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The Serbian Orthodox Church to her spiritual children at Pascha, 2022

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By the Grace of God
Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Paschal greeting:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

This is the day which the Lord has made;
Let us greatly rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 117:24

Our dear spiritual children,

With these words from the Old Testament days, the king and prophet David enthusiastically cried out, foreseeing by the Holy Spirit the great day of Christ's victory over death and our spiritual celebration because of that. On this great and mysterious Day all creation is bathed in the light of eternity and with unspeakable joy sings the song of victory to the Lord who banished the darkness of sin and illumined us with the unfading rays of life. "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it," (St. John 1:5) - so the essence of divine revelation and our Christian testimony was summed up by the Holy Apostle, Evangelist and Theologian John who during the Mystical Supper rested his head upon Lord’s bosom and took in all the power, beauty and mystery of His life-giving Being as the God-Man.

The darkness of the grave and the shackles of death could not overcome nor restrain the Light of Light born of the Father before all ages, through Whom everything came into being -- the Only-Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, although they tried to do so in every way. From the night he was handed over to the lawless, everything was so full of unbelief and violence that the crucified Christ finally had to cry out: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" (St. Mark 15:34). Seeing how the once glorious Jerusalem was shrouded in the spiritual darkness of sin, the Only-Begotten Son watched from the highly-raised Cross as the dark mouth of the tomb gaped before him in order to swallow him forever. From the stony ground of its sharp edges, the leaders of the faith and the people mockingly told the Lord to transform the Cross’ good news of salvation into a proud acceptance of the power of the fallen world: "Let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him." (St. Matthew 27:42)

The Fellowship of Saint Alypius Stylite of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Sava in London has been doing charity work for nearly 30 years, assisting our community and raising funds for different charities. In February this year, members of the Fellowship organised a cake sale in Saint Nikolaj’s Hall. Half of the £2,050 that was raised on this occasion was donated to the People’s Kitchen in Kosovo and Metohija and the other half will be delivered in March to the monastery of Saint Petka (Paraskeva) of Izvor, near Paracin in Serbia who look after children with special needs. 

News published on the People's Kitchen web site.

All parishioners who wish to know more about the Fellowship of Saint Alypius and get involved with their work can contact the clergy of the Saint Sava Church in London. 

The completely unjustified mentioning of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Resolution of the European Parliament on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, based solely on deep historical prejudices and tendentiously created stereotypes is not surprising, but is, indeed, deeply disappointing for us.

Putting the Serbian Orthodox Church into the role of the cause of “tensions between ethnic groups in the Western Balkans in order to inflame conflicts and divide communities” is completely contrary to the facts and the commitment of the Church in everyday life, and we therefore firmly reject such a position.

The Church incessantly prays for peace, builds peace and encourages her faithful people to heal the wounds of the past, to improve trust and build bridges of cooperation with the neighbors, regardless of how they pray or to which nation they belong to.

The Diocese of Raška and Prizren (Serbian Orthodox Church) expresses open outrage and protest over the latest statement of Mr. Albin Kurti (February 17), in which he again openly undermined the decision of the Kosovo Constitutional Court regarding 24 hectares of land, which was recognized as the property of the Visoki Dečani monastery by the Constitutional Court of Kosovo in 2016. Persistent violations of the rule of law and opposition to the Constitutional Court’s ruling in the Visoki Dečani case, which was made after 15 years of detailed court proceedings with full international monitoring and finally resolved in 2016, is more characteristic of autocracy than a society which at least declaratively promotes rule of law and democracy. Inflammatory political rhetoric which creates ethnic and religious antagonism further deepens the gap between Kosovo Albanian institutions and the Serbian people, especially the Serbian Orthodox Church which is being attacked by unprecedented slanders. This example shows that this region is moving not in the direction of democracy and peaceful coexistence of all communities but towards legal lawlessness and creation of an ethnic clean K/Albanian territory, where all traces of Serbian history, property and everything related to the Serbian people is being brutally erased, despite all legal provisions, international guarantees and presence.