MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT AEM

СРБ

Instagram Facebook-f X-twitter Youtube
Instagram Facebook-f X-twitter Youtube

Missionary Department

Archdiocese of Belgrade-Karlovci

СРБ

Instagram Facebook-f X-twitter Youtube

General information

With the Founding Act from 14th February 2024. (AEM no. 186), passed by His Holiness, the Serbian Patriarch Kyr Porfirije, the Missionary Department of the Archbishopric of Belgrade-Karlovci was founded as a non-profit organizational branch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, whose aim is the advancement of the existing and the growth of new missionary activities on the canonical territory of the Archbishopric of Belgrade-Karlovci.

The main activities of the Missionary Department of AEM are:

  • Systematic effort in the field of missionary guidance of young clergy of the Archbishopric in the area of parish mission.
  • Training  of Archbishopric priests for appearing in mass media.
  • Training of Archbishopric priests for mission-oriented use of new media technologies.
  • Initiating missionary activities (primarily in the form of lectures and spiritual talks) in English, for foreign nationals, currently residing on the territory of the Archbishopric.
  • Creating and managing internet missionary channels with multimedia content.
  • Apologetic activity aimed at prevention of destructive sectarian, cultic and other related manifestations on the territory of the Archbishopric.
  • Organising expert gatherings and consultations with the clergy of the Archbishopric on the subject of destructive sectarian, cultic and other similar manifestations.
  • Informing the Patriarch of all heterodox occurrences and sectarian-cultic activities, which threaten church life within the Archbishopric.
  • Creating printed and electronic missionary bulletins, brochures and publications in Serbian and other languages for the needs of Archbishopric churches.
  • Mobilising gifted RE teachers within the Archbishopric for the field of Church mission, in the narrow sense.
  • Promoting public dialogue on the subject of the relationship between Orthodox Christianity and science/culture/technology.
  • Advancement of mutual coordination between mission-minded priests and RE teachers within the Archbishopric.
  • Holding courses and lectures in practical missiology, in order to motivate  Orthodox Christians within the Archbishopric to assume an active role in the mission of the Orthodox Church.

The Missionary Department carries out its activities through five different sections. They are:

The seat of the AEM Missionary Department is in the parish house of the St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Belgrade, at Cara Dusana 63b.

St. Patron’s Day of the AEM Missionary Department is the Feast Day of the Equal-to-the-Apostles  St. Cyril and Methodius (11/24May).

Structure of the Missionary Department

The management and professional services of the Department are provided by the Director , the Coordinators of Missionary Sections, the Secretary and the Translator .

The department also has its own Expert Council , a consultative body composed of elected priests of the Belgrade-Karlovci Archdiocese.

Protopresbyter-Staurophorus Vajo Jović

Protopresbyter-Staurophorus Vajo Jović was born in 1956 in Ugljevik, Srpska.

Priest in Zagreb and Secretary of the Diocesan Board of the Metropolis of Zagreb and Ljubljana since 1979.
From Zagreb, he served the missionary parish in Maribor.
Parish priest at the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Belgrade since 1991.
Since 2000, Elder of the same church and Director of the Orthodox Missionary School until his retirement in 2023.

Forty-two years of priestly service are characterized by intensive missionary work.

Recipient of the Order of St. Sava, third degree.

Protopresbyter-Staurophor Radivoj Panić

Protopresbyter-Staurophor Radivoj Panić is the coordinator of the Parish Mission Department of the Missionary Department of the Archbishopric of Belgrade-Karlovci. He was born on April 1, 1961 in Novi Sad. He completed the seminary in Sremski Karlovci in 1981.

From 1986 to 1991, he was engaged as a librarian at the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Belgrade.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1992. He began his pastoral ministry as a parish priest in Kosova Polje, where he served from 1992 to 2001. After that, from 2001 to 2009, he was the parish priest at the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky, and since 2009 he has served as the parish priest at the Church of St. Sava. He completed his theological studies in 2008, at a time when he was already serving as a parish priest.

He is particularly involved in organizing pilgrimages to Kosovo and Metohija, as well as in humanitarian work. He collaborates with the organization “Our Serbs” from Chicago, through which he actively participates in providing assistance to the Serbian people in Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija, as well as in supporting domestic organizations operating in these areas.

Father Radivoj Panić is considered one of the most respected priests of the Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovac.