Patriarch Irinej of Serbia: Schism is not defeated by voyages of politicians to the Church hierarchs

Serbian and Ukrainian people have a lot in common: they have survived the collapse of their country, fratricidal war, church schism. These processes are kept afloat by external political forces, hostile to Orthodoxy, said Primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church Holy Patriarch Irinej of Serbia during his meeting with Metropolitan of Zaporozhye Luke, writes the site of Zaporozhye UOC eparchy.

During his talk Holy Patriarch Irinej noted that “only Orthodoxy can be a linchpin for the nation’s consolidation. Therefore, the Church continually addresses Serbian people, to the government of the country, all those who can influence the arrival of peace across the region with an expostulation saying that betrayal of God for the sake of earthly glory, vanity and wealth, the use of injustice and violence, ransacking for gratification of one’s interests; human victims for the sake of one’s ideas, ideological convictions and rating percentage will never lead to peace.”

The Patriarch noted there is also a schism within the Church of Serbia and emphasized that “these schismatic organizations have nothing to do with the Ecumenical Orthodoxy. Both Serbian and Ukrainian dissenters are not recognized by any of the Orthodox Churches in the world – they are wounds on the body of the Church having been inflicted by the devil’s gimmick as a result of human and political ambitions but not at all by the divine will. The only way to remedy schism and make schismatics come back to the Orthodox family is canonical, whereas voyages and visits of politicians to the Church hierarchs are futile.”