Serbian Orthodox Church backs country’s EU Bid

28/1/2010

* Serbian Church remains opposed to Kosovo independence

By Aleksandar Vasovic

BELGRADE, Jan 28 (Reuters) – The traditionally conservative Serbian Orthodox Church will back the country’s bid to join the European Union, but remains opposed to the independence of Kosovo, the church’s new leader said on Thursday.

The Orthodox Church is an important moral force in Serbian society and politicians often seek its support, including on issues such as the EU accession bid.

Irinej, 80, was elected last week as patriarch of the church with an estimated 11 million people of Orthodox background in Serbia, neighboring countries, the United States, Australia and Western Europe.

“We hope that Europe will respect our identity, our cultural heritage, our Orthodox faith and if that’s the case, there’s no reason for scepticism about the European community,” Irinej told a news conference, the first ever by a patriarch.

“Historically Serbia is Europe. We belong to that family of nations,” said the elderly church leader, who appeared at ease taking questions from dozens of reporters.

Serbia applied to join the EU in December, nine years after the ouster of autocratic leader Slobodan Milosevic whose nationalist policies, backed by conservatives in the Orthodox Church, stoked the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Irinej said his church would remain opposed to the independence of Kosovo which seceded from Serbia two years ago, but also called for reconciliation.

“Over the centuries that land was soaked with Serbian, with Christian blood, but we must seek cohabitation and common destiny with other nations there,” he said.

The Serbian Orthodox Church cherishes Kosovo as the cradle of its medieval civilisation, although Albanians, most of Muslim heritage, are the overwhelming majority there today. The Serbian Orthodox Church has dozens of monasteries and churches there.

Although Irenej took over immediately after the election last week, his official enthronement is scheduled for April 25 in the medieval Pec Patriarchate in Kosovo.

In a break with past church policy, Irinej said that the Serbian Orthodox Church would welcome Pope Benedict XVI in 2013 to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Milan edict, a document that promoted religious tolerance and legalized Christianity in the then Roman Empire.

(Editing by Adam Tanner and Ralph Boulton)

Source: