06.10.2013.
General Dikovic decorated with the Order of St. Constantine
Divine Episcopal Liturgy presided by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, was held in front of the Temple of the Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena in Nis, to officially celebrate 17 centuries of the Edict of Milan. Patriarchs of Moscow, Jerusalem and Serbia, archbishops of local Orthodox Churches, bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church and priests participated in the liturgy.The Liturgy was attended by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and members of the Government, Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces Ljubisa Dikovic, representatives of other Christian churches and religious communities, Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches and Islamic and other religious communities, Christian associations in Europe and the world.
At the end of today's ceremony, Serbian Patriarch Irinej presented the Order of Saint Constantine to the distinguished guests. The Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic was one of them.
The ceremony was attended by numerous believers and citizens, who were eventually presented with the Epistle of the Edict of Milan.The Edict of Milan was a legal act passed by emperors Constantine the Great, who was born in 272 AD in today's Nis, and Licinius, and it declared the religious equality and stopped persecution of the Christians which had been going on for 300 years.
Last night, exactly at 21 hours and five minutes, at the intersection of Nemanjića Boulevard and Sremska Street, the citizens of Nis lighted candles to form a glowing cross, thereby symbolically sending a message to the world - "I am part of the Cross", in celebration of 1700 years of the Edict of Milan.
