Sretenje (Encounter) or Candelmas (The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple) in Western Christianity, 15/02 February-The Independence Day of Serbia is a date which was in 2001 taken as a Day of the Serbian Armed Forces. This day was taken as a starting day for the establishment of the modern Serbian state and as a national holiday as a remembrance day on Candlemas Day in 1804 when the First Serbian Uprising began in Orasac, and on the same day in 1835 Duke Milos Obrenovic proclaimed the First Serbian Constitution, which was regarded as one of the most liberal and modern constitutions of European in those times.

Today once again, Serbia has its own army, which failed to exist to on 1 December 1918, with the creation of The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, General Zivojin Misic told King Aleksandar I as early as march 1919 :” “I deeply regret that in the face of God we deluded with some notion of union and brotherhood…” .
European countries do not have an official holiday of their Armed Forces, as they actively participate in the celebration of the Independence Day; but as the victories in the First Serbian Uprising led to the creation of the new Serbian state in XIX c when also first army forms were established it can be said that the Celebration of Independence of Serbia encompasses the celebration of the Armed Forces.

THE SYMBOLS OF PATRIOTISM
This choice of the Day of Serbian Armed Forces speaks more about us than about our forefathers and important events because what we select from our past as our starting point shows what it is that we hold worthy. We have a plethora of past examples of our love for our country, and of the way of protecting it and keeping it. This time we have chosen a day which keeps alive the memory of our rebellion against tyranny, of a rebellion which grew into a movement for the national liberation in national, religious and social sense from Turkish rule and feudal duties, for the liberation of the church from forceful conversion into Islam and it predominantly testifies to nation’s resolve to become one of European people. Therefore Sretenje / Candlemas is a symbol of courage, commitment, justice, spirituality, freedom, in one word–of patriotism, which we are in need of today more than ever.
The celebration of history represents our special relation to history and has its roots in the unity between religion and history, that is, in the memorial character of Christianity. In polytheistic Roman times, the days of great victories were chosen as religious and commemoration days. The most important function of the commemoration day is integration-forming of national identity, and this is why the celebrations aimed at the feelings of the commemoration participants. The main forms of celebration were Holy Liturgy, commemorative speech, historical writings, festivity plays and theatre, and the memory of the dead-Memorial Mass and others. A special question is that of coincidence of celebration of the Independence Day and the Day of the Serbian Armed Forces. On the Great Christian Holiday-Candelmas ? What is this religious holiday which the Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates on 2 February Julian Day/15 February Gregorian Day?

GROWTH IN SPIRIT
Sretenje / Candelmas is dedicated to the memory of the Day when Joseph and Mary, 40 days after the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem and in line with the customs of those times, brought the child into Jerusalem, into the Temple, before the Lord. According to the law of the Old Testament, every first-born male child was to be dedicated to the Lord. A man named Simeon welcomed them at the Temple, to whom the Holy Spirit revealed that he would not see Death till he had seen the Messiah of the Lord. When they brought the child into the Temple to perform that operation which the Law commanded, Simeon, an old man, took him into his arms and said:” Now you may Now You shall dismiss your servant, in peace O Lord according to your word: for my eyes have seen your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel.
An orthodox theologist Aexander Scheman explaining the depth of meaning of this holiday: “What is more joyous than the encounter, than “ meeting with those you love”? And what is man’s life but an endless expectation of this encounter? And what is Simeon-who had spent his life waiting for this encounter with the Light which would illuminate the world and everything on it and with the joy with which it would cover this world-if not the symbol of man’s wonderful and exalting expectation, and of man’s true life? And how miraculous that these long expectations of Lord’s Light, joy and that the Lord’s fulfilling these expectations were granted to Simeon through Christ, the Godchild. Candlemas reveals life as a wonderful growth in spirit, which through growth, becomes increasingly more free, and deeper, purified from everything vile, incidental and vain. This festivity celebrates the joining of man’s soul with Love, a union with that which gives life and the will to transform this waiting into waiting for the Lord, Scheman concludes.

ORIGINS OF REBIRTH

In view of all the above said, the spiritual, political, ethical and other components of the life of Serbian people are vertically united. This holiday links the tradition of the Serbian Army dating from Stefan Nemanja, through Kings Stefan Prvovencani, Uros I, Milutin, Stefan Decanski, Tzar Dusan, Duke Lazar… Taking 15 February 1804, Sretenje, as the day of the Serbian Armed Forces should not be seen as “a short version of the Serbian history”. The SAF do not forsake its medieval traditions. The Fellow of the Academy of Serbian Sciences rightfully warns us:” We should go back to the source. Our sources are of extreme importance. We have to develop a free and critical spirit foremost towards ourselves. I insist on the spirit of Saint Sava, as this is where our roots are the most vital. And this is where our the umbilical chord with our past has been cut… Vuk Karadzic is to be partially blamed for this, as he weakened our link to the Middle Ages, and this is why there is a chasm between the medieval Serbia and modern times. Let me remind you that the founders of our medieval state were the founders of our medieval literature, more than literate, real literary writers: Stefan Prvovencani, Saint Sava while the founders of the modern Serbia were Kardordje and Duke Milos who were illiterate. This is a terrible gap.”
The views of the Nemanjic dynasty contain great ideas because they had great achievements, from a dependant zupanija they created an independent state and an autonomous Church, while by forming tzaric dominions and proclaiming the patriarchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church they became leaders in political and spiritual sense. By creative and critical acceptance of the standpoints, beliefs and values of the Nemanjic dynasty, great support would be given to the rebirth of Serbian people, and thus to the rebirth of the Serbian army in spiritual, conceptual and ethical sense.
Thus in the Day of the Serbian Armed Forces, political, military and spiritual aspects are united, so the members of the Serbian Armed Forces have every reason to celebrate and look forward to each new Candlemas festivity. As Ivan Iljin said: “Without the army which has attained a certain level of spiritually and professionalism, the country is left without defence; it falls apart and the nation vanishes from the face of the Earth.