ST. XENIA OF PETERSBURG IS COMMEMORATED IN SERBIA

On 6 February 2016, the commemoration day of St. Xenia of Petersburg was celebrated at the Church o f the Holy Trinity, the metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belgrade. St. Xenia is venerated in Serbia as deeply as in Russia. Every year even more worshippers from Belgrade and other cities come to a small Russian church at the Tašmajdan park to venerate the icon with a particle of stone from St. Xenia’s coffin.

The church building could not accommodate all the parishioners and pilgrims on this sunny day, and some of them prayed at the Liturgy standing in the church yard. Several hundred partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

Archimandrite Mihajlo Biković, rector of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist, officiated at the Divine Liturgy. Concelebrating were archpriest Vitalij Tarasjev, rector of the Russian metochion in Belgrade; Fr. Vladimir Vranić, secretary of the chancellery of His Holiness Patriarch of Serbia; archpriest Nebojsa Topolić; archpriest Milomir Stevanović, rector of the church in Provo and founder of the religious centre dedicated to the Kazan icon of the Most Holy Mother of God; and Fr Ivan Delić from the Banat diocese.

Liturgical hymns were sung by the choir of the metochion and the ‘Rosa’ choir conducted by Anastasija Mrđenović.

The commemoration day of St. Xenia of Petersburg is becoming a national feast and resembles that of St. Paraskeva of Serbia. People brought over two hundred kolačs – bread for Serbian traditional celebration to honour St. Xenia. The kolačs were cut in the yard, and religious hymns were sung and heard even in the Tašmajdan park.

After the celebration, which lasted over three hours, archpriest Vitalij Tarasjev congratulated the worshippers and invited them to pray to St. Xenia asking her to intercede before the Almighty God and beseech Him to keep the faithful confessing the Orthodox faith.

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