ZAGREB, 2 August, 2022 - The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), Patriarch Porfirije, on Tuesday consecrated in Smiljan, near Gospić, the church where scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla was christened.
Milutin Tesla, Nikola Tesla's father, served in the church where Nikola Tesla was christened in 1856.
The patriarch said that the church consecrated today was built when the Serbs came to the Lika region in the 1600s as "a place of prayer, peace, love and gathering, meeting with God and each other, a place of finding peace in Christ, peace within oneself and between one another."
Pofirije said that "the Ustasha wanted to eliminate this place, so the temple was destroyed in 1941. It was rebuilt in 1986 and devastated again in the 1990s, and now it has been rebuilt, in the same place where the original church was built in the 17th century."
He recalled that this is the church where the world-famous scientist Nikola Tesla was christened.
Messages for peace between Serbs and Croats
When asked if he was satisfied with the unity in Croatia, the Serb Orthodox dignitary said that "one can and should always do better, everywhere, we should always try to do more and be better every day, wherever we are, in Croatia or in some other place."
Lika-Senj County Deputy Prefect Milan Uzelac said that Patriarch Porfirije's message was a message of peace "for all of us who are here, and for peace between Serbs and Croats."
