DODIK: FIRST LITURGY - HISTORIC DAY FOR SRPSKA

BANJA LUKA, SEPTEMBER 21 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said that the first Hierarchical Holy Liturgy in the Serbian-Russian Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Banja Luka marks a historic day for the city, the Serbian Orthodox Church, and Republika Srpska.

"We built this church together with love, in memory of the martyred Romanov royal family, and now it has reached the stage where the faithful can gather here and devote themselves to prayer, hoping for its completion," Dodik told reporters after attending the first Hierarchical Holy Liturgy in the church. Dodik said that, as President of Republika Srpska and on behalf of his family, he had the opportunity to contribute alongside all other donors, and he called on everyone else to do the same so that future generations could inherit this magnificent Serbian-Russian Cultural and Spiritual Center with its church. He reminded that the church was built according to the design of a church that once stood in the Kremlin and was later demolished by the communists, emphasizing that the project - identical to the Kremlin church - was completed with the blessing of the Russian Patriarch. "The church is dedicated to the martyred Romanov family and will serve the people of Republika Srpska as a strong link to Orthodoxy and the Serbian-Russian Orthodox community, who believe and pray to God for peace and stability wherever people live," the President of Republika Srpska said. Dodik expressed his confidence that this impressive church will be completed within the next two to three years, noting that even now it dominates the Banja Luka skyline with its significance and grandeur. "This church will certainly appear on many postcards of Banja Luka, but it will also stand as a testament that we gathered 100 years after the first idea to build it, which is now being completed," Dodik said. The Liturgy was officiated by His Eminence Metropolitan Jefrem of Banja Luka and Bishop Sava of Marča, with priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church concelebrating. Among those attending were the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to BiH, Igor Kalabukhov, members of parliament, Banja Luka city officials, and numerous faithful.