Serbian Patriarch Porfirije participated on December 9, 2025 in Bethany, Jordan, in the work of the International Conference Aqaba Process – Balkan Interreligious Dialogue.
The international conference was held on the tenth anniversary of the peace initiative of King Abdullah at the historical site where Saint John the Forerunner baptized our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in Bethany, on the Jordan River.
In addition to King Abdullah and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, the conference was attended by the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilus, the Patriarch of Antioch John, the Archbishop of Albania Ioannis, and several Christian, Jewish and Islamic religious leaders from the Middle East and the Balkans.
Today’s meeting discussed ways to encourage interfaith dialogue in order to preserve peace and security, as well as to strengthen cooperation and mutual understanding and respect. Unity in the spirit of responsibility and solidarity is the foundation of a better future for the peoples of the Middle East and Europe, emphasized the participants of the meeting, who were also addressed on this occasion by the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, whose statements we present in full:
– Your Majesty King Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein, Your Excellency the Prime Minister Edi Rama, Your Eminences and Most Reverends, Your Eminences and Excellencies, distinguished religious dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen, with deep respect and sincere joy I greet all present,
We have gathered, by the providence of God, at this blessed place of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, where John the Baptist called upon the people to renew their hearts and to seek the peace that God grants. Psalm 34 gives us a word of life-giving wisdom: “Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” This call unites all our Abrahamic traditions and reveals that the pursuit of peace is inscribed in the very essence of our religious heritage. We come here to do just that: to seek peace and justice, and to walk as companions on the path that God sets before us.
Our tradition bears witness to the image of God in every person, that God is the Father of all people and that all people are brothers and sisters, and in doing so it gives us a common ethical language: peace as a gift from God, justice as sacred, and care for those in need as an act of love and responsibility. This anthropology lays the foundation for values in education that shapes character and builds communities capable of peace and mutual respect. And the eschatological perspective teaches us that the fullness of truth belongs to God and His future Kingdom, and that this awareness leads us to humility, protects us from triumphalism, and opens us to a sincere encounter.
We are familiar with the experience of the Balkan reality, but also with the reality of many other areas across the planet, where religion is sometimes perceived as a source of division and hostility (pars problematis). However, we know, even more deeply and truly, that faith in God, if it is authentic and sincere, is and must be a source of dialogue and reconciliation (pars solutionis). We know that true peace is not something that a person can create through their own efforts alone, nor is it the fruit of external circumstances alone, but, above all, it is a gift from God that is born in the heart of a person who lives according to the commandments of God, the most important of which is the commandment of love – towards God and towards their neighbors, i.e. towards people. Where there is no love, peace cannot take root either. When a person carries hatred, envy, selfishness or egoism in his heart, he creates unrest within himself that spreads around him in all directions. And when a person strives, according to the command of God’s will, then he sees the other as a unique brother, who has an equal right to life and freedom. He no longer sees him as a rival and as an obstacle, an obstacle and a threat to his existence, to his freedom. In a word, he sees every person as a mirror in which the measure of his humanity and fidelity to God is revealed. Peace is God’s commandment. Therefore, peace should not be sought only in political, social or material security, but above all in a personal encounter with God, in prayer, repentance and works of love. Only such a peace can become the foundation of peace in families, society and among nations.
Therefore, building bridges, i.e. peacemaking, is not a program or project, but a natural expression of the life of the Church and the life of a person who believes in God. The Church testifies that faith is most effective when it leads people to trust and when it helps them to recognize the common good that stands above all differences and divisions. The historical experiences of the peoples of the Balkans reveal to us that what unites us is greater than what divides us. That is why we are called to build peaceful coexistence as a lasting framework for the lives of our peoples through a well-intentioned and responsible dialogue, because God blesses the builders of peace, not those who destroy it.
Such a dialogue requires maturity in thought, heart, and intention. The Serbian Orthodox Church enters into the conversation preserving the integrity of its faith and bearing deep respect for every person as a creation of God. We do not seek an apparent consensus, but sincerity in which trust is born. We believe that God desires encounter and that human communities mature through exchange, through cooperation, and through the common search for goodness. Where spiritual depth merges with active goodness, a dialogue is born that withstands tensions and matures through them.
Esteemed friends and peacemakers, throughout history the Jordan River has been a threshold – a threshold between the old and the new, between fear and trust, between closedness and openness. Today we stand before a threshold that calls us to courage, to trust and to openness towards one another. We are called to educate generations for a life in diversity, for peaceful coexistence and for responsibility towards others, while preserving the fullness and dignity of our own religious identity. We are called to be people who build bridges, bridges of trust that connect differences and lead one person to another. We are called to make visible that the light of what unites us overcomes what divides us.
We do not cross this threshold alone. The God of Abraham, the loving Creator of heaven and earth, walks with us. He empowers the effort that exceeds our strength and makes fruitful what we could not do on our own. He transforms ignorance into understanding, divisions into encounter, and distrust into a community that heals wounds and builds peace.
May the peace and providence of the Almighty transform our view of each other and our common life in the countries that He loves and blesses, so that closeness may grow within us, and a peace that revives among us.
We express our sincere gratitude to King Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein for the wise initiative that brought us together in the spirit of peace. We also thank our esteemed hosts and all participants in this gathering, with the hope that the fruits of our meeting will bring benefit to all communities.
Source: Patriarchate of Serbia
