Belgrade, October 7, 2022
Photo: spc.rs
“For Christians, our mothers and wives and sisters are sacred,” His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church says in a statement against violence, and particularly against domestic violence against women, published on the site of the Serbian Church yesterday.
The Church has always given the highest of honor to women, as evidenced most of all by the veneration of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Patriarch writes.
Unfortunately, however, our modern society and media is saturated with violence, which desensitizes us to the image of God in every person. This has led to terrible acts of violence against women in Serbia in the past several years, His Holiness laments.
Therefore, the Church will do everything it can to raise awareness about such tragic issues, to train clergy to be able to detect and help prevent such violence, and to help those who are already in dire situations, the Pat. Porfirije assures.
Read His Holiness’ full statement below:
Every day we speak and try to listen to the word of the Lord and to be taught by examples from the Holy Gospel. We persistently talk about praying for our neighbors, and not only for our neighbors but for the whole world, for all people. We talk about the necessity of doing good, about the Lord’s love, about Christ Who is love Himself and Who, out of that love for man, suffered on the Cross for all people, for the life of all people.
The philanthropic word of Christ, which today, thank God, is spread through various means of communication, is also drowned out by the general exploitation of violence in the public. Some media show us every day, even at the level of entertainment, all kinds of violence, right down to savagery, using it to get better ratings and earnings. So much so, that in this era of electronic networking, we are willingly and unwillingly exposed to the promotion of violence. With such an emphasis on violence and immorality in certain media, films, on certain newspaper and internet pages, even in the world of children’s play, in video games and harmless almanacs, the figures of sexually depraved people, murderers, and thugs become role models for the younger generations, real manifestations of the most terrible things that can be done to another. In a world like this, of the so-called “new normal,” the public is informed every day that a husband has killed a wife or a boyfriend has killed a girlfriend, that a parent, God forbid, has killed a child, or what’s also terrible, the other way around. Violence is also publicly called for, and unfortunately from unexpected positions, and even from our holy Church, which should echo only messages of peace! And in the multitude of news that pops up on our smart devices, headlines about violence against women, about beating, shaming, raping and killing our sisters, daughters, wives and mothers especially stand out.
The Orthodox Church of Christ, and I believe all Christians in the whole world, and not only Christians, but all people who, according to the words of the holy Apostle Paul, feel in their hearts and in their consciences the unwritten law of God, couldn’t be more determined to reject this so-called “new normality,” especially in the condemnation of violence. For the Church, every human being is an icon of God. And the most worthy and venerable of all mankind is the Mother of God. What greater proof than this is needed to understand how immensely the Church respects every woman, sister, and mother as holy and an icon of God? For Christians, our mothers and wives and sisters are sacred. This painful violence against them is unthinkable, and the fact is that men—cowards and weaklings—have killed more than 40 women in Serbia in the last two years alone, and about 300 in the last 10 years! God knows how many more of them are exposed to all kinds of torture in their families, their workplaces, and elsewhere. What kind of people are we when our wives run away from home to safe houses? How many safe houses do we have to build in order to reduce the number of abused and murdered women? How many different shelters do we need to establish in order to help every abused being?
For the Church of Christ, it’s quite clear that the violent impulse arises from diminishing God’s idea of ourselves and our neighbors as the image and likeness of God, which in itself is considered a great sin. Because people don’t see true and eternal dignity in themselves and in others, their relationships can take the form of a brutal rivalry that can easily end in the worst violence. Therefore, I feel the responsibility and the need for the Church to see this problem in all its terrible dimensions, so as to awaken God’s grace where need be. The Serbian Orthodox Church will do this because it’s bound by the traditional understanding of human dignity.
The Church, at least here in the Archdiocese of Belgrade and Karlovci, will help safe houses. It will encourage believers to voluntarily participate in the work of existing institutions and centers that care for victims of any violence. Priests will be advised how to recognize domestic violence in their parishes as much as they can and in cooperation with social workers, to try to prevent tragic outcomes. They’ll also be encouraged to speak more often in their sermons about the problem of all forms of violence that are present in our society and families today. I will personally engage in helping women who have taken refuge from violence in safe houses. Through its media, educational institutions, and publishing, the Church will also seek to actively raise awareness about these painful topics and the possibilities for recognizing and preventing such crimes and perversions. And to all who confess Christ the Lord and consider themselves Orthodox Christians, we say that every act of violence against the weak and defenseless is an additional wound on the body of Christ! We’re called to humility, meekness, and love, and we strive to be worthy of being called into the communion of eternal life to which God has called us.
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