BELGRADE, Serbia — Greater than 1,000,000 individuals traveled to the Church of Saint Sava over the previous a number of weeks to witness a holy relic of the Virgin Mary, a bit of a belt she wore when pregnant with Jesus Christ.
The belt, on show for twenty-four hours a day, seven days every week for the final couple of weeks, was flown in from Mount Athos in Greece, the place it’s usually saved — the primary time in centuries the relic had been returned to Serbia.
Holy relic of the Virgin Mary’s belt within the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
VIDEO: Hundreds line as much as view the holy relic of the Virgin Mary’s belt on the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia:
Orthodox Church officers, per a Serbian authorities official, formally estimated that greater than 1.1 million individuals visited the Church of Saint Sava in the course of the show of the relic, thought of one of many holiest in Christianity.
The Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
“She made it by hand and wore it when she was pregnant with the child Jesus,” Nemanja Stavorich, the Serbian Minister of European Integration, informed Breitbart Information throughout a tour of the Church of Saint Sava.
“It’s a really big day for us as a result of for 650 years, this belt wasn’t in Serbia,” Bozidar Lijeskic, a Church official who gave Breitbart Information a tour of the Church of Saint Sava, stated. “It’s really one of many holiest and most prized and commemorated possessions of the entire of Mount Athos.”
Exterior of the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
Breitbart Information visited the church as effectively throughout our journey to Belgrade to interview President Aleksandar Vucic — an interview that caught the eye of U.S. President Donald Trump. Vucic praised Trump in the course of the interview, saying that as a result of he’s “pragmatic” and “rational,” Trump is the preferred American politician by far in Serbia — and the president posted that article on Fact Social.
The Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
Proper after interviewing Vucic, Serbian officers took Breitbart Information on a personal tour of the Church of Saint Sava, and we obtained to see the relic of the Virgin Mary in the course of the tour. The church itself is magnificent and was constructed by the Serbs over the course of greater than a century as a solution to form of exchange the Hagia Sophia, the spectacular church in Istanbul that was was a Mosque when Muslims conquered what’s now modern-day Turkey in the course of the rise of the Ottoman Empire.
The Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
The high-rise entrance doorways of the church have engraved on them 24 totally different languages of welcoming prayers. “Principally, for each particular person coming from any a part of the world approaching the church, the very first thing they may really feel and likewise discover would be the prayer both in their very own language or in a language that they’ll perceive,” Lijeskic informed Breitbart Information as he started the tour exterior of the church. “You get a right away feeling of heat coming inside.”
Lijeskic stated that Saint Sava, for whom the Church is called, “is, for Serbian individuals, one of the vital in addition to most commemorated Saints in our non secular heritage.”
The Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
“He was born in 1175 in a royal household in Serbia — his father was an excellent unifier, and I’d say an excellent duke of Serbia,” Lijeskic stated. “After I say unifier, I imply he unified the Serbian territories and municipalities that shaped right into a state of Serbia. Saint Sava, who was his third and youngest son, wasn’t so dedicated to be any royalty or prince or no matter. However he was very dedicated to and within the Church and Christianity. So when he was 17, he determined to observe some Russian Orthodox monks who had been touring throughout Serbia and going in the direction of Mount Athos in Greece. The second he discovered himself there, he determined to turn out to be an Orthodox monk, and as you recognize, that’s formally leaving any alternative for the Crown, any alternative for the royalty, in addition to his private household and any type of wealth. So he stayed there and began studying about this deep spirituality and life, and miraculously, his father joined him a number of years after that. So he renounced the throne of Serbia, stepped again from the throne of Serbia, and gave it to his center son, and began following his youngest son and have become a monk.”
The Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
When Saint Sava’s father died, Lijeskic stated that the scenario in Serbia “began to collide in a bit little bit of an disagreeable means.” Since Saint Sava’s father had handed management of the dominion over to the center brother as a substitute of the eldest brother, the nation nearly descended into civil battle, however Saint Sava returned to Serbia along with his father’s relics and made peace between his older brothers. “The second-born son who was given the management of Serbia really grew to become the primary king of Serbia,” Lijeskic stated. “And through Saint Sava’s keep in Serbia, he began to construct hospitals and colleges — the primary academic establishments, in addition to the church buildings and the monasteries. He mainly put the academic system of Serbia on the map of the identified world. In order that’s why he’s thought of now the best enlightener of the Serbian individuals, the nice educator of the Serbian individuals.”
The Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
In 1219, Lijeskic added, Saint Sava made the Serbian church impartial of Constantinople and “grew to become the primary archbishop for the Serbian church.”
“So to summarize this whole life story of Saint Sava and why he’s so vital to our Serbian individuals, for us to dedicate to him this great church, it’s as a result of he’s the founding father of the Serbian Orthodox Church in addition to the primary Serbian Archbishop,” Lijeskic stated.
The Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
Development on the church, the fourth largest Orthodox Church on the planet, started in 1935 and took a long time — till 2004 for the outside and till 2020 for the inside — to finish. The development stopped and began at totally different factors all through historical past, notably in the course of the communist period of Yugoslavia, however now it boasts what Lijeskic informed Breitbart Information in the course of the tour is the one largest piece of art work on the planet, a collection of mosaic photographs all through the within of the constructing.
Mosaic within the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
Mosaic within the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia, on Might 23, 2026. (Jon Kahn/Breitbart Information)
“That is the most important mosaic artwork piece on the planet,” Lijeskic stated. “It’s positioned on a floor of greater than 17,000 sq. meters, and for those who ask your self if that is actual gold, it’s. It’s 24 karat gold positioned in between two layers of glass. The remainder of the depictions of the saints and parables and biblical tales are made from pure colours of stone, marble, glass — all totally different sorts of minerals. For instance, the black ones are constructed from the volcanic glass — obsidian — and for the Byzantine blue, it’s made from lapis lazuli. Miraculously, too, the mosaic was performed in solely 5 years. We began the mission in 2012, however the artists wanted two years to simply take the measurements and do your complete logistics. However then, it solely took 5 years to construct — so these are comparatively new. It was really accomplished seven years again from now, so in 2019.”
In whole, the mosaics embody thousands and thousands of items of gold and stones all through the church and make photographs of Jesus Christ and quite a few Orthodox saints and biblical figures.
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