Statement of Patriarch Porfirije on events in Syria and the Middle East
Statement of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije on the latest events in Syria and the Middle East
For months, we have been following with great concern the tragic news about the suffering of people in Palestine, and now it seems that the fires of war, as if carried by the wind, are spreading further eastward to Syria. The suffering experience of the Serbian Orthodox people in recent decades, as well as of other neighboring peoples, compels me to appeal to all states and individuals involved in the events in the Middle East to remember that the East and West are permeated, and that the suffering of the people in Syria and Palestine can easily spread to other parts of the world.
I call upon the clergy, monastics, and Serbian Orthodox faithful to, as we pray daily for our suffering brothers and sisters on Kosovo and Metohija, seek from the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos their intercession for the Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, as well as for all other Christians in that part of the world sanctified by the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ and His first disciples. Let us pray for all those who suffer there, as well as for all who are enduring hardships in Ukraine and other parts of the world, mindful of the profound truth in the words of the Lord: if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it (1 Corinthians 12:26).
I especially express my prayerful, compassionate, and fraternal love and support to a true friend of the Church of Saint Sava, His Beatitude Patriarch of Antioch and All the East kyr John, and to his sacred clergy, who courageously, like the martyrs of the early centuries, bear witness to the love of God.
For months, we have been following with great concern the tragic news about the suffering of people in Palestine, and now it seems that the fires of war, as if carried by the wind, are spreading further eastward to Syria. The suffering experience of the Serbian Orthodox people in recent decades, as well as of other neighboring peoples, compels me to appeal to all states and individuals involved in the events in the Middle East to remember that the East and West are permeated, and that the suffering of the people in Syria and Palestine can easily spread to other parts of the world.
I call upon the clergy, monastics, and Serbian Orthodox faithful to, as we pray daily for our suffering brothers and sisters on Kosovo and Metohija, seek from the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos their intercession for the Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, as well as for all other Christians in that part of the world sanctified by the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ and His first disciples. Let us pray for all those who suffer there, as well as for all who are enduring hardships in Ukraine and other parts of the world, mindful of the profound truth in the words of the Lord: if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it (1 Corinthians 12:26).
I especially express my prayerful, compassionate, and fraternal love and support to a true friend of the Church of Saint Sava, His Beatitude Patriarch of Antioch and All the East kyr John, and to his sacred clergy, who courageously, like the martyrs of the early centuries, bear witness to the love of God.
ABM and Serbian Patriarch,
Porfirije
