STOC Paschal Encyclical 2026

The Serbian True Orthodox Church

Paschal Encyclical 2026

Hierarchical Council of the STOC

 Under the Chairmanship of His Grace Bishop Akakije of Uteshiteljevo

 To All the Clergy, Monastics, and Pious, God-Protected Orthodox People we extend our congratulations on this greatest of feasts, the Bright Resurrection of Christ!

 CHRIST IS RISEN!

 

Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered.

-Ps 67:1

 The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the central event of the entire economy of salvation for mankind. It is the all-encompassing response of God’s love to the primordial tragedy of the fall into sin, starting from the day when Adam, due to the transgression of the commandment, was expelled from Paradise into the world of corruption and death.  Everything that has happened in the history of the world since that fateful expulsion has been the longing of creation for redemption, which the Lord fulfilled with His glorious resurrection from the tomb.

ANATHEMA AGAINST CHRISTIAN ZIONISM AND JUDAIZING ECUMENISM

According to the antichristian Jewish tradition and rabbinic interpretations of biblical prophecies, the so-called Third Temple - Hamikdash is supposed to be built on the Temple Mount (Mount Moriah) in the old town of Jerusalem, on the location which they consider the place of the First Temple (of Solomon, 10th century BC) and the Second Temple (of Zerubbabel, 6th century BC).

Nativity Encyclical 2025

The Serbian True Orthodox Church 

Nativity Encyclical 2025 

Hierarchical Council of the STOC 

Under the Chairmanship of His Grace Bishop Akakije of Uteshitelejvo 

To the Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of Our God-fearing Orthodox Nation,  We greet you on this great and joyous Feast Day of the Nativity of Christ:  Christ is Born! Glorify Him! 

 

“Glory to God in the highest, and on the earth, peace, good will among men.” – Lk. 2:14 

God-loving brothers in Christ and faithful children of Orthodoxy! 

Glory to God and peace to all people! These two words reveal to us the great mystery of piety,  the mystery of the work of the redemption of the human race through the incarnation of God:  "God was manifested in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16). All divine perfections - power, wisdom, goodness, justice - are now revealed in the clearest light. Jesus Christ is born to reconcile the world with His Father, giving the glory to God that the devil, through sin, tried to steal from  Him. Christ is born to fight against sin and overcome it, to bind the devil, to subject the body to the spirit, and to unite human wills with each other and with the will of God. Therefore, the angels worthily and rightly sang this song of true joy: Glory to God! Peace among men! Glory to  God, who grants forgiveness! Peace to men who are obedient to the teaching and grace of the  Savior. 

The Feast Day of Lesna Convent in France

Lesna Convent - On September 22 OS/ October 5 NS the historical Lesna Convent of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia celebrated its patronal feast day, the commemoration of the Lesna Icon of the Theotokos. The Lesna icon is revered as a great Russian holy relic and a major shrine of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. After the revolution in Russia, the Lesna nuns took it to Serbia with them, where it was kept at Hopovo Monastery for 30 years. It was then transferred to France with the sisters, where it is kept to this day. It is located in the French village of Provemont in Normandy, in the Lesna Church of Our Lady, where it is kept in a shrine on the north side of the iconostasis. This year's celebration marks exactly 140 years since the founding of the Lesna Convent, the 100th anniversary of the righteous repose of the Venerable Catherine of Lesna and Hopovo, and 75 years of Lesna Convent’s presence in France.

A Short History of Lesna, a Convent of the Russian Church Abroad

As of this year, 2025 AD,  Lesna Convent was founded 140 years ago by Venerable Ekaterina Efimovska with the help and blessing of St. John of Kronstadt and Venerable Ambrose of Optina, with the patronage of the Russian Emperor Holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II.  Lesna Convent became renowned for the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Lesna, which is preserved in the monastery to this day.

Paschal Encyclical STOC 2025

The Serbian True Orthodox Church

Paschal Encyclical 2025

Hierarchical Council of the STOC

Under the chairmanship of His Grace Bishop Akakije of Uteshiteljevo

To All the Faithful Children of the St. Sava’s Church

We congratulate you on the feast of feasts, the radiant Resurrection of Christ:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” -John 12:24

 

A seed which falls into the ground, dies, sprouts, and bears life. This example of a seed, which, in order to bring forth much fruit, must die, shows us clearly how likewise our body, though it dies and is buried, by the power of God, in time again comes back to life in the garment of immortality.

A New Priest for the Western European Mission of Lesna Convent (ROCOR)

His Grace Bishop Nektarije with the Newly-Ordained Hiermonk Nicandor with the Clergy and Altar Servers of Uteshiteljevo

On the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent, April 6 NS/24 March OS, Monk Nicandor (Parvulescu) was ordained a hieromonk. The previous day, on Saturday, he had been ordained a hierodeacon. The ordinations were officiated by His Grace Bishop Nektarije.

