Council of the Serbian Church publishes a letter in connection with the discrimination of UOC faithful

The press service of the Serbian Patriarchate published the Communiqué on the results of the regular session of the Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church at the Patriarchate of Peć and Belgrade, held on May 14 to 24 under the chairmanship of Patriarch Irinej, reports Sedmitza.

The council of bishops sent a letter of support and prayerful solidarity to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow concerning the discrimination and hardships faced by the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful of the largest and only canonical Church in Ukraine—the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The most important of the Synod’s decisions was to canonize several saints and add five new dates to the liturgical calendar:

1. Patriarch Paisy (Yanevts) of Peć, who will be celebrated on October 2/15;

2. Archimandrite Stefan Jovanovic, who will be added to the calendar as Venerable Stefan Tronoshsky and celebrated on September 4/17;

3. The martyrs Metropolitan Vikenty of Skopje (Krdzhicha) and Igumen Vladimir (Protich), killed at the hands of Bulgarian occupants in Surdulica, who will be celebrated on May 16/25;

4. The brutally murdered martyrs of Piva, who will be celebrated on May 25/June 7, and the martyrs of Velić and Gornepolima, who will be celebrated on July 15/28;

5. The monk Jacob (Dr. Radoe Arsović in the world), who will be added to the calendar as Venerable Jacob of New Tumansk, who will be celebrated on August 8/21.

Also, the Council of Bishops acknowledged that the remains of the Serbian and world genius Nikola Tesla cannot be among the exhibits of the museum – "this fact is a unique precedent and a disgrace on a universal scale". Hierarchs considered that the most proper place for them is in the crypt in St. Sava’s Church of in Belgrade or, alternatively, they can be buried in front of the cathedral.