Orthodox Bishop Claims Church Has Voiced its Stance on Kosovo

Enthronement of the new Patriarch at a service in the Belgrade Cathedral church(BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/MO)

In response to public calls for the Serbian Orthodox Church to voice its opinion on the EU plan for Kosovo, Bishop Irinej, the head of the Eparchy of Backa, told the March 16 edition of the Politika daily that the Church has already explicitly and publicly stated its stance that Kosovo and Metohija is an integral and inalienable part of Serbia.

The bishop explained that the Church has addressed “everything that is within its purview” and that he, therefore, cannot understand the unyielding demands for it to offer an opinion regarding the EU proposal for normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia proper.

Irinej added that Patriarch Porfirije reiterated the stance that Kosovo and Metohija is an inviolable part of Serbia as recently as Jan. 20, at the feast of his patron St. John, which was, among others, attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

“[The patriarch] also said that keeping Kosovo and Metohija within Serbian borders is a constitutional obligation and imperative, both for the Church and for the state. Those who find the patriarch’s and Church’s stance on Kosovo and Metohija unclear or insufficient, obviously lack an understanding of the Church and its role in the world,” Irinej concluded.