On the feast of the Meeting of Our Lord (Sretenje), the Church remembers the moment when the Christ Child was brought into the Temple and encountered by the righteous Symeon and Anna (Luke 2:22–40). It is a feast of recognition, fulfillment, and promise: the Old meets the New; expectation gives way to revelation; hope takes flesh.

For the Serbian people, Sretenje bears a double light.

On this same date in 1804, the First Serbian Uprising began under the leadership of Karađorđe, marking the renewal of Serbian statehood after centuries of Ottoman rule. And in 1835, the Sretenje Constitution—among the most progressive in Europe at the time—was proclaimed in Kragujevac. Thus, Sretenje is not only a liturgical feast; it is also Serbia’s Statehood Day, a sign that faith and freedom, worship and civic life, have never been separate strands in the fabric of our history.

In the Temple at Jerusalem, the aged Symeon received the Child into his arms and declared Him “a light to enlighten the nations.” In our own history, Sretenje reminds us that authentic freedom is never merely political. It is spiritual before it becomes constitutional; it is rooted in the dignity of the human person created in the image of God.

The story of Serbian statehood cannot be told apart from the story of the Serbian Church. From the autocephaly secured by St. Sava in the thirteenth century, through the witness of Kosovo and Metohija, to the sufferings and renewals of the modern era, Church and people have walked a single path, sometimes triumphant, often cruciform, always sustained by faith.

That is why inheritance matters.

Inheritance is not nostalgia. It is responsibility. It is the living transmission of memory, prayer, culture, and sacrifice from one generation to the next. Without inheritance, there is no identity; without identity, there is no freedom worthy of the name.

In honor of Sretenje, Sebastian Press offers 50% off a carefully curated collection of titles that embody this inheritance:

• Foundational works preserving the Christian heritage of Kosovo and Metohija and the Serbian Orthodox presence in America

• Spiritual classics by St. Abba Justin Popović and St. Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović

• Studies of Serbian American history and culture

• Volumes that honor the memory of martyrdom and witness

• Books that bring the warmth of Serbian piety, art, and everyday holiness into the home

Together, these works form more than a seasonal collection. They form a little library of identity, a way to pass on the faith, the story, and the spiritual vision that have shaped Serbian life across centuries and continents.

Sretenje teaches us that meeting Christ transforms history. It transforms nations. It transforms families. The question is whether we will recognize Him, and whether we will recognize the gift entrusted to us.

This feast invites us not only to remember, but to receive.

May this holy day strengthen both our faith and our gratitude for the freedom we have received, and the inheritance we are called to preserve.