Theological Seminary, and the other half to students and high school pupils from Kosovo and Metohija. We have ambitions and desires to, inspired by the example of Sima Igumanov, encourage others to develop this Foundation. And it is already happening. One part, which comes from other sources – from the Popović family from Belgrade, is formed to provide scholarships to students from large families, where there are four or more children in one family. We are also sponsors of the Humanitarian Fund Privrednik(Entrepreneur), from which several dozen students from Kosovo and Metohija, but also from other regions where our people live, have been assisted.

Therefore, love is what motivated Sima Igumanov, love for God, and we, our Church, participate in that love by fulfilling, as Bishop Teodosije said, the work of Christ, the work of God. It is important for us to know today: if we sow love we shall reap love. As the people of Christ, we must know that. As Orthodox people and people of Gospel, we must know that. We must know that by living independently of our shortcomings and weaknesses, but with our commitment, we should send this message to all other people and all other nations. Joyful, fulfilled, and meaningful is the one who strives to fill their heart with love. To the extent one allows hatred to enter his relationship with others, thus far it disturbs, degrades, and impoverishes him and he becomes completely misguided.

I wish you a Merry Christmas Eve and every blessing from God and, of course, a joyful and blessed Christmas, the peace of God in you, among you, in your families, but also with those with whom you share this sky and share this space, with your neighbors. May God bring His peace to all the nations of the world, to all people. Have a happy and blessed holiday. Peace of God, Christ is born!

Source:

OCP News Services, SPC.rs