TEXTS IN ENGLISH

headed by the high Muslim cleric and Vice Dean of the Islamic University of Khomain Mr Seyed Abolhassan Nawab accompanied by Mr Mirza Ali Barati, Mrs Rogaya Abbasian Nighje and Mr Mehrdad Agahi, the Director of the Cultural Centre of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Belgrade, to the Patriarchate in Belgrade on Monday, 30th June 2008, on behalf of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle..

At the beginning of the cordial talks His Eminence Metropolitan greeted the esteemed guests with a salutation of faith and love and then expressed his joy that he could welcome them to the spiritual centre of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which was founded by Saint Sava for whom it was recorded that while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land he paid a visit to the caliph of Damascus. The caliph referred to Saint Sava as a man of God because of his faith. His Eminence pointed out that the encounter between the Christian faith and Islam has been going on for centuries. It is a gift of God that we are all members of a belief in One God and that we believe in the Judgment Day. In the name of that One God Metropolitan welcome the guests and wished them a pleasant stay in Serbia and to the state of Iran he wished success and advancement in the face of all worldly temptations.

Mr Seyed Abolhassan Nawab, a top Muslim cleric and Vice-Dean of the Islamic University of Khomain said that he is pleased to be visiting Serbia. He pointed out that the delegation is coming from the town of Khomain which is a centre for Shiite Muslims and where the University was founded where researchers and professors study all world religions. As part of its publishing activity the University turned out 20 titles on Christianity. The University was founded with an objective of studying religions that originated from Abraham as well as all others. The mission of the University is to establish a dialogue through study of religions which will assist all to realize peace in the world, to highlight morality and justice in contemporary society.

His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije pointed out that dialogue is in the nature of every man, that our dialogue with God is our faith and that without faith there can not be true dialogue. Metropolitan stressed that faith, quoting the Apostle Paul, requires works. The co-existence of the people in these regions had its good and bad moments but lately the attitude of Albanians towards the Serbs and the recent civil war particularly stand out. Finally, His Eminence Metropolitan pointed out that all history of mankind is common which is really a Divine Mystery, and that what is not clear to us in this world will become clear on the day of the Final Judgment. God has, after all, left the final say and justice to Himself.

Source: http://www.spc.yu/sr/delegacija_iz_irana_u_patrijarsijskom_dvoru
translated from Serbian by Vojislav Micunovic

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TEXT IN ENGLISH

Dear visitors of our web-site of the monastery Lepavina! Due to a high number of visits of our website, I am honoured to take the responsibility to describe you in English different events from Serbian Orthodox Church and monastery Lepavina. We would like to inform you that we will be also putting on our web-site some texts in English on different subjects from other Orthodox websites. I deeply hope and believe that our Lord will help me in that!

With God’s blessing, from monastery Lepavina Archimandrite Gavrilo.