22.04.2015.
Military flags sanctified
In the course of marking the Serbian Armed Forces Day – 23rd April, and 200 years since the Second Serbian Uprising, military flags that will be ceremonially presented to SAF units tomorrow were sanctified at the Church of St. George in Oplenac, a part of the memorial complex Endowment of King Petar I Karadjordjevic.The ceremonial act of sanctifying of the flags was conducted by vicarial patriarchal episcope Arsenije of Toplice, with military priests and priests of the Sumadija Eparchy. With representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff of Serbia and officials of local self-government, the ceremony was also attended by members of SAF units that will receive them tomorrow in Takovo from President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic with military honours.
Chief military priest Sladjan Vlajic said that this was a great historical event for the Serbian Armed Forces and the Serbian Orthodox Church.
- For the first time in 85 years, military flags have bee sanctified, which is an unprecedented event in the newer history of the Serbian people. This is the fourth ceremonial sanctifying of Serbian military flags in the past three centuries, that is, since the foundation of the modern Serbian state. This makes the event even more important, more magnificent – Vlajic said.
It is a historical fact, unique in world history, that the Serbian soldier has kept 47 out of 51 war flags in the past two centuries. One of them was buried with King Petar I, and three of them were buried somewhere during the Albanian Golgotha, and were thus kept from the enemy. The remaining ones are now preserved at the Military Museum.
PHOTOGALLERY
