PATRIARCHATE OF PEĆ CELEBRATES FOUNDER'S FEAST WITH BRATUNAC AS SPONSOR

BRATUNAC, NOVEMBER 10 /SRNA/ – Bratunac Municipality today served as sponsor of the founder's patron saint's day of the Patriarchate of Peć in Kosovo and Metohija, dedicated to St. Arsenije Sremac, the spiritual successor of St. Sava.

His Grace Bishop Ilarion of Novo Brdo served the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. The celebration was attended by a Bratunac Municipality delegation led by Mayor Lazar Prodanović, who accepted the sponsorship of the feast day last year.

Prodanović said it was a great honor and privilege for Bratunac to sponsor this year's feast day of one of the most important spiritual centers of the Serbian people.

"We see this sponsorship as a great honor, but also a responsibility. It is a recognition of our entire community and an obligation to continue preserving and nurturing our spiritual tradition, faith and cultural and historical heritage. We are especially proud that the Bratunac Municipal Administration has the opportunity to be part of such an important event," Prodanović said.

During today's celebration, the Srebrenica Municipal Administration took over the sponsorship for next year. Its representatives also attended the ceremony at the Patriarchate of Peć, the Bratunac Municipal Administration said.

Sponsoring the founder's patron saint's day is a special honor and a symbol of Republika Srpska's spiritual bond with the Patriarchate of Peć, its churches and the centuries-old tradition of the Serbian people.

Since 2011, the hosts of the Patriarchate of Peć's founder's feast day have been municipalities, cities, associations and individuals from Republika Srpska.

St. Arsenije Sremac, a hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the successor of St. Sava, was a native of Srem. He became a monk at an early age and, on hearing of St. Sava, went to join him. He had found his model in the Orthodox monastery of St. Demetrius in Sremska Mitrovica.

St. Arsenije Sremac took on the burden of leading the young Serbian Archbishopric, which was important to the life of the Serbian state and people in the Middle Ages.

Before his second journey to Jerusalem, St. Sava appointed Arsenije Serbian archbishop in 1233.

The Patriarchate of Peć is a complex of four churches with a common narthex. It holds the relics of Serbian archbishops and patriarchs and was built between the 1230s and the mid-14th century.

The Patriarchate of Peć is a gallery of fresco painting, with works from the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It is also the spiritual seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church.