Father Sava Janjic, the Abbott of the Visoki Dečani

Father Sava Janjic, the Abbott of the Visoki Dečani Monastery in Dečani, Kosovo burned the badnjak, a log, for the Serbian Orthodox Christmas Eve, Jan. 6. The badnjak is cut on the morning of Christmas Eve and is then placed on a fire after the Christmas Eve vigil. “By burning the wood we get the warmth and the light of the new God, Lord Jesus Christ so by burning the old we celebrate the new God, who is our savior,” explained Sava. “We also sang our hymns [as he burned the badnjak] because it is through Adam and Eve taking the forbidden fruit, that they lost the blessing of the Lord, but actually through the tree, which the Lord suffered, we received salvation so the tree is very blessed. When the tree burns it produces light and warmth and that is our Christian faith.”