On Saturday, June 6, 2026, a new edition of the weekly news programme „Under the Magnifier“ was broadcast on Radio Beseda, the official media outlet of the Diocese of Bačka. As part of the programme edited by Jovana Lazić, catechist Branislav Ilić, as a permanent expert interlocutor, spoke, among other things, about the several-day stay of the miraculous Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos in the capital city of Belgrade. We bring the integral text of this narration, as well as an audio recording.
In our previous programme, we also spoke about the great miracle that is happening these days in the capital city of Belgrade. The joy which accompanies it also embraces all of us who are not residents of the capital city of Belgrade, but as members of the Church we are participants in the great blessing that is poured out upon us all through the miraculous Belt of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, who with her belt caresses, protects and reminds us experientially that her prayerful presence is always with us and among us.
Today we are seeing biblical scenes, and I myself have been several times in the abode of the Temple of Saint Sava and saw with my own eyes a river of people gathered with only one goal: to touch this holy relic, to invoke the mercy and help of the Most Holy Mother of God, to ask for her prayerful intercession and to express pious respect for this great holy relic, which after more than six hundred years comes to us again, to strengthen us in faith, to have mercy on us through prayer and to convey to us the blessing of the Holy Mount Athos and the Vatopedi Monastery. Thanks be to God, a book has recently been published that collects testimonies of miracles that have occurred through this sacred relic – the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos. The Lord works great miracles through this shrine, just as He works miracles through the relics of His holy saints. When we speak of the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos, it is important to know that our approach to this shrine is not magical, but always represents an expression of prayerful reverence. When we approach shrines, such as the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos in this case, we ask the Lord to have mercy on us through this shrine and to grant us healing, whether spiritual or physical. We should not be surprised that rivers of people have been flowing to this shrine for days, and it is impressive that His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch, Mr. Porfirije, regularly visits the people who are gathered and who wait in line for several hours calmly and patiently to approach the shrine. Our Patriarch addresses pastoral messages to the people, sends words of encouragement and comfort, conveys his patriarchal blessing from the throne of Saint Sava and from that position points out the importance of this great shrine. His Holiness Patriarch Porphyrios with fatherly love also addresses praise to the gathered people who are patiently, prayerfully, quietly and without haste waiting to approach the shrine. This is, indeed, a great miracle. I mentioned a moment ago that a publication has come out of print in which individual miracles that occurred next to the Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Vatopedi Monastery are collected, and we will not be remiss if we say that one of the latest miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Most Holy Lady the Theotokos, through the miraculous Belt, is precisely what is happening these days in the capital city of Belgrade, where constant peace and prayer reign, or as we were able to hear from His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia, Mr. Porphyrios, a continuous litany, a procession that has been going on uninterruptedly since the Saviour’s Day (the Ascension) until this moment, like a river that flows quietly, but flows in the right direction, aiming at the right target, and that target is an encounter with holiness.
The people who wait in lines, with their humility, obedience and patience, tell everyone in the world that our faith is an active faith. These people actively demonstrate the Christian ethos. When someone asks us: How do Christians behave? Now we can say with pride: Just look at these rivers of people who are patiently waiting and you will see what it means to be a Christian and what it means to live according to the Gospel. We can be proud to be witnesses of this great historical event, but also of these biblical scenes. Let us just remember how in the Acts of the Apostles it is described in several places how the apostles of Christ performed miracles in the name of Christ, even in such a way that it was enough for someone to touch their garments, and sometimes it was enough for their shadow to pass by a sick person, and that sick or needy person would be healed. What we read in the Acts of the Apostles and the Holy Gospel, we can now see here among us, how the love of God was poured out on our people and how our people fully manifested their faith in the most complete sense of the word.
This is my humble experience of these great days, because every day from the Day of the Saviour (the Ascension) to this day has been truly great. When I visited Vračar these days, I was truly moved by the images I saw, I met a large number of people, many children, a large number of young people. A large number of our high school students who attend Religious Studies classes, together with their parents and friends, visited Vračar Hill and approached the shrine, received a blessing and returned comforted. As a catechist, I notice that this great blessing left a great mark on the souls of these young people, because now they understand the mysteries of our faith in a new light. These students had the need to ask questions on this topic in our classes and with great enthusiasm they wanted to convey their impressions and experiences to us, the teachers. In this way, they became the most wonderful witnesses of our faith. They testified how wonderful and beautiful it is when everything we know about our faith is manifested in action, because the holy apostle James says in his epistle that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). We have been able to hear and see this in the past fortnight, and we can truly repeat the words of the apostle, that everything we have seen with our own eyes, everything we have heard with our own ears, we can now testify to. I am more than confident that in the days and years ahead, we will be recounting these blessed events, and will gladly remember these great days. I am also confident that now we will even more fervently direct our prayerful cries to our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos, that she may cover us with her veil, that she may cover us with her belt, that she may protect us from all evil.