President Vucic Seeks Blessing from Serbian Patriarch Ahead of Trip to U.N.

Patriarch Porfirije, Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

On May 20, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic attended a morning service at Belgrade’s St. Sava Temple and sought the blessing of Patriarch Porfirije ahead of his scheduled trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly session where the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica resolution will be debated.

“Ahead of my trip to New York, I sought the blessing of Serbian Patriarch Porfirije and prayed to God at our holy Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade. I’m going to New York to fight for the future of our country with all my heart and might,” Vucic posted on Instagram. “Those against us are powerful. . . [but] nothing is holier to us than Serbia,” he wrote.

During the service, the patriarch stated that the resolution on Srebrenica represents an “untruth and injustice against the Serbian people,” the Serbian Orthodox Church has announced. “Unfortunately, the world we live in has forgotten the genocide committed against the Serbian people in the 20th century, and in the centuries before it,” Patriarch Porfirije is quoted as saying.

“That is why we raise our voice so strongly today and point out the untruth and attempt at unprecedented historical revisionism, where, through simple inversion, the Serbian people – the victim of numerous genocides and ethnic cleansings – is being declared the perpetrator of a genocide. We are not belittling the proportions of the crime in Srebrenica, but, as Orthodox Serbs, we also refuse to stay mum regarding the crimes committed against the Serbian people in the area surrounding Srebrenica,” the patriarch stated.

The service was further attended by Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, Foreign Minister Marko Djuric and Minister Without Portfolio Nenad Popovic, along with the president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik.