Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
May 29, 2006

SERBIAN PATRIARCH RECEIVES BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA HIGH REPRESENTATIVE

His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle, together with His Eminence Metropolitan Nikolaj of Dabro-Bosnia, received Christian Schwartz-Schilling, the High Representative of the international community in Sarajevo, in the Patriarch’s residence in Belgrade today.

In his welcoming remarks Patriarch Pavle emphasized that he was born, educated and served in a multiethnic environment. “In multinational environments there are human problems that are very quick and easy to resolve if everyone behaves in a manner appropriate for any person.” His Holiness emphasized that it is essential in difficult situations that need to be resolved that all peoples are treated equally because all people in the world have the right to a peaceful and dignified life. The Patriarch emphasized that he hoped that all problems would be transcended in the interest of peace, freedom and respect for human rights.

The important guest from Sarajevo thanked the Patriarch for finding the time to meet with him. Mr. Schwartz-Schilling emphasized that in the four months that he has held the position of the High Representative of the international community in Sarajevo he has tried to emphasize the importance of the churches and religious communities in a multiethnic society, and especially the importance of careful and unambiguous use of the media. During this period he met with all the heads of the churches and religious communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We have all sinned and we make mistakes. However, the leaders of the churches and religious communities are responsible for leading their people in the right direction. That is why the church has a key role in resolving all problems because its mission should be to witness morality, justice and peace. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is a microcosm of European history, all people who live there should work toward and desire to become a part of Europe.” With respect to the restitution of church property, especially the building where the St. Vasilije Ostroski Orthodox Theological Faculty was housed in Belgrade, Mr. Schwartz-Schilling emphasized that a law on restitution of church property has not been passed in Bosnia-Herzegovina but that they are making an effort for this building of the Metropolitanate of Dabro-Bosnia to be returned to its owner in a manner that would satisfy everyone.

Patriarch Pavle emphasized at the end of the meeting that justice and freedom are the common interest of all peoples, and all churches and religious communities. It is this end towards which religious leaders must strive, for all of us are descended from Adam and Eve, and we should live together in peace. “That is why we should be on the same path, as the Holy Apostle Paul says, to be God’s fellow workers, because if we make the effort God will help us, too.”

After his visit to the Belgrade Patriarchate, Mr. Schwartz-Schilling also visited the Orthodox cathedral (Saborna crkva) in Belgrade.

COMMUNIQUE OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX PARISH OF KOTOR REGARDING THE CONSECRATION OF SOME BUILDING IN KOTOR’S OLD TOWN

Yesterday and this morning state television announced among its major news headlines the consecration of some building in Kotor’s old town, calling it a “Montenegrin church”. This information would not be worthy of our attention, like the organizers of this event who call themselves the “Montenegrin Orthodox Church” if the picture accompanying the text did not depict the church of St. Luke in Kotor instead of the building that is the subject of this event. Therefore, we are informing the public of the misuse of a photograph of the Serbian Orthodox church of St. Luke in Kotor, and that this is not an activity of the Orthodox Church but of a quasi-religious organization registered with the Cetinje police which pretends to be the equivalent of the canonical Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral.

Tomorrow the defrocked priest Miras Dedejic and others like him will practice sorcery in a modest sized residential home next to the Kotor prison to which they have added a bell tower and bell, and this is to be a so-called church. If it was not horrible, it would be only sad. However, starting tomorrow we will have a quarrelsome church in Kotor, a bone of contention, bequeathed to us by the now deceased hater of everything that is Orthodox and Serbian, and who found a way for a house left by a honorable Catholic woman to the church of the Holy Virgin in Prcanj to get into the hands of the aforementioned company. It has not been modified to satisfy anyone’s religious needs but to definitively split up the Orthodox body.

We will not comment on the strange alchemy according to which a residential building has been transformed into a quasi-sacred one with papers dated and antedated by various offices of both the municipality and the republic. We live in a land of wonders where anything is possible. It is possible for defrocked priests to wear the robes and vestments of a canonical priest, to falsely present themselves and remain unpunished, and for state television to allot room for them as if this was a very important state project. Our commentary is in the spirit of what His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew wrote to Premier Milo Djukanovic in April 2000: “...If a local church functions through defrocked persons, it is not recognized by any Orthodox Church, and that is why the political authorities of a people should not lead their people into religious isolation and schism with the body of the whole community of Orthodox Churches.”

Therefore, the building that is being opened tomorrow will not be a church, it will not serve Montenegrins to be what their ancestors were but a courtyard for entering the union and, what is even worse, conflict with one’s own brothers.

We call on all Orthodox faithful not to react to provocation but to remain true to their One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and its one canonical Metropolitanate in this region.

In Kotor, May 27, 2006

Source: Svetigora Press

THROUGH FAITH IN GOD’S SON WE GAIN TRUE FREEDOM

His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral served Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in Cetinje Monastery yesterday with the clergy of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral.

During the liturgy Metropolitan Amfilohije addressed the faithful with a homily in which he spoke about today’s Holy Gospels and the man blind from birth to whom the Lord restored sight, opening not only his physical but also his spiritual eyes, and about the essence of our Christian faith, which is the foundation of our freedom.

“The confession of Christ as God’s Son is the essence of our Christian faith, it is the foundation and basis of our freedom from all confinements and limitations here on earth.” In this confession we recognize not only God, who is God and what God is like but we also recognize who we are and what is the purpose of our life, that we may grow using Christ’s growth as our measure. In the words of the Holy God-Seer Paul, that we remove the old man from us and that we put on the new one, created in the likeness of the One who created him, and through Him as the way we learn the truth. Learning the truth, we gain true freedom and true life. People think that freedom is gained here on earth of its own accord and that independence from forces that imperil man and the human being and his freedom can be acquired by the placement of some kind of worldly borders. Only those people who are short-sighted can think this, those for whom God has not opened the eyes of their heart as he opened them for this blind man, for there are physical and spiritual blind men. Spiritual blindness is far more dangerous than physical blindness,” said the Metropolitan.

He added that true freedom can be gained only through knowledge of truth, and knowledge of truth is impossible to acquire without knowing the Son of God. “Only the one who believes in Him, lives according to Him and His commandments gains freedom from sin, death and the devil. Through this faith in the Son of God we gain true freedom that we cannot receive from either people or angels. Only He who is eternal truth can give this eternal and intransient freedom,” said Metropolitan Amfilohije in his homily to the faithful gathered for Holy Divine Liturgy in Cetinje Monastery.

Source: Svetigora Press (V.K.)

[Serbian Translation Services]