Church sends Christmas message

Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) head His Holiness Patriarch Pavle and the archbishops have sent a Christmas message to the Serb Orthodox believers. Orthodox Christmas in Serbia is celebrated on Jan. 7, according to the Julian calendar. Church sends Christmas message The highest Church dignitaries called on Orthodox believers to return to the world that appeared with the birth of Jesus Christ, and to his depiction of the truth which is the sole foundation of life and the purpose of existence. The traditional Christmas message, to be read in all SPC temples in the country and abroad on Christmas day, addressed "to the sons and daughters of our Holy Church", was today read out in the Serbian Patriarchate by Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Coastlands in the name and with the blessing of Patriarch Pavle. The message expressed concern over "the betrayal of the most profound secret of life, which is the cause of the brutal economic crisis". The crisis, as the SPC archbishops said, is not only economic in character, but is much more profound and more complex, and it "conceals a spiritual, moral and political crisis, as well as the crisis of humanity itself." The message says that the consequences of that crisis are the disrespect of international rights, violation of justice and general financial chaos and that, as a rule, those who are the most affected and scared by it, are those who are richest, "as their greed for money and pleasures knows no Christian values". Kosovo-based Raska and Prizren Bishop Artemije has said in his Christmas message that conditions in which the Orthodox congregation in Kosovo will be celebrating this holiday, will greatly differ from the conditions in other parts of Serbia. "I am speaking about the well-known security situation and the ghetto-like way in which we live without many possibilities, fundamental human rights, even freedom of movement. However, even in such conditions, or lack of them, nothing can mar the internal joy of Christmas itself. In Kosovo and Metohija the birth of our Lord is celebrated according to traditional Serb customs," Bishop Artemije said. "If we were, God forbid, to lose Kosovo, if we were to accept its breaking away from Serbia, Serbia and we as a nation would cease to exist. Kosovo is our inalienable identity, out personal identity card without which we could not be recognized," Artemije stated in his Christmas message.

Church sends Christmas message

The highest Church dignitaries called on Orthodox believers to return to the world that appeared with the birth of Jesus Christ, and to his depiction of the truth which is the sole foundation of life and the purpose of existence.

The traditional Christmas message, to be read in all SPC temples in the country and abroad on Christmas day, addressed "to the sons and daughters of our Holy Church", was today read out in the Serbian Patriarchate by Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Coastlands in the name and with the blessing of Patriarch Pavle.

The message expressed concern over "the betrayal of the most profound secret of life, which is the cause of the brutal economic crisis".

The crisis, as the SPC archbishops said, is not only economic in character, but is much more profound and more complex, and it "conceals a spiritual, moral and political crisis, as well as the crisis of humanity itself."

The message says that the consequences of that crisis are the disrespect of international rights, violation of justice and general financial chaos and that, as a rule, those who are the most affected and scared by it, are those who are richest, "as their greed for money and pleasures knows no Christian values".

Kosovo-based Raška and Prizren Bishop Artemije has said in his Christmas message that conditions in which the Orthodox congregation in Kosovo will be celebrating this holiday, will greatly differ from the conditions in other parts of Serbia.

"I am speaking about the well-known security situation and the ghetto-like way in which we live without many possibilities, fundamental human rights, even freedom of movement. However, even in such conditions, or lack of them, nothing can mar the internal joy of Christmas itself. In Kosovo and Metohija the birth of our Lord is celebrated according to traditional Serb customs," Bishop Artemije said.

"If we were, God forbid, to lose Kosovo, if we were to accept its breaking away from Serbia, Serbia and we as a nation would cease to exist. Kosovo is our inalienable identity, out personal identity card without which we could not be recognized," Artemije stated in his Christmas message.