BELGRADE, Serbia-The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, on Friday deplored plans to give independence to Kosovo, the southern province cherished by Serbs as their historical heartland.
In his Easter message released on Good Friday, the spiritual leader of more than 7 million Christian Orthodox Serbs also spoke against abortion, globalization and economic inequality.
The epistle’s emphasis, however, was on what will become of Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanian majority seeks independence. The issue is currently under discussion at the U.N. Security Council.
The United States and some European countries have endorsed a proposal to give Kosovo independence, but Patriarch Pavle denounced this as coming from “darkened minds who take the liberty to violate laws” by redrawing borders.
(Pictured: A Serbian mother and child flee Muslim Albanian violence in Kosovo)Referring to the province by its traditional Serb name “Kosovo and Metohija,” Patriarch Pavle insisted that its secession would amount to “changing of … our entire history, culture, of Serbia’s statehood.”
A 1998-99 war between Serbian government troops and ethnic Albanians ended with NATO bombing that forced Belgrade to hand over control of Kosovo to an interim U.N. administration.
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/01487.shtml