City of Belgrade celebrates the Ascension Day
30/5/14
The city of Belgrade celebrates its feast – Ascension of the Lord, known as the Ascension Day, with liturgy at the Church of Ascension and procession through the central streets of Belgrade.
At the head of the procession were Mayor of Belgrade Sinisa Mali, host Slave Bratislav Petkovic, Deputy Mayor Andreja Mladenovic, City Manager Goran Vesic, head of the city administration Sandra Pantelic and other representatives of the city government.
The first prayer was held at the fountain in Terazije, and then the procession went through Knez Mihajlova, Pariska street, Street of Sima Markovic, where a prayer was held in front of the Orthodox Cathedral. The third prayer in memory of all fallen heroes of Belgrade was held at the Church of Ascension.
At the Church of Ascension was previously held a liturgy to mark city’s slava, the Ascension Day, served by Patriarch Irinej.
The Ascension Day commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical feasts of Christian churches. In the Catholic church it is also known as the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. The Ascension Day is a movable holiday – it always falls on Thursday, 40 days after Easter, and 10 days before Whit Sunday.
When, in 1403, Despot Stefan Lazarević gave Belgrade the status of capital city, in the honour of renewal and prosperity, the city chose Ascension Day to be its Slava. This ancient Testamental feast symbolically represents Belgrade’s upraising – ascension from ashes and indestructible hope and faith in the future. It represents the expression of spiritual and moral strength of the nation hardened in the glorious past, steadfast in present times and proudly looking into the future. Under the pressure of many enemies and great social changes, the celebration of the City feast has been occasionally interrupted, but also renewed, having thus endured the hardest value test – the test of time.
