SPC Patriarch in Easter message: Liturgical way of life the answer to problems

“With great pain, experiencing the tragedy of war suffering throughout the world, and deeply aware of the danger of discord and deep misunderstandings that have affected our country and regions, as a Church we cannot send a different message but this: the liturgical way of life is the only essential answer to these problems,” the Patriarch emphasized.

He called on all actors in society to build peace, mutual respect, and dialogue for the good and progress of the people.

The Patriarch said that the man of modern civilization has founded life on himself, without Christ and other people, that he understands himself as an individual, and that he sees in another man an enemy threatening his freedom and his being.

It is because of this that the man of modern civilization began to create nation-states states and to separate himself from others, considering others undesirable and enemies, which resulted in catastrophes and caused two world wars, and continues at present day, he pointed out.

“An example of this is the suffering of our people in Kosovo and Metohija at the hands of the local Albanian authorities, who are expelling Serbs from their centuries-old hearths, and those who remain are harassed on a daily basis, wanting to create their own state on Serbian territory sanctified by martyrs and ascetics, as well as numerous Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries,” said Patriarch Porfirije.

He added that it would be better for everyone in that area, but also for all people in the world, to live in peace with each other, respecting and helping each other.

The Patriarch pointed out that the individualistic way of life should be opposed and that one should live “according to the example of the liturgical way of existence of the Church.”

He said the liturgy shows that nature was given by God for people to live from it and to preserve it and offer it to God, because God also created it to exist eternally.

The Patriarch pointed out that people today have brought nature to the brink of ruin, exploiting it for individual enjoyment, and that people will also cease to exist because they are part of nature.

Patriarch Porfirije ended his message with the traditional greeting “Christ is risen, indeed He is risen.”