The grace of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon our local Church and the whole world on the Sunday preceding the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, on September 22, 2024, in the mystery of the ordination of the most God-loving Archimandrite Pajsije (Djerković), as the bishop of the ancient and God-protected Diocese of Dioclea. Under the vaults of the memorial temple of Saint Sava in Vračar, the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church held a joint service with twenty-eight hierarchs, fifty-five presbyters, and seven deacons.
The prayers offered by the Patriarch during the Holy Mystery of Ordination, reveal that the entirety of the Church is praying that God may show the new bishop to be holy and adorned with righteousness, so that he is proved worthy to pray for the salvation of the people entrusted to him, to be a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, a teacher to the ignorant, a guide to the young and a beacon to the world, in charge of perfecting the souls entrusted to him in this life. The prayers during the Holy Mystery of the Episcopal Ordination also reveal that the new bishop of the Church of Christ has been placed in this exalted ministry in order to serve the Holy Liturgy representing Christ, for the Holy Liturgy is a manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven, here and now.
For us, the perfect Holy Trinity love is accessible exclusively through the God-Man Christ, Who, as the “Firstborn among many brethren”, came to grant us eternal life (John 17:2) and to give it abundantly (John 10:10). On the bitter rock of Golgotha, He becomes the Great High Priest and the witness of love which is stronger than death. This is the assurance that He did not come for others to serve Him, but in order to serve (Mark 10:47), to “fulfill the Scripture and all righteousness” (cf. Matt. 3:15), because His kenosis – His Liturgy – is where He offers Himself as a living and all-encompassing sacrifice for the life of the entire world. This is Christ the Saviour, and His living icon on Earth is the bishop, who stands in the place of God, as taught by Saint Ignatius, the God-bearer.
The newly consecrated Bishop of Dioclea, His Grace Pajsije, though young in years, enters the episcopal service with a considerable experience of cenobitic monastic life. Like a hard-working bee, he has been actively gathering precious spiritual riches, while also acquiring a high level of education, starting at the Cetinje Theological Seminary, followed by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and later continuing his studies in Vienna, Saint Petersburg and London. Upon taking his monastic vows, he was given the name of Saint Pajsije of Janjevo, an erstwhile Serbian patriarch, whose enlightened example teaches every Christ-loving soul the importance of assiduity, Christian love, and learning. Let us not forget that Saint Pajsije recognised a worthy future hierarch in the Archimandrite Vasilije (Jovanović), latterly the Metropolitan and now the Saint Vasilije (Basil) of Ostrog. With this in mind, we believe that the prayers of this righteous man have guided the spiritual development of the young Bishop Pajsije of Dioclea.
The new bishop has been granted the ancient title held by his predecessors, the auxiliary bishops to the Metropolitans of Montenegro and the Littoral, beginning with Bishop Jovan (Purić), Bishop Kirilo (Bojović), and Bishop Metodije (Ostojić). The existence of the “bishop of Dioclea” title testifies to the historical continuity and the uninterrupted existence of this ancient diocese within the former Zeta Diocese, now the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral. We wish that the episcopal service of the new bishop of Dioclea, Pajsije, may be fruitful and that he may retain the grace of the Holy Spirit received in the Holy Mystery of Ordination, so that, strengthened and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, he may tend the spiritual vineyard of the Lord.
