Speech of His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia Mr. Porfiria pronounced on August 3, 2024, on the Day of Remembrance of the Serbs who died and were exiled in the armed action "Storm", after the commemoration served at the "Lagator" stadium in Loznica

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! In a word, brothers and sisters, we gathered to strengthen ourselves with the peace of Christ and prayerfully remember the violent persecution of our people, unprecedented in Europe, from the ancestral hearths where they lived for centuries throughout Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun, Bania and western Slavonia.

Let us oppose all violence, war and the so-called with that peace. Storms. Let us confirm our unyielding commitment to peace and freedom on this blood-paid, blessed breast of the Serbian land. Let's remember just one in the countless series of our recent national Golgothas. Let's try to understand what the genius Šantić wanted to creatively interpret and prophetically hint at when, a century ago, he sang to us about us:

We know our way, the way of the God-man,

and mighty, like a mountain river,

we will all go over a sharp edge.

And so on, there, to Golgotha,

 and when you men take our lives,

our graves, they will fight with you.

Isn't Christ's Golgotha ​​the foundation of His and our Resurrection from the dead and the unstoppable triumph of life in us!? Doesn't the blade of the spear that pierced Him resemble the sharp dagger that cut us!? Aren't the lives, youth, love and joy taken from us a pledge of our invincibility, immortality and tonight's summoning of peace to us and among us and to every human being!? Isn't the best evidence for all this the fact that we still exist today as a long-suffering but dignified people. Basing one's own life and the existence of our people on the Gospel of Christ means having a solution both for oneself and for one's neighbors. Only then can it be understood how our graves will be able not only to fight, but also to deal with every opponent of peace, hater of harmony among people and harmony within creation. Solely because of this,

Fear will not freeze our chests!

Oxen bear the yoke, not men

God gave freedom for man.

In other words, there is no weapon that is stronger than the peace of Christ in us. There is no such persecution and tyranny that will prevent us from fighting for survival, freedom and a full life. And this is what our Alexa is telling us tonight: that peace has no alternative, that freedom must not and cannot be traded. That is why even in persecutions, sufferings, and deaths, we do not give up life, freedom and peace at any cost.

Dear brothers and sisters, who, on behalf of all of us, bore the cross of persecution and suffering in what is called the Storm, even though you were forced to leave your native land, God granted, because only He can grant it, that you come to your people and to your country. That's why this exodus is not a trigger for despair, but, on the contrary, an incentive for hope and optimism, for a free and creative life, for the welcome of our coming generations, that mighty mountain river that Aleksa talks about. Our nation has reached the inalienable experience of freedom and life countless times through suffering, sacrifice and death. With this, he unmistakably showed that the key to all our doubts is the Svetosava program, and the defense against all our threats is the Kosovo Covenant. This is the reason why we constantly return to Christ and His Gospel of peace, but this does not mean going backwards, but unyieldingly conquering the reality that comes to us from the future and giving it inalienable meaning and fullness. That is why Christians see their life as meaningful and meaningful, only in the light of Christ's words: Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons and daughters of God! Hence, it is no wonder that in search of supreme peace, our Holy Bishop Nikolay sings:

Wherever I seek peace in this world,

everywhere I find restlessness and anguish of soul...

Vasiona's whole is tight and suffocating...

Only when I'm with You (Christ),

then it's not tight for me,

the secret of my peace is hidden in You.

Only when we get to know Christ and when, despite the weaknesses we have as humans, we try to live according to his commandments, we will have an infallible standard of value. Only then will we see everything as it is and as it should be. Only when His word is our yardstick and criterion can we have correct knowledge about everything and true freedom, we can have a healthy attitude towards everything. When we adopt the God-man Christ and His law with faith and love, we will know who man is and what his purpose is, what a healthy community is, what our mutual relations should be, we will know what a family is, we will know what are priorities, in a word, we will distinguish right from wrong , truth from lies. Without Him as a foundation and as a meaning, without Him as a landmark, everything will be distorted and distorted, both thought and word and deed. Everything, even when it is an expression of good will, will be a failure. Our ancestors knew that and lived like that. They left us that most valuable teaching in the testament called Svetosavlje. That is why even today we know our way, and that the only thing that can sustain us is the way of the God-man. If we stick to that path, there is hope for us and for our children. There will be strength. God will give.

I leave you peace, I give you my peace! (Jn 14, 27). With these words, Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen and comfort his disciples and apostles, but also all the latter's followers, among whom we, gathered here tonight, are included, praying for our victims and thus repaying the most sacred debt we have towards them. Because in prayer, their sacrifice will never be devalued or abused. The innate longing for precisely that peace of Christ brought us together to invoke higher peace and joy in our hearts, in our families, in our neighborhood and homeland, among us, among all quarreling and warring individuals, nations and states, on the graves of our exiles and innocents. of the martyrs, to the entire beautiful creation of God.

Let eternal remembrance be given to all our brothers and sisters who innocently suffered anywhere and at any time, and especially to those who innocently and unjustly suffered in the military-police operation called Storm. Eternal memory to all our brothers and sisters, amen.

Source: SPC