On Friday, May 17, 2024, a systematic mentorship programme has officially started for the Archibishopric’s young priests, under the mentorship of the Archpriest-Stavrophorous Vajo Jovic, a coordinator of the Parish Mission Section of the Archbishopric’s Missionary Department. The lecture titled “The Priest in the Parish, in the Brotherhood and at Home”, was attended by 21 priests with up to three years of parish service, for whom the lecture was primarily intended.
Following the introduction by Presbyter Stevan Vukic, the head of the St. Alexander Nevsky Church who, as the host, greeted all those in attendance, and a brief overview of the structure and the activities of the Archbishopric’s Missionary Department given by Presbyter Oliver Subotic, Father Vajo gave a half-hour speech full of practical and useful advice. Drawing from the rich experience of his 40-years’ priestly service, Father Vajo gave the young priests a plethora of educational examples, for the successful and sacred mission of the salvation of human souls. Simultaneously, he highlighted, through practical examples, the many and varied temptations which await the young and inexperienced priests in their parish, in their brotherhood, and at home.
Father Vajo encouraged the young priests to be fearless and persuasive in their mission, and to never falter under the weight of the challenges and burdens of their service, since God continuously gives the strength and courage to the dligent, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they have received as a gift at their ordination. He urged the young clergymen to let the Joy of the Gospel of the Risen Christ to always radiate from their faces and to illuminate their parishes and their homes.
After the short lecture, attentively followed by the audience, a productive exchange of views ensued, where the young clergy asked many questions and raised various topics, which are not covered in the textbooks.
Apart from the young priests, for whom these lectures are primarily intended, the lecture was also attended by three heads of Belgrade’s parish churches, in order to support their young colleagues, and to share their own parish service experiences. They are Father Luka Veric, the head of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Zemun, and a member of the Expert Council of the Missionary Department, Father Jovan Jeftenic, the head of the Church of St. Pantelejmon in Mirijevo, and Father Vladimir Vicentijevic, the head of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Beli Potok.
The general impression is that these types of lectures and encounters between the older and the younger clergy were very beneficial in the mutual exchange of experiences, and that in the future, more effort should be made to make them more numerous, and to include the priests with over three years of parish service as well.
The next lecture of this kind is scheduled for the second half of June.
Photo: Missionary Department of the AEM
