“In the Footsteps of Active Love” – A New Series on the “Kinonia” Portal

Within the framework of the ongoing enhancement of missionary activity through the use of contemporary information technologies, the “Kinonia” portal is launching a new series entitled “In the Footsteps of Active Love.” The leadership of this project has been entrusted to Ms. Marija Petrović, a permanent collaborator of the missionary portal “Kinonia.”

Charity is inseparably connected with love for humanity. When the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of the two greatest commandments, He identifies the second as: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Matt. 19:19). In the Epistle of James it is written: “What good is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” (Jas. 2:14). It is evident that without love for humanity there can be no charity, nor charity without love for humanity.

By the charitable activity of the Church is understood that activity which is directed towards the particular needs of its members—towards the needs of individuals or groups—thereby fulfilling Christ’s commandment of love and manifesting the truth that all members of the Church are members of one Body, of which Christ is the Head.

Within the new series entitled “In the Footsteps of Active Love,” the readers of the “Kinonia” portal will, on a monthly basis, be presented with accounts of charitable activity within the Serbian Orthodox Church. In addition to introducing various forms of work undertaken by charitable organizations, the aim of this series is to kindle within each of us the flame of active love.

Guided by the Saviour’s words: “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40), each published text in the series “In the Footsteps of Active Love” will be accompanied by a banner of the Religious Charitable Guardianship of the Archdiocese of Belgrade–Karlovci, together with an invitation for everyone, according to their means, to respond and actively manifest their faith and love.

The first text belonging to this series will be published in April of this year.

Source: Kinonia Portal

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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.