Government Banned Patriarch Porfirije from Entering Kosovo and Metohija

Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia

OCP News Service – 27/12/2022

Belgrade – Serbia: Patriarch Porfirije Archbishop of Pec and Patriarch of Serbia was stopped by government authorities at the crossing of Merdare and told that he was forbidden to enter the Province on December 26, 2022, on his way to the Patriarchate of Pec. Patriarch was on his way to the monastery as part of the Christmas celebration.

Patriarch responded on his Instagram: “As a Patriarch, I went to the first and most important seat of my church. As a priest, I went to be with my people on the eve of the most joyous holiday. As a citizen, I went to my house, to my home”

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić visited Patriarch on December 27, 2022, and discussed the current situation and border tension with Kosovo and responded: “I introduced the patriarch with the situation from different angles. I think that yesterday’s decision to ban him from going to Kosovo and Metohija, which the Pristina authorities carried out and not allowing him to go to our sanctuary, speaks best of those who organized it, and that is only partly the Pristina regime. They announced all day long how harshly they will condemn what Pristina did, when in fact we realized that we Serbs were to blame. It is one of the biggest shames they could afford. They can neither take the patriarch nor the church from the souls of the people who are on Kosovo and Metohija,”

Source:
OCP News Service