Nativity Encyclical of the Serbian True Orthodox Church

 

Serbian True Orthodox Church

Nativity Encyclical 2024

 

Hierarchical Council of the STOC

Under the Chairmanship of His Grace Akakije

Bishop of Uteshiteljevo

 

To the Faithful Children of St. Sava’s Church

We congratulate the great and joyful feastday of the Nativity of Christ:

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

It is to our generation, to the children who are just beginning life, to the youth that are starting out on life’s journey, to the middle aged who have already passed a good part of their life, and to the elderly who are nearing the end of their life, that the providence of God has destined to witness and participate in the final act of establishing the rule of darkness (Lk. 22:53).

However, although the reign of darkness has never seemed stronger and more invincible due to modern events, it is, we remind you, forever scattered by the appearance of that miraculous celestial phenomenon, the Star of Bethlehem.

This Nativity Star shone in the sky brighter than all of the other stars (Matt 2:2-9).  Its light, as St. Ignatius the God-Bearer says in his epistle to the Ephesians, was ineffable. Its appearance sparked universal amazement. All the other stars, sun, and moon, became the chorus of this Star, which outshone them all. Its appearance shook the foundations of the empire of darkness and was a pledge of its destruction. Piercing the thick darkness (Rom 13:12), the Star showed mankind the true light (1 John 2:8), the saving dawn of the Sun of Righteousness, Christ our God (Mal. 4:2)

Paschal Encyclical 2023

 

Serbian True Orthodox Church

Paschal Encyclical 2023

Hierarchical Council of the STOC

Under the chairmanship of His Grace Akakije, Bishop of Uteshiteljevo

To All the Faithful Children of St Sava’s Church

We congratulate You on the Feast of Feasts,

The Radiant Resurrection of Christ:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

 

“Blessed is he who has not seen but believed.” -John 20:29

 

These words of the risen Lord, which were first directed at the apostle Thomas, who had refused to believe the apostolic witness of the Resurrection until he had seen the Risen Lord and touched His resurrected body, are also directed at us who did not witness His resurrection with our physical eyes.

A Brotherly Meeting at Lesna Convent

Brotherly co-celebrating in Lesna:  Archbishop Andronik of New York and North America and Bishop Akakije of Uteshiteljevo

On the 18^th of July (31 NS) on the Sunday of the Fathers of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, Bishops Akakije of Uteshiteljevo and Archbishop Andronik of New York and North America served together with their clergymen in the Lesna Convent, a historic monastery of the Russian Church Abroad.

Paschal Encyclical of the Serbian True Orthodox Church

The Resurrection of Christ, fresco from Dechani Monastery circa 1340

Serbian True Orthodox Church 

PASCHAL ENCYCLICAL 2021

Hierarchical Council of the STOC

Under the Chairmanship of His Grace Akakije,

Bishop of Uteshiteljevo

 

To all the Faithful Children of St. Sava’s Church

We greet you on the Feast of Feasts,

the Radiant Resurrection of Christ:

 

CHRIST IS RISEN!

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” – Jn 16:20

Воскресенија ден – today is the day of the Resurrection. This is that most joyous day, when even before dawn an inexpressible joy touched the hearts of Christ’s disciples and echoed powerfully through all the coming ages.

The apostles accepted this joy with disbelief and caution. The day had just dawned, and the news of the victory over death astonished them. They were confused and felt a strange burning in their hearts. Nonetheless, the grace-filled joy only shined on them when they looked upon the Resurrected One in His still-earthly form. That was a joy above all joys, ecstasy, like the threshold of Heaven itself.

ENCYCLICAL Concerning the Covid-19 Vaccine

 

SERBIAN TRUE ORTHODOX CHURCH

Hierarchical Council

ENCYCLICAL

To the Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful

Concerning the Covid-19 Vaccine

 

“Come out of her, my people,

That ye be not partakers of her sins,

And that ye receive not of her plagues…

                            -Rev. 18:4

Current events oblige us hierarchs, in the name of a part of our fatherland’s Church which we represent, to take a stance concerning the vaccines which are being forced on all of mankind as the only salvation from the “deadly pandemic,” an infection of the respiratory tract which has been named the Corona virus/Covid-19.  Our stance is based on the patristic, Orthodox perspective of current events, events that resemble an especially dangerous period of the approach of the end of the world.  When making such an analysis, one should be cautious, and wary of a paranoid perception of various events, lightmindedly qualifying them as apocalyptic. On the other hand, one should not go to the other extreme of dismissing as superstition or conspiracy theories obvious apocalyptic similarities as important indicators as to what stance we should take.  Such a dismissal could deceive us into going with the flow of apostasy.

Nativity Encyclical 2020

Serbian True Orthodox Church

Nativity Encyclical 2020

 

Hierarchical Council of the STOC

Under the Chairmanship of His Grace Akakije, Bishop of Uteshiteljevo

 

To All the Faithful Children of St. Sava’s Church 

We congratulate you on this great and joyous Feast of the Nativity of Christ!

The Peace of God be with you! Christ is Born!

 

“God is with us, understand all ye nations and submit yourselves – for God is with us.” – (Is 8:10)

On the feast of the Nativity of Christ, with special joy we sing these verses from the book of the prophecy of Esaias,  who speaks to us of the coming of the Messias -  Christ, Whose Name will be Emmanuel, which in Hebrew means “God is with us.” With that name the prophet reveals the mystery of the Divine nature of the Messiah, that He is God Who will be with us. The frequent repetition of the verse “God is with us” witnesses to the great spiritual joy of Christians who recognize and believe in Christ as the Incarnate God.

SERBIAN AND RUSSIAN CHURCH ABROAD TOGETHER AGAIN - THE BEGINNING OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROCA AT UTESHITELJEVO

On Sunday, 28^th Sept/11 Oct 2020 AD, the hierarchs of the Serbian True Orthodox Church and the Russian Church Abroad served the divine liturgy together at Uteshiteljevo Monastery outside of Belgrade, the sealing of a dialogue for the establishment of Eucharistic communion between the two sister churches. 

Announcement of the Hierarchical Council of the STOC Concerning the Unlawful Process

 

Serbian True Orthodox Church 

Hierarchical Council 

The Leave-Taking of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

September 21/October 4 2020 

Announcement of the Hierarchical Council of the Serbian True Orthodox Church Concerning the Unlawful Process Against His Grace Bishop Akakije

The Synod of the Bishops of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece recently published this decision as part of the minutes of their meeting of 2/15 September 2020: 

“The case of Father Akakije Stankovic from Serbia has been deferred, by request of the accused, because he is not able to come due to the closed borders because of the spread of the virus and because of his own health problems, as he himself has confirmed.”

The contents of these resolutions are meaningless, and the entire process to which they refer to canonically illegitimate.

PENTECOST – PATRONAL FEASTDAY OF UTESHITELJEVO

June 7 (NS) 2020
This year our monastery and episcopal seat “Uteshiteljevo” (The Paraclete) enjoyed another
joyous celebration of our patronal feastday, Pentecost. His Grace Bishop Akakije of
Uteshiteljevo presided over the holy services accompanied by His Grace Bishop Nektarije of
Shumadia and the rest of our clergy. The Holy Hierarchical Liturgy began with the solemn
singing of “O Heavenly King” (the hymn to the Holy Spirit) which is sung on this day for the
first time since Pascha. The holy services flowed beautifully and prayerfully. Venerable Mother
Abbess Efrosinija led the monastery choir, which gave the entire celebration an especially lofty
spirit. As the church was full to overflowing, the mass of the believers spilled outside into the
churchyard.

А Good Man - story

My head spun from a sharp ascent; then a strong light blinded me. Light and darkness had interchanged so many times, I should have gotten used to it long ago. But this was something strange, though as usual there were spots dancing before my eyes. Could this be sunlight? After so many years under the earth, I couldn’t believe it.

Pascha in the time of the “Corona Virus” Persecution of the Church

During the anti-christian persecution under the pretence of the corona virus pandemic, the feast of feasts, the Resurrection of Christ, was celebrated at Uteshiteljevo.

Paschal Encyclical 2020 STOC

The Serbian True Orthodox Church

Paschal Encyclical 2020

Paschal Encyclical 2020

Hierarchical Council of the STOC

Under the chairmanship of His Grace Akakije

Bishop of Uteshiteljevo

To All the Faithful Children of St. Sava’s Church

Congratulations on the Feast of Feasts,

The Radiant Resurrection of Christ:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

“And ye now therefore have sorrow:

But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice,

And your joy no man taketh from you.” John 16:22

The Feast of the Resurection of Christ, which this year we celebrate in hiding for fear of the Jews (Jn 20:19), is the feast of the triumph over hades and death, for He by death destroyed he who had the power of death, the devil. (Heb. 2:14)

COVID-19 and the Persecution of the Church

The Serbian True Orthodox Church

Hierarchical Council

  

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

COVID-19 and the Persecution of the Church

Instructions for the Clergy and Believers

Fifth Sunday of Great Lent

Uteshiteljevo, March 23/April 5 2020

“Lawlessness is everything that is against God, without God, outside of God.

A lawless man is he who declares this lawlessness to be his law.”

-Archimandrite Justin Popovich, Dogmatics, III Volume

About the COVID-19 virus

The COVID-19 is no more dangerous than the usual seasonal epidemics that our nation and the rest of the world have been dealing with for years, from which larger or smaller numbers of people have been getting sick and dying. The declaration of COVID-19 as a deadly pandemic which demands strict quarantine is nothing more than the Antichrist’s enslaving all of mankind through a web of manipulated statistics and programmed (always positive) tests creating an intentionally exaggerated picture orchestrated by the WHO, corrupted politicians, and mainstream mass media.