Information Service of THE WORLD
COUNCIL OF CHURCHES AND Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, and Rev. Dr Keith Clements, the General Secretary of the Conference of European Churches, addressed two letters to His Holiness Pavle, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and Mr Michael Steiner, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Head of the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo. The two officials of these two international ecumenical organisations expressed their profound concern “at the continued violence facing members of the Serbian Orthodox Church and its cultural and spiritual property in Kosovo and Metochia in the recent period”. They consider the increase of deliberate attacks on the churches and holy places of the Serbian Orthodox Church to be “painful and scandalous manifestation of the extremism and instability” in the region. Condemning strongly these acts of violence, the General Secretaries of WCC and CEC with sadness observed that “the international protection provided by the interim authorities in Kosovo to the minority communities, and particularly to the Serbian community” is inadequate. Therefore, they appealed to Mr Steiner and all the other responsible authorities to ensure effective security for all the peoples in Kosovo and Metochia as well as for their spiritual and cultural heritage. The highest officials of WCC and CEC informed His Holiness Patriarch Pavle that they would continue to work on the improvement of dialogue and peace-building in the region, and that they would strive to raise the awareness of the international authorities about the difficult situation of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metochia. |
