Patriarch Porfirije: Let us be one in goodness and in virtue. This must be our choice if we wish to continue calling ourselves the children of Saint Sava!
Homily of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije delivered on 3 August 2025 in Sremski Karlovci on the Day of Remembrance for the Serbians who suffered and were expelled during “Operation Storm” thirty years ago
Your Eminences, Your Graces, honorable President of the Republic of Serbia, honorable President of the Republic of Srpska, all in your respective rank and order, brothers and sisters,
In Sremski Karlovci, a witness to our successes and our glory, but also the destination of many of our sufferings and migrations, tonight we have been gathered by love for our martyrs — our relatives, neighbors, and fellow countrymen — who, during the terrible expulsion from their centuries-old hearths in Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun, and Banija in August 1995, lost their innocent lives.
We have been gathered by love for those whose example once again in our history fulfilled the words of King David, who cries out painfully to our Lord: For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered (Ps. 44:22). We are also gathered here by the collective experience of our people, which has fatefully spoken through the lips of the immortal Njegoš: To carry the cross is our destiny! and also added: There is no resurrection without death!
Tonight, we prayerfully remember all of them, praying to Christ, the greatest martyr under the sun, to grant them His Kingdom, but also praying together with them — as those who carried the cross of martyrdom to Golgotha — for peace within us and among us, and for peace in the entire world.
We are gathered here by the desire to prayerfully remember the innocent victims and sufferers from among our people, not to harbor resentment.
These sufferings, as well as the memories of all the bitter episodes of our much-suffering history — which from the fall of the Serbian Empire until today has known very short periods of peace and prosperity — should once again bring us, the baptized people, back to ourselves, turn us to God, and direct us toward one another as brothers and sisters. They should lead us to a true and deeper understanding and acceptance of Christ’s words: Love your neighbor as yourself (Mt. 22:39), and beyond that: Love your enemies (Mt. 5:44).
Tonight, we recall the commandment of love not only to memory but into our hearts. Sadly, we know that very few among us are capable of loving our adversaries, our enemies. Only those who are Christ-like, the saints of God, can do this. And yet, for that very reason, on this day I feel the duty and responsibility, from the throne of Saint Sava, to call upon all of us, his spiritual descendants, keeping in mind the holy words of Christ, Love your neighbor as yourself, not to allow what I fear often happens — that it becomes normal for us to live by the opposite rule: Hate your neighbor. For hatred breeds hatred and draws everyone, without exception, into a spiral of evil in which we all become losers.
God’s commandment of love is not abstract. It directs us to our concrete neighbors with whom we live. Therefore, we owe love to one another — above all in the family, in marriage, toward our spouses, parents, and children, brothers and sisters, in the neighborhood, at work, at school, toward our fellow citizens, toward our people and compatriots. Only after loving all our neighbors with whom we directly share the gift of life, and having peace with them, do we, by God’s grace, become capable of loving all people as our brothers and having peace with all, no matter how different or distant they may be from us.
Therefore, I repeat and will repeat: I pray to the Lord and call upon all, in this hour of great trials that the entire world — and our people as well — are passing through, to be above any narrow and selfish, especially ideologically motivated, interests, and in the spirit of our Christian Orthodox conciliarity to rise above divisions and discord.
I call upon you, not primarily with my own words, but with the words of the great and holy Apostle Paul, who in his time urged the Christians in Corinth with this exhortation: I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, I have been informed that there are quarrels among you (1 Cor. 1:10–11).
This word of the Apostle Paul is today the word of the Church of Christ, the word of the Church of Saint Sava — a word that always calls for understanding, peace, and love among brothers. And above all, brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself calls us, through faith in Him, that we all may be one (Jn. 17:21), that we may be one in goodness and in virtue. In practical terms, this means that we need each other, that we cannot do without one another, that we must forgive and ask forgiveness from each other, that we must not be exclusive among ourselves, but open our hearts to one another; that we must know that no one is superfluous and that each person is precious; that we must live for one another and not merely alongside one another; that we must be patient with one another, compassionate, supportive, and merciful toward each other; that we must preserve one another’s Christian and human dignity and honor one another above ourselves. In a word, each of us must become better toward God and better toward our neighbor, so that as one people we may live better. This must be our choice if we wish to continue calling ourselves and being the children of Saint Sava.
Having prayed again and again for our brothers and sisters who suffered during those tragic August days of 1995, and for all of you who thirty years ago left your centuries-old hearths and set out in endless columns toward Serbia and the Republic of Srpska — toward freedom, expecting a brotherly embrace — let us conclude, on this occasion as well, with the prayerful cry of the blessed Patriarch Pavle:
“Lord Jesus Christ, our God, receive this our fervent prayer and forgive us our trespasses. Help us — You who, for the salvation of all, took up the Cross and endured death — that hatred among us and in the whole world may give way to love, unrest to peace, sorrow to joy; that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life as Your people and brothers among ourselves. Lord of peace and love, help us to return to the path to You. Protect our land and people from injustice, violence, mutual strife, and discord, and do not remove the lampstand of our Church from before You. For You are the God of mercy, goodness, and love for mankind, and to You we give glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.”
