After the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije performed a memorial service for his holy predecessors, archbishops and Serbian patriarchs and victims of the March 2004 pogrom at the monastery of the Pec Patriarchate, on the 17th of March, 2021.
“Today, in this holy Stauropegic Laura of Serbian patriarchs, where my holy predecessors, Serbian archbishops and patriarchs, rest, the witnesses not only of existence but also patrons and creators of the highest European culture with which we ennobled the land of Kosovo and Metohia, we prayed for the souls of our brothers and of our sisters who died in the March pogrom seventeen years ago. We also remembered the suffering from forty years ago, when the sleeping quarters of this monastery were burned down also in March. We see that these days they are robbing and desecrating our temples. What can be our only answer? We will sanctify the unholy with prayer, we will rebuild the burned and destroyed. And we will pray to God to give strength to those who remained in Kosovo and Metohia to persevere and build their lives in peace. We will also pray that the destroyers stop destroying, the arsonists stop burning, the robbers stop robbing, because we in those churches pray for them and for their neighbours, for their children. Therefore, let us pray today for peace among all people who live in Kosovo and Metohia, regardless of their religion and nation,” Patriarch Porfirije said in his homily.
After the commemoration in the prayerful presence of High Venerable Abbess Haritina and the sisterhood of the Pec Patriarchate, the Serbian Patriarch went to the Dechani Monastery.
Source: Serbian Orthodox Church