Message to the Participants in the Religious Summit “Peace and Tolerance in Kosovo” March 16 – 18, 1999, Vienna, Austria

MESSAGE TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE RELIGIOUS SUMMIT
“PEACE AND TOLERANCE IN KOSOVO”
March 16 – 18, 1999, Vienna, Austria

Honorable brothers and sisters – participants in the peacemaking forum in Vienna:

Please accept my cordial greetings and wishes of blessed success in your work.

The efforts for building and preserving peace undertaken by followers of various religions in cooperation of state and public forces are as important today as never before; for there are continued attempts to divide believers, to set them against one another, to use their feelings for fanning up sinful passions. This, however, compels us only to intensify our efforts leading to reconciliation and accord.

The situation around Kosovo is one of the most serious problems requiring our common involvement. It is my profound conviction that there are all the possibilities available to overcome the difficulties and differences peacefully and to harmonize inter-ethnic relations in the Kosovo territory. The ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo should enjoy firm guarantees of free national and cultural development and respect for human rights. At the same time, it is necessary to remember that there are no grounds whatsoever, either legal or moral, for alienating the territory from Serbia, which has been historically one of the symbols of the Serbian spiritual tradition, culture and statehood and the spiritual center of the fraternal Serbian Orthodox Church.

My flock highly appreciate the efforts taken by the international community and individual countries to promote the establishment of lasting peace in Kosovo. It is necessary to ensure, however, that these efforts should strictly conform to the international law and exclude any possibility for illegal and morally dubious attempts to interfere forcibly in the situation on the part of individual states or groups of states. I believe it also important to expose resolutely any double standards with regard to the Kosovo and other similar situations. Those who apply the same legal or moral standard in different ways loses inevitably the right to step forth as an authoritative arbitrator.

The Balkans already became once the hotbed of a world war. The history of the 20th century was repeatedly darkened by bloodshed in this land. Great powers, among which I rank Russia as well, have committed not a few mistakes which cost much suffering. It is sufficient to recall the hasty process of turning the Yugoslavian administrative borders into interstate frontiers, which left no chance for preventing quite a number of armed conflicts.

We, religious leaders, cannot rectify the mistakes made by politicians. It is in our power, however, to call nations to reconciliation, to oppose the power of enmity, pride, greed and conceit with the power of love. Let us then do all that is possible for us to prevent a fratricidal strife from flaming up, as thousand and thousands of human lives will be burnt in it. Let the Kosovo people build their life in peace and cooperation with each other. It is to each of them that I would like to address the call of the Psalmist David: “Depart from evil; and do good; seek peace, and pursue it” (Ps. 34:14).

PATRIARCH ALEXY II OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA