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Today marks the 11th anniversary of the death of the Serbian Patriarch Pavle, who passed away on November 15, 2009 at the Belgrade Military Medical Academy, where he was treated for several months.
In the period from 1990 to 2009, Patriarch Pavle was the 44th Supreme Head of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Previously, from 1957, he was bishop of Raska and Prizren.
Even after his death, Patriarch Pavle never fails to delight us with his way of life.
These are some little-known things about the life of the 44th leader on the throne of the Serbian Orthodox Church, when everyone considered him a saint during his lifetime.
Prayer for all
When he was in Kosovo and Metohija as bishop, it happened that he was Patriarch Pavle detained by an armed Albanian gang. Not much is known about the incident itself, but the gang or KLA members did. They asked him to kneel and pray for the injured Albanians. Paul was then calm and sober answered be be kneeling praying in church for all victims and innocent victims regardless of their nationality and faith. This is how he managed to continue his journey unscathed.
Patriarch Pavle did his best to teach the people: What is the true essence of marriage?
Saved a man who was drowning
While working as an educator in Banja Koviljača, he saved a child who was drowning from the freezing water. As a result of that effort, he received, at that time, fatal tuberculosis. However, although the doctors did not give him more than three months to live, they did. managed to recover and live to an advanced age.
Believe it or not, once, Meša Selimović and Patriarch Pavle sat on the same bench at the secondary school in Tuzla.
Breadcrumbs
On one occasion, when he finished eating, he took a napkin in front of him with some crumbs. He silently scooped up each crumb and ate it. Those present were surprised to ask him what he was doing, and he replied:
“You don’t know, my children, what it means happy and how many children around the world are hungry, and we throw bread on the table and in containers. For some, they represent life and hope, and we abandon them so easily. Remember every time the hungry children of Africa and the world see crumbs on the table. “
Very clever on the plane
Once, the Patriarch went somewhere by plane. When they were flying over the sea, the plane entered the turbulent zone and an accident occurred. A young archbishop sitting next to the patriarch asked him what he thought about it if the plane crashed now. He said without confusion:
“As for me, I will accept it as an act of justice, because I have eaten so many fish in my life that it would be strange now if they did not eat me now.”
Left millions to the church
He left only an alarm clock and a watch to his brother’s descendants, like his closest relatives, while the Serbian Orthodox Church will have his medal, as well as written works, which already have an inestimable fidelity measured in millions of euros.
Eat on yourself …
He also knew how to be strict. On the eve of a meal, everyone said a prayer at the table. A monk was silent. The patriarch asked him why he was silent, why he did not pray with others, and the monk replied that he prayed within himself. The patriarch added that then he should eat on himself.
Shoes
Although he wore modest clothing, Patriarch Pavle always had beautiful, light, comfortable, and impeccably clean shoes. He “trampled far and wide” in Belgrade, even as he entered some serious years of his life, and people in the capital will tell you that he knew how to run, especially when he had to catch up with a tram. He used them for 30 years!
On one occasion, someone asked the patriarch about his unusual shoes.
– Yes, they are comfortable, I can walk with them for a long time – he said.
– Where you bought it?
– Hey, bought! Patriarch Pavle waved his hand as if to end the conversation.
Patriarch Pavle’s Legacy: Pray for the enemies because they don’t know what they are doing!
Later, people close to the head of the Serbian church discovered the truth about this unusual piece of skin. Actually, they were women’s boots: the patriarch found them lying near his sister’s house and, seeing that they were old but preserved, picked them up. After that, in his small workshop, he made shoes out of them.
Few people know this, but Patriarch Pavle was already a shoemaker and often repaired, but also made shoes. The story goes that a shoemaker close to the Patriarchate taught him the trade, but there are also those who claim that he acquired the skill in the monastery.
However, he knew how to repair and make shoes, and then, frugal as he was, he thought there was no need to buy more shoes and thus “harm” the church.
A musical man
Little is known that he was also an exceptional singer. He enjoyed the polyphonic singing of spiritual songs. He never hesitated to protest if the choir did not sing with religious enthusiasm, so he knew how to stand in front of them and zealously show them how liturgical songs are sung.
ID card
Patriarch Paul He was born Gojko Stojčević, and in 1948 he became a monk at the monastery of the Annunciation. He grew up with his paternal aunt, whom he loved very much and who replaced his parents. He had a desire to become a doctor.
Your wise thoughts resonate today.
- Let’s be careful with the inhumans, but let’s be even more careful not to become inhumans either.
- Take care of your enemies and pray for them because they don’t know what they are doing.
- If God wanted a man to smoke, He would install a fireplace.
- It is our obligation to help our neighbor in need, but without committing any type of violence, because everyone is free to choose whether to follow the path of salvation.
- Calm, then, brothers and sisters, is the mother of all the virtues of the Gospel, because God opposes the proud and gives blessings to the humble.
- I believe that we are all responsible for the tragedy in Yugoslavia. If those people who created it in a peaceful and humane way, by agreement in 1918, found themselves in this situation of disintegration of Yugoslavia today, I think they would have explained it in a peaceful, humane way, okay.
Whoever adheres to these customs cannot be lost: How Patriarch Pavle saw the essence of the family!
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