Some Christians observe the Julian calendar, and those who do celebrated Christmas today all over the world, including the liturgy held at the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the centre of Zagreb.
The liturgy was led by the Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana of Serbian Orthodox Church Porfirije Perić, and in addition to the celebration and prayer included reading of the letter by the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Irinej. The patriarch invited the faithful congregation to be one with the Serbian people of Kosovo, telling those gathered for the Christmas celebration never to forget that Kosovo is and should continue to be a holly Serbian land. The letter adds that through the volatile times Serbian ancestors continued to carry “thousands of holly altars all over Kosovo”.
Patriarch also states that country, ordered towns and villages or economic prosperity will have no value for the Serbians, nor will all of the good deeds in this world if the people are slowly disappearing, i.e. if more people die than there are newborns. Patriarch Irinej invited the Serbians to have more children.
Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana Porfirije invited the Orthodox believers not to be afraid to follow the path of love and peace and to be open for all people, because God is always with all of them. God does not own any nation, God is not Croatian or Serbian or Hungarian or English or American, nor does he belong to any nation from the east, as he is the father of all mankind. We need to be able to see our shortcomings, and let’s not ponder on what the others are doing to us, because God will ask us what we did for Him and for others, Porfirije concluded.
