Russian Church to Help Kosovo Monasteries

Interfax ^ | 1/20/12

[marshmallow]

Moscow, January 30, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has expressed concerns about the situation of residents of Kosovo and Metohija.

"Serbs living in Kosovo and Metohija have found themselves pawns of a big geopolitical game. Many countries are indifferent to them and they have to live in closed enclaves in daily fear of their hostile environment, which realizes its impunity," the Patriarch said in an interview with the Serb newspaper Vecherniye Novosti, whose translation was published on the website of the Moscow patriarchate.

"Our brothers in faith have great courage not to leave their long-suffering land and their holy places. They live like prisoners of a concentration camp, who have been denied even their basic right to life," he said.

Patriarch Kirill accused politicians of "glaring injustice, double standards and lies, and declaration of their adherence of ideals of humanism and human rights while turning a blind eye to the hell created by extremists with support from their foreign sponsors."

"Brothers, the Russian Church, the Orthodox Russian people will never abandon you," the Patriarch said.

Patriarch Kirill said the Moscow Patriarchate has always supported the Serbian Church on the status of Kosovo.

The Patriarch also said the Russian Church plans to take specific measures to support Kosovo monasteries.