On Sunday, the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije, called on the Orthodox faithful from Vukovar to remember their victims in prayer, but also the victims of their Catholic neighbors because, he said, the one who respects the victims of another is equal to the one who sacrifices himself for another.
“They are our role model, and those who commit violence against helpless people, whether in war or peace, are worthy of all condemnation and contempt. That is why I invite you today to light a candle for all our injured Orthodox brothers and sisters, but also to light a candle for all the innocent Roman Catholic Croats who have suffered, to pray for our injured brothers and sisters, but also for the Roman Catholic Croats who have suffered”. invited Porfirije, who in the presence of numerous bishops of the SPC in the Vukovar Cathedral of St. father Nikolaj, served the holy liturgy and consecrated the renovated church and Parish Hall.
He called on the faithful to pray for every victim, for every innocent victim in Vukovar and the city of Vukovar itself because, he said, prayer and Christian forgiveness are the only way to heal all wounds.
He asserted that there are people living in Vukovar whose differences are small and insignificant, and there is incomparably more in common than different, and the Christian faith brings them together, but also binds them.
“When we remember our martyred neighbors, Catholic Croats, in our prayers for our victims, God will rejoice over us,” noted the Serbian patriarch.
N1 / Jelena Bokun
I light a candle for the victims in Glina, Varivode, Grubori, but also in Ovčara, Škabrinja, Lovas…
He said that he constantly lights a wax candle in his heart for the victims in Glina, Varivode, Grubori and other places where Serbs suffered. “In the same way, I pray and light a candle for those who perished in Ovčara, Škabrinja, Lovas, Sotin and many other places of execution”.
We also pray for all those who disappeared from 1919 to 1995, in the terrible and unfortunate war in these areas, regardless of which nation they belonged to, he said in his address to the faithful, inviting them to join him in prayers.
There is no other way but prayer and forgiveness, he asserted. As children of God, we must not leave it to those who have levers of power from this world, to solve the issues of our life, to arrange our mutual relations, past, present and future because, as he said, at the very least it can be said that the goals of those levers are different from the goals of the Gospel.
At the end of the liturgy, Patriarch Porfiri was presented with the award of the Holy Despot Stefan Štiljanović, patron of the Eparchy of Osijekopolska and Baranja.
Commemorative awards were also presented to other deserving people, including SDSS president Milorad Pupovac, and one of the party’s founders and longtime president Vojislav Stanimirović.
Cathedral of St. father Nikolaj was built in 1737. In the night between September 19 and 18, 1991, the temple was severely damaged in an explosion. The renovation lasted from 2009 to 2014, and was fully financed by the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
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