Patriarch Porfirije Led Remembrance of NATO Agression of 1999

OCP News Service – 25/03/2023

Belgrade-Serbia: His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije led the day of remembrance for the victims of NATO aggression of 1999 in Yugoslavia, at the event that was held in St. George Square in Sombor. Patriarch lead a memorial service and a speech was delivered on the occasion.

Speech of His Holiness:

“Respected Mr. President of the Republic of Serbia, respected Mr. President of the Republic of Srpska, dear Effendi Jusufspahić, dear mufti and all other representatives of other religious communities, all respected representatives of various institutions from Serbia and from other countries who have come here, but, above all, dear brothers and sisters, dear Bačvani, citizens of Srem, Banat and Bačka and, of course, dear citizens of Sombor, respected Orthodox people, gathered tonight from almost every place in Bačka and a large number of places from Srem and Banat, but also from other regions, gathered to pray to the One in Trinity God, a prayer for the victims of the inhuman and illegal aggression of the largest military power in history, in the most disproportionate war conflict, the most disproportionate relationship of forces on the battlefield since the beginning of time!

We all know, from the city where the first bomb fell on this day in 1999, in these same early evening hours, when the first destructions of our wonderful and beloved Motherland, our nature, our property and our lives began, and the first person was killed A Serb named Radovan Medić, the first of thousands killed and wounded in this aggression. We remind ourselves and others that our people, but also the whole world, need peace most of all, what is most needed is mutual understanding, the awareness that there is room for every living soul under heaven’s cap, but also for every nation to organize itself and its life the way that suits him best.

Remembering those days when not only military facilities were destroyed by bombs in this city, but also factories, craft workshops, homes, schools, kindergartens, even the water sources from which the city of Sombor is supplied, while cruise missiles rushed through the surrounding roads to deliver deadly tovar, we are doing the same thing that the people of Sombor did that day, that spring of war in 1999. And the people of Sombor gathered in this very square that bears the name – and that is certainly not accidental – of St. George, but also through him and our God, the God of love, because it bears the name of the Holy Trinity, and, encouraging each other, helping each other, they directed people gathered here to give the world a message of peace on the one hand, and at the same time they prayed for peace. We do the same today. We gathered to pray for all those who have suffered unjustly from criminal shootings from heaven, where blessings should come from. And instead of the angel of God coming who brings peace, angels came who sowed death. We pray even more fervently today, because today a military conflict is being waged in Europe, which threatens to drag the whole world into its abyssal vortex, and we pray that where the war is being waged, in Ukraine, the weapons that sow death and shed as soon as possible stop innocent blood.

Some would like to push our Serbian people again, I would say too much, into conflicts, both among themselves, and also into conflicts with others. Others, who do not understand that the Christian God is a God of love and peace, and that the Church lives and witnesses peace, preaching it to all people and nations, demand that the Church, with its positions and statements, actually provide cover to those who would push us into mutual misunderstandings, into new wars and conflicts.

I will repeat what I have said countless times, but also what, I am sure, all of us gathered here today, unanimously think: the mission of the Church is to draw strength in every way, and above all, through prayer and faith in Christ, and to draw strength from the power of Christ’s peace it witnesses and builds peace and mutual trust between people and nations. I give you My peace– said none other than the Lord Himself. This peace is not like the peace of those who constantly talk about peace and speak more and louder than others, and at the same time produce endless quantities of the deadliest instruments of death and, of course, from that production live incomparably better than others. Let us first build and preserve God’s peace within ourselves, and then we will be able to make peace with other people, first with our closest neighbors, with our neighbors, with friends and colleagues at work, with everyone, and then we will be able to be true evangelists. of peace

We pray and fight so that our suffering is not repeated, neither to us nor to anyone else. Let’s persevere on the path of all talks and negotiations, on the path of dialogue aimed at even elementary mutual understanding between people. But let’s not accept ultimatums and blackmails at any cost, ultimatums and blackmails that imply giving away yourself and yours, renouncing yourself and yours. At the same time, let’s do our best to remain the last at the table where a solution is sought that will preserve peace for us and for everyone around us along with us. If the spiral of evil starts here again, there is no doubt and no arguments are needed that we will all be complete losers. Saying this, I gazed at the cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, the cross on which, following Christ, thousands and hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of men, women and children from the whole world, but also thousands of people, were crucified.

But, just as the Lord’s Crucifixion and Passion on the cross, the Resurrection gave not only meaning and inexhaustible hope, but also the ultimate essential victory, and not only to the latter’s sufferings in the justice of God, but also to every human activity, every work, creativity, joy, love, sorrow , so we see the baptism-resurrection sacrifice of the victims of our race as a pledge to our firm following Christ, firm walking in His footsteps of peace and love and undoubted, absolutely certain final victory.

Therefore, today we pray for all those who suffered in the spring of 1999, innocent victims, for our compatriots, our brothers and sisters. May God forgive their souls and grant them eternal rest, and to all the people who suffered at the hands of God’s justice during the NATO aggression against the Serbian people. In health, spiritual joy and every good thing, may God grant us to welcome the greatest holiday, the holiday of victory, the holiday of life and joy, the holiday of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. May you all be blessed by God and live for many years!”

Source:
OCP News Services