His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije sent a message of condolences on 26 November 2024 to His Beatitude Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia kyr Stefan, on the occasion of the blessed repose of Metropolitan Timotej of Debar and Kičevo. The statement reads as follows:

Your Beatitude, dear brother and concelebrant in Christ,

It was with deep sorrow that We received the news of the repose of Metropolitan Timotej of Debar and Kičevo, with whom We served the Holy Liturgy just over a month ago at the Monastery of Đunis. Bishop Timotej of blessed memory, as a faithful witness of Christ, yearned for unity and, when the fullness of time came, inspired by the Holy Spirit, decisively contributed to the restoration of the Church’s disrupted unity. By personally celebrating the Divine Liturgy, meeting, and collaborating with Us and the brethren Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, he healed the wounds caused by decades of separation. In doing so, he earned great respect among the sacred hierarchy and the faithful of the Patriarchate of Peć. In the briefest and most accurate terms, we regarded Bishop Timotej as one of our own – our closest brother in Christ.

Therefore, rest assured, Your Beatitude, that We will make it Our duty to prayerfully preserve the memory of the unforgettable Metropolitan Timotej as Our elder brother and sincere friend who, beyond manners of courtesy, did not refrain from embracing Us with genuine fraternal love. We ask You, Our beloved brother and concelebrant in Christ, to accept Our deepest condolences for the loss of the great Hierarch and pastor, the late Metropolitan Timotej, and to convey them to the entire pleroma of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. We pray to the Risen Lord to grant his righteous soul a dwelling in the heavenly abode where those who pleased God eternally rejoice!

With love in Christ the Lord,

Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch,
Porfirije