Department for External Church Relations
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Message from the Primate of the Russian Church to His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia in connection with blasphemous act on the ruins of ancient Ulpiana
DECR Communications Service, 14.09.2024.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' sent a message to His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia in connection with the blasphemous act of Kosovo Albanians on the ruins of ancient Ulpiana.
To His Holiness Porfirije, Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci, Patriarch of Serbia
Your Holiness, beloved Brother in the Lord and Concelebrant at God’s Throne!
It is with deep sorrow that I learned about the blasphemous action recently committed by Kosovo Albanians on the ruins of ancient Ulpiana.
A composition of three crosses, reminiscent of the events of sacred history on Golgotha, was publicly set on fire at a local festival as part of a low farce performance. Open desecration of the image of the Holy Cross is a challenge to all Christians and an insult to the feelings of both Orthodox and Catholics, among whom there are Kosovo Albanians.
This heinous act was staged in Kosovo and Metohija, the sacred Serbian region, for dechristianization of which the enemies of the Cross of the Lord and Holy Orthodoxy have long and stubbornly fought.
The faithful of the Russian Church cherish the memory of many Serbian brothers and sisters killed or expelled from their homeland, of the thousands of destroyed crosses and tombstones in Serbian cemeteries, of the hundreds of churches and monasteries of the St. Sava’s Church desecrated, burned or blown up by extremists.
I always pray for good health of Your Holiness and for granting the strength to your Christ-loving flock who suffer oppression and tribulations in the land of Old Serbia. May 'the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort’ (2 Cor. 1:3) protect your children and ‘wipe away every tear from their eyes’ (Rev. 7:17), enable them to hold out in ordeals and shield them from all misfortunes and adversities.
With brotherly love in the Lord,
PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUS'
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