Reis Kavazović: Patriarch Irinej misleads the public with his messages

(Patria) - Following the statement of the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Irinej after a meeting with member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik in the Patriarchate of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, on which occasion he said that "there are no borders for Serbia and the Republika Srpska, and that they must not and should not exist because it is one people, speaking one language, and everything of value they have is common to them", the reisu-l-ulema of the Islamic Community in BiH, Husein ef. Kavazović, reacted.

In a statement carried by MINA, reisu-l-ulema Kavazović said:

"I am not happy that the holiday of Orthodox believers is being abused for political purposes, which is why I am forced to react in order to once again send a message of peace and togetherness both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire region. But before that, I want to once again repeat the congratulations I sent to His Eminence Metropolitan Hrizostom of Dabar-Bosnia and Orthodox believers on the occasion of Christmas, in which I expressed the hope that this year will bring peace and prosperity and that through joint efforts the spirit of tolerance will be preserved," stated Reis Kavazović.

He said that he is "very sorry that I have been put in a position where, during these holiday days, I must react to the statements of Patriarch Irinej, who with his messages misleads the public and instills fear in the hearts of other peoples in this area."

"I have always believed that holidays are an opportunity to express love and respect for one another, not to stoke discord among peoples, even within members of the same faith. Our Orthodox neighbors and fellow citizens are celebrating their greatest religious holiday these days throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, not just in one administrative part of the inalienable territory of our homeland. The time for such messages, which are very readable and sow fear and call for disrespect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is past. It is my duty, in situations when necessary, to express my disapproval, especially because of Muslim believers living in the smaller Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity, where genocide was committed that culminated in the events in Srebrenica in 1995. Across that same territory, tens of thousands of Bosniaks were killed, raped, and expelled precisely because of the greater-state plans that wanted part of Bosnia and Herzegovina to be, as Patriarch Irinej says, 'inseparable from the Serbian center.' The need for religious unity among members of the SPC cannot imply a single state-political space," Kavazović said.

The most well-intentioned advice we can offer our neighbors in the SPC, for the future of our peoples and peace, but also for the SPC itself, is not to allow their church in the region to continue to be perceived as a political project, Kavazović stated.

"That is not good for the future of this part of Europe, and it can hardly find support in pure religious doctrine. This new form of phyletism will bring no good to the Serbian Orthodox Church, nor to other churches and religious communities with which it shares living space," is Kavazović's message.

"All citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, and Catholic believers, live on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, hold its citizenship, and live by its laws, and so it will be in the future. Their only state home is Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, according to clearly established constitutional and legal procedures, they can arrange internally as they agree. Any other attempt would return our country to the nineties of the last century, which we all remember only for the bad. Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a permanent category with clearly defined borders, known to Patriarch Irinej as well as to my humble self, and is spacious enough for everyone, for Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats, as well as all its other citizens. It was so, it is now, and it will be so in the future, God willing," emphasized reisu-l-ulema Kavazović.

Patriarch Irinej said last night that Serbs must have strong faith and pray to God for unity, and that they should not divide or quarrel but glorify the same Lord and Savior.

Last night, together with member of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik, he attended the laying of the Badnjak on the plateau in front of the Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade, and in his address to the faithful, he wished "that the unity of the Serbian people be lasting and that Serbs live in love, respecting and helping one another."

Patriarch Irinej sent special holiday greetings to the BiH entity Republika Srpska, thanking Dodik, who, as he said, deigned to celebrate and welcome Badnji dan together with the clergy as the pre-feast of the great feast of Christ's birth.

"To convey greetings to our dear people in the Republika Srpska and to say that we all breathe with one spirit and live with one desire to be one - united, and as such, as God's people, as the people of Saint Sava, to glorify our Lord, so that the Lord would preserve and glorify us in this world and life," said Patriarch Irinej.

The Serbian Patriarch emphasized that Serbs in Serbia and the Republika Srpska are a united people.

"Everything is common to us. I would wish that to be the same with our brotherly Montenegro, where, to our great joy these days, the people are showing to the greatest extent that they are of Serbian origin, that they preserve their Serbian Orthodox faith, and thus demonstrate unity with Serbdom, both in the homeland and those outside the homeland," said Irinej.