BEFORE THE CELEBRATION OF ST. SAVA

On Friday, January 27, we will celebrate, brothers and sisters, our educator and teacher St. Sava. This year marks 787 years since his death. During that time, many towers and cities were destroyed, many great names were consigned to oblivion, and the wonderful personality of St. Sava always remained close and kind to the Serbian people. Because the great work of St. Sava, and he, as a person of extremely high values, undoubtedly occupies the first place among the great men of our nation.

An educator and friend of the people, a wise adviser to his brothers and a peacemaker, our first archbishop, a far-sighted organizer of the national and religious consciousness of the people, a great spiritual personality, who warmed and united an entire nation with his love - our Saint Sava will always remain the most beautiful and convincing example of true services to God and people.

That's why, like every year, we should prepare this year, brothers and sisters, to celebrate St. Savu: to be at the holy liturgy in as large a number as possible and to fill the church, to pray to St. Savi to inspire us with his great faith, to strengthen and strengthen us spiritually, so that we are able to persevere on the path that he led us through history, to attend the blessing of the bread, to all sing the hymn of St. Sava, to hear the children's declamations, with which the people through their poets sang his great work and personality, and finally, to make the children happy with gifts.

On the day of St. Save our church is always full of children. On that day, there are the most of them in the church. Here, after so many centuries, St. Sava still unites Serbians today and teaches them, as he did during his lifetime.

But that zeal soon fades. After that, during the whole year, we rarely see any children in the church, except for those children who come to Religious Education classes. Despite the many advices and appeals of the church, some parents, who normally do everything for their children, consistently neglect one of their great and responsible duties: the religious education of their children. It's as if they don't understand that it has a decisive influence on the creation of their children's character and their path through life.

It is a general and well-known and recognized fact that Christian faith and morals are a necessary condition for proper education, that the gospel of Christ has elevated man the most both before God and before men. This is a known and proven fact to all of us, Orthodox Serbs, throughout our history: from St. Sava to deacon Avakum.

Our old people died for the cross, and today we have seen that the children of some Orthodox parents do not even know how to cross themselves.

It is high time for Orthodox parents to get over their indifference and do something. We will formulate that "something" in three appeals to children's parents:

The first appeal: that parents bring their children to church as often as possible on Sundays and holidays,

The second appeal: that immediately after St. Sava bring their child to the church and enroll them as a student of religious education, which is held on Sundays, and

The third appeal: for every Orthodox family to subscribe to a magazine "Orthodox", the best, most interesting and most beautifully arranged magazine of our Church, intended for both adults and children, without which not a single Orthodox home should be.

May the Lord bless and St. Sava inspire  us all with his sublime example, that this year's Saint Sava celebration should be a big turning point for the better, that we should prove our faith not only with words but also with deeds and our love and devotion to St. Sava and his church and our Church. Amen.