Memorandum of Cooperation Signed Between the Holy Monastery of Hilandar and the School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy

On the eve of the Feast of the Transfer of the Relics of Saint Sava from Bulgaria to Serbia, on May 18, 2026, the Very Reverend Archimandrite Methodius, abbot of the Holy Imperial Serbian Lavra of Hilandar on Mount Athos, visited the School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy in Belgrade. Accompanying the abbot was the monk Jelisej, a member of the Hilandar brethren.

On this occasion, in the presence of numerous teachers, students, and parents, the Hilandar monks were welcomed by the school principal, Biljana Vasić, after which students performed a program, followed by the opening of an exhibition of original photographs by the monk Milutin Hilandarac, titled ‘Through the Lens of a Hilandar Monk.’

The visit of Archimandrite Methodius was in response to the School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy’s sincere wish to establish cooperation with the Holy Monastery of Hilandar, which was confirmed by the ceremonial signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation during the student program.

The cooperation within the initiative ‘Hilandar Lighthouse’ involves students encountering the first Serbian classroom in various ways—through visits by monks and experts in Athonite spirituality, pilgrimage trips, and curricular and extracurricular activities.

The school places particular emphasis on the study of the ‘Hilandar Medical Codex’ within its regular educational programs.

The attendees were first warmly welcomed by the school principal, who also expressed gratitude and hope that the cooperation would be lasting and successful. The project’s initiators, teachers Aleksandar Bisić and Božidar Pavlović, also addressed those present.

In his address, the Hilandar abbot expressed his joy at meeting and at the beginning of cooperation with the first vocational secondary school in Serbia, especially emphasizing Saint Sava’s educational legacy.

As a memento of the event and of his first visit, Archimandrite Methodius presented the school, on behalf of the monastic brethren of the Monastery of Hilandar, with an icon of Saint Sava and Saint Simeon the Myrrh-flowing, bearing a dedication.

Photo by: Marko Dimitrijević