Serbian Patriarch Porfirije Officiates Christmas Morning Liturgy, His Message Read After Midnight Divine Service

Patriarch Porfirije (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije, served the holy liturgy in the Saint Sava Church in Belgrade in the morning on Jan. 7, when Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas.

The liturgy was attended by some cabinet ministers and Cardinal Ladislav Nemet, the Archbishop of Belgrade. Bishop Aleksej of Hvosno officiated the Christmas midnight liturgy, followed by the reading of the Patriarch’s Christmas message.

In his message, the Patriarch spoke about the tragedy in Novi Sad, appealing to “the estranged brothers to, following the example from the time of Saint Sava, embrace each other to achieve peace in the country.” Mentioning the suffering in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine, Patriarch Porfirije said that “many tragedies, conflicts and wars start out by dehumanization of fellow humans, and therefore it is paramount for all to stop using the language which first calls another human being a stranger, then an opponent, an enemy, and finally a non-human.”

In the part referring to Kosovo and Metohija, Patriarch Porfirije said that “in their centuries-old homeland, the Serbs have been the most endangered and most unprotected people in Europe.” He stressed that the Serbs “have been exposed to pressure, arrests, violent hijacking of municipal self-governments, shutting of local health services, seizure of their land and other private property, destruction of their graves and cultural monuments, and have been constantly threatened and persecuted.”