Protest of the Serbian Church Hierarchs

DPROTEST OF THE SERBIAN CHURCH HIERARCHS

His Holiness Patriarch Pavle of Serbia on behalf of the Holy Bishops’ Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church launched a protest to US President George Bush, G. Silvester, Commander of the International Stabilisation Force /KFOR/ in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and V. Petrik, UN High Commissioner for Bosnia and Herzegovina, against actions of the UN contingent in Celebrik, Borje and Gocev (Republic Serbksa in Bosnia and Herzegovina). In the statement it was noted that on February 28, 2002, and March 1, 2002, the peacekeepers in search for Radovan Karadzic rushed into houses of peaceful citizens and caused considerable material damage.

Particular anxiety of the hierarchs of the Serbian Church was caused by the intrusion of armed soldiers into the Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin in Celebrik, where they broke in the altar and defiled holy items. ‘Such actions’, the statement reads, ‘make an impression that the soldiers’ main aim was to humiliate and insult the faithful of the Serbian Orthodox Church. We need to take appropriate measures to prevent such incidents, so that Serbian Orthodox faithful may not regard UN peacekeepers as their enemies.’ The above-mentioned actions also arouse deep anxiety among the faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church which repeatedly stated that the defiling of shrines and acts of violence in places of prayer and worship are intolerable.