His Holiness Aleksei Mikhailovich Rediger, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia
The Moscow Patriarchate will help the people of Serbia to cope with the crisis caused by the UDI of Kosovo. The announcement was made by the Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and all Russia as he addressed an annual session of the International Orthodox Unity Foundation.
Kosovo is awash with Serbian blood, but, the world community turns a blind eye to it. The Kosovo issue is being decided by those who have never been there and know nothing of what Kosovo means to the Serbs. Both Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate, Patriarch Alexei said, sympathise with the Serbs and are ready to grant them whatever help they need.
Churches that were built in the 14th and 15th centuries, supposedly under the protection of UNESCO, are now being destroyed in Kosovo, he said, with the tacit consent of both the European public and politicians. The patriarch stated that we feel sympathy for the people of Serbia, who are losing a land they considered sacred. The Russian Orthodox community is grateful to President Vladimir Putin for ordering financial support for Kosovo Serbs at such a time.
The Moscow Patriarchate is going to work out a special humanitarian programme to support the Serbs through their time of hardship. The project was initiated by the International Fund of Unity of Orthodox Peoples, founded in 1995 with the blessing of his Holiness, who also is the chairman of the board of the body. The organisation is notable for its charity campaigns not only in Russia, but, also abroad.
The programme of assistance to the Serbian nation will be developed together with the Russian Healthcare and Foreign Ministries. It was announced that in mid-2008 that a cultural exchange will be launched with a performance of the “Voices of Orthodox Russia” choruses. This will be a cultural and spiritual message to all peoples and nations in the name of peace and creation. “We hope that ‘The Voices of Orthodox Russia’ will bring peace to Kosovo”, Patriarch Aleksei concluded.
27 March 2008
Voice of Russia World Service
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=24834&cid=59&p=27.03.2008 (in Russian and English)
