PATRIARCH PORFIRIJE TO CONSECRATE CATHEDRAL CHURCH IN PALE ON SEPTEMBER 26

PALE, SEPTEMBER 23 /SRNA/ - His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije will visit Pale on Friday and Saturday, September 25 and 26, where he will consecrate the church dedicated to the Assembly of St. Archangel Gabriel, the website of the Metropolitanate of Dabar-Bosnia said.

The ceremonial programme will begin on Friday, September 25, when a welcoming ceremony for Patriarch Porfirije and a doxology will be held in front of the Church of the Assembly of St. Archangel Gabriel at 17:30, while a cultural and artistic programme is scheduled for 19:00 p.m.

The church will be consecrated on Saturday, September 26, at 9:00, followed by the celebration of the Divine Hierarchical Liturgy.

The cathedral church, whose location connects the spiritual, academic and cultural life of Pale, is situated in the immediate vicinity of the faculties of the University of Istočno Sarajevo - the Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Philosophy, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Physical Education.

The initiative to build a new church in Pale during the Defensive-Patriotic War was launched by the late Metropolitan of Dabar-Bosnia Nikolaj, who recognized the development potential of Pale, anticipating its rapid tourism and demographic development, while also taking into particular consideration the spiritual needs of several thousand students, the Serbian Orthodox Church said earlier.

Construction of the Church of the Assembly of St. Archangel Gabriel began in 2008, and in the same year, on the Feast of Saints Joachim and Anna, September 22, the late Metropolitan Nikolaj consecrated the foundations of the church. Services have been held there since 2015.