Statements

Statement on behalf of representatives of traditional Churches and religious communities

Welcoming showed partly understanding of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for a necessary perfection of the anti-discrimination Bill and having the understanding for political and constitutional aspects of a legislative procedure, the traditional Churches and religious communities focus their proposals on the major, and still present, defects of the new anti-discrimination Bill.

The traditional Churches and religious communities, though, believe that the Government was misled by the authors of the present Bill and some media regarding validity of the present Bill and also the intention and the content of the proposal of the traditional Churches and religious communities.

Explanation of basic positions of traditional Churches and religious communities on anti-discrimination Bill

An  essence  of an initiative of the traditional Churches and religious communities is that the anti-discrimination Bill adjusts to the standards of the acts of the Council of Europe, the European Union and developed democracies. 

Traditional Churches and religious communities again, welcome the willingness of the Government to perfect the anti-discrimination Bill , which is not simple under the pressure of libels and disinformation about the essence of the problem.

We support every effort to restrain discrimination, so we support and help bringing the proper act as soon as possible.

Members of Holy Synod of Bishops of the SOC meet with Minister Jeremic

Minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Serbia Vuk Jeremic met today with the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church before meetings which he is going to have at the headquarters of the UNESCO, as well as at other international forums, and which have as agoal to remind of five years of the March pogrom in Kosovo and Metohia (March 17, 2004) during which was destroyed 35 churches and monasteries.

SCOBA Statement: The Feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy

The Synodikon of Orthodoxy

March 8, 2009
The Feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy

The Hierarchs of the Standing Conference
of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas

To all the Clergy and the Laity of the Holy Orthodox Churches in the Americas

We, the Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, greet you with love and blessings on the Feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the first Sunday of Holy and Great Lent. This year, amidst the tumult and the insecurity that seem to pervade the globe, we exhort all of you to stand firm in your Orthodox Faith in God, the Faith that has established the world, the Faith that is the bedrock of our Holy Church, the pillar and ground of truth (1 Timothy 3:15).

Catechetical Homily for Holy and Great Lent 2009.

Prot. No. 94

+ B A R T H O L O M E W

By God's Grace Archbishop of Constantinople,
New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch
To the Plenitude of the Church,
Grace and Peace from our Savior Jesus Christ
And Prayers, Blessings and Forgiveness from Us
"Come, all peoples, let us today welcome
The gift of fasting
The period of repentance granted to us by God"
(Monday, First Week of Fasting)
Brethren and beloved children in the Lord,

The fast proposed to us by our Holy Church is not any deprivation, but a charisma. And the repentance to which it calls us is not any punishment, but a divine gift.

Protest of the SOC regarding the action of creating electronic database of cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija

Letter of the Holy Synod of Bishops regarding the action of creating electronic database regarding cultural treasures of Kosovo and Metohija

Regarding the action of creating electronic data of cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija by “the ministry of culture of Kosovo”, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church has sent a protest letter to the chief of the UNMIK Lamberto Zannieri :