Message by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia to His Holiness Patriarch Pavle of Serbia

MESSAGE BY HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH ALEXY II OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA TO HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH PAVLE OF SERBIA

On March 25, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, sent a letter to the Primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The full text of the letter is given below. HIS HOLINESS PAVLE, ARCHBISHOP OF PEC, METROPOLITAN OF BELGRADE-KARLOVCI SERBIAN PATRIARCH Your Holiness, beloved in the Lord brother and concelebrant at the altar of God!

It was with a deep pain of heart that the whole Russian Orthodox Church heart received news on the bombing of the territory of the Republic of Yugoslavia fraternal to the Russian Orthodox people. The blood of peaceful people is being shed on the much-suffered Serbian land again, and the most unprotected, old people, women and children are perishing. The brutal military force is destroying dwelling houses, industrial objects and monuments of culture which have been carefully preserved by the Serbian people. In spite of the protests of many sensible people, the rude pragmatism of the NATO military politicians prevailed over the responsible good sense and patient and painstaking diplomatic work for the peaceful solution of the Kosovo problem. Yet the believing heart knows that the blood of the innocent victims cries to God and that God is never mocked. No good objectives can be achieved through evil means!

Kosovo for the Orthodox Serbs is not only a geographical object on the map, but the sacred place of their forefathers and the land of old church and monasteries which have intransient spiritual and cultural importance. The Russian Orthodox Church is in profound sympathy with the position of the fraternal Serbian Orthodox Church’s authorities on the inadmissibility of solving the problem of Kosovo through NATO military means, as this conflict is not just a territorial one. A significant role in the just solution of the conflict must be played by a thoughtful evaluation of the national, religious, ethnic, psychological and spiritual factors of the confrontation in Kosovo. We are saddened by the fact that these circumstances are not always taken into consideration in the process of negotiations and that immediate political objectives sometimes have priority over justice and adherence to the truth of God.

Your Holiness! On behalf of the whole Russian Orthodox Church I state our fraternal support and our love to you and to the whole Serbian Orthodox Church. Our archpastors and pastors, the monastics and laymen, all Orthodox Christians of the Russian Church join in their prayers to the Lord for the suffering Serbian brothers and sisters and for all innocent sufferers in the Serbian land. We offer up our prayers for the intercession to the Protectress of Christendom, our Most Holy Lady and the Mother of God and to all saints, so that the Almighty God in his righteous judgement and ineffable mercy takes away sorrow from the Serbian land and we can ‘walk before the Lord in the land of the living’ (Ps.116:9).

It is with all my heart that I ask Your Holiness to convey to the suffering flock of the Serbian Orthodox Church our support, love and the firm faith in that the long-awaited peace will reign in your Fatherland through the efforts of all sensible people and we can jubilantly say the words of the Prophet Isaiah: ‘Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation’ (Is.25:9).

With fraternal love in Christ,

+ ALEXY, PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA