Serbian Orthodox Church calls for remembrance of victims of vicious disease

Tanjug/Zoran Žestić

The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) called the faithful in its Christmas Encyclical to remember the victims of what it said is “a vicious disease”.

The SPC marks time by the Julian calendar, celebrating Christmas on January 7 by the Gregorian calendar. The traditional Christmas greeting is God’s Peace – Christ is Born.

The Christmas Encyclical called the faithful to “remember those who suffered, those who have been treated unjustly, especially those who have lost their loved ones to the vicious disease in these hard days”.

The church said that “the message of Christmas obliges us to build peace around ourselves everywhere”. It added that everyone should express gratitude to the doctors and medical staff “who are unselfishly helping every man, often at the expense of their own life”. The church called the faithful to safeguard their own health and lives as well as those of others and keep others safe “in the way recommended by the health services of our native land and the lands in which our people live across the world”.

It warned of unrest which paralyses the mind and forces people to close up and feel lost and impotent, adding that “the unrest capturing people today is the consequence of a spiritual vacuum and a life without God”. The church called “our God loving people across the world to keep their Orthodox faith, language and script whatever continent they live on”. According to the SPC, the Serbs are “an ancient Christian people …. who have become part of the culture of the entire Christian world”.

“We are with our brothers and sisters in Kosovo, the cradle of our nation, this Christmas as well,” it said, recalling their destroyed homes and temples.

The entire encyclical was published in English on the SPC web site here.