Serbian patriarch: Give up on individualism, return to God, liturgy

BELGRADE - In his Easter epistle, Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church called on the faithful and all people of good will to give up on individualism and return to God and liturgical life, noting that that is the only substantial answer to all problems around the world and to the threat of disputes and deep misunderstandings that have emerged in Serbia.

The modern man has also become an atheist who does not engage in physical contact with others, but instead makes contacts on social media networks, where he sees others as enemies restricting his freedom and threatening him as a being, the patriarch said in the epistle.

"Hence, the man of the modern civilisation has also begun to create single-nation states and divide himself from others, considering them as undesirable and as enemies," he also said.

Such an understanding of existence has resulted in unprecedented catastrophes, causing two world wars and enormous suffering, which has continued to the present time, he noted.

"An example of that is the suffering of our people in Kosovo-Metohija at the hands of local ethnic Albanian authorities, which are expelling the Serbs from their ancestral homes, harassing, on a daily basis, those who remain there, out of a desire to create their own state in Serbian territory consecrated by martyrs and ascetics as well as by a multitude of Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries," he noted.

"However, it would be better for all living in this territory, as well as for all people around the world, to live in peace with each other, respecting each other and helping each other in everyday life. Because the earthly empire is an empire that lasts only for a short time," the patriarch also said.