Eternal memory to all our brothers and sisters who innocently suffered in the terrible and unprecedented expulsion from their centuries-old hearths — the expulsion called “Operation Storm.” Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!
Your Eminences, Your Graces, honorable President of the Republic of Serbia, honorable President of the Republic of Srpska, all in your respective rank and order, brothers and sisters,
In Sremski Karlovci, a witness to our successes and our glory, but also the destination of many of our sufferings and migrations, tonight we have been gathered by love for our martyrs — our relatives, neighbors, and fellow countrymen — who, during the terrible expulsion from their centuries-old hearths in Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun, and Banija in August 1995, lost their innocent lives.
We have been gathered by love for those whose example once again in our history fulfilled the words of King David, who cries out painfully to our Lord: For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered (Ps. 44:22). We are also gathered here by the collective experience of our people, which has fatefully spoken through the lips of the immortal Njegoš: To carry the cross is our destiny! and also added: There is no resurrection without death!
Tonight, we prayerfully remember all of them, praying to Christ, the greatest martyr under the sun, to grant them His Kingdom, but also praying together with them — as those who carried the cross of martyrdom to Golgotha — for peace within us and among us, and for peace in the entire world.
We are gathered here by the desire to prayerfully remember the innocent victims and sufferers from among our people, not to harbor resentment.
These sufferings, as well as the memories of all the bitter episodes of our much-suffering history — which from the fall of the Serbian Empire until today has known very short periods of peace and prosperity — should once again bring us, the baptized people, back to ourselves, turn us to God, and direct us toward one another as brothers and sisters. They should lead us to a true and deeper understanding and acceptance of Christ’s words: Love your neighbor as yourself (Mt. 22:39), and beyond that: Love your enemies (Mt. 5:44).
Tonight, we recall the commandment of love not only to memory but into our hearts. Sadly, we know that very few among us are capable of loving our adversaries, our enemies. Only those who are Christ-like, the saints of God, can do this. And yet, for that very reason, on this day I feel the duty and responsibility, from the throne of Saint Sava, to call upon all of us, his spiritual descendants, keeping in mind the holy words of Christ, Love your neighbor as yourself, not to allow what I fear often happens — that it becomes normal for us to live by the opposite rule: Hate your neighbor. For hatred breeds hatred and draws everyone, without exception, into a spiral of evil in which we all become losers.
God’s commandment of love is not abstract. It directs us to our concrete neighbors with whom we live. Therefore, we owe love to one another — above all in the family, in marriage, toward our spouses, parents, and children, brothers and sisters, in the neighborhood, at work, at school, toward our fellow citizens, toward our people and compatriots. Only after loving all our neighbors with whom we directly share the gift of life, and having peace with them, do we, by God’s grace, become capable of loving all people as our brothers and having peace with all, no matter how different or distant they may be from us.
Therefore, I repeat and will repeat: I pray to the Lord and call upon all, in this hour of great trials that the entire world — and our people as well — are passing through, to be above any narrow and selfish, especially ideologically motivated, interests, and in the spirit of our Christian Orthodox conciliarity to rise above divisions and discord.
I call upon you, not primarily with my own words, but with the words of the great and holy Apostle Paul, who in his time urged the Christians in Corinth with this exhortation: I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, I have been informed that there are quarrels among you (1 Cor. 1:10–11).
This word of the Apostle Paul is today the word of the Church of Christ, the word of the Church of Saint Sava — a word that always calls for understanding, peace, and love among brothers. And above all, brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself calls us, through faith in Him, that we all may be one (Jn. 17:21), that we may be one in goodness and in virtue. In practical terms, this means that we need each other, that we cannot do without one another, that we must forgive and ask forgiveness from each other, that we must not be exclusive among ourselves, but open our hearts to one another; that we must know that no one is superfluous and that each person is precious; that we must live for one another and not merely alongside one another; that we must be patient with one another, compassionate, supportive, and merciful toward each other; that we must preserve one another’s Christian and human dignity and honor one another above ourselves. In a word, each of us must become better toward God and better toward our neighbor, so that as one people we may live better. This must be our choice if we wish to continue calling ourselves and being the children of Saint Sava.
Having prayed again and again for our brothers and sisters who suffered during those tragic August days of 1995, and for all of you who thirty years ago left your centuries-old hearths and set out in endless columns toward Serbia and the Republic of Srpska — toward freedom, expecting a brotherly embrace — let us conclude, on this occasion as well, with the prayerful cry of the blessed Patriarch Pavle:
“Lord Jesus Christ, our God, receive this our fervent prayer and forgive us our trespasses. Help us — You who, for the salvation of all, took up the Cross and endured death — that hatred among us and in the whole world may give way to love, unrest to peace, sorrow to joy; that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life as Your people and brothers among ourselves. Lord of peace and love, help us to return to the path to You. Protect our land and people from injustice, violence, mutual strife, and discord, and do not remove the lampstand of our Church from before You. For You are the God of mercy, goodness, and love for mankind, and to You we give glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.”
Eternal memory to all our brothers and sisters who innocently suffered in the terrible and unprecedented expulsion from their centuries-old hearths — the expulsion called “Operation Storm.” Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!