Belgrade, March 17, 2025
Photo: BBC
The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church issued a statement on Friday calling for peace and dialogue amidst months of anti-government protests.
The next day, the largest protest ever in Serbia took place in Belgrade, according to the BBC. The government put the number of attendees at 107,000, while an independent monitor said there were as many as 325,000.
The protests began in November when the roof of the Novi Sad railway station collapsed and killed 15 people. Protesters attribute the fatalities to corruption and shortcuts in safety measures. They see the tragedy as emblematic of the governance style that has characterized Vucic’s Progressive Party’s rule for over ten years—particularly significant given Vucic’s personal promotion of the station’s recent refurbishment.
Against this background, the Serbian Synod expressed deep concern in its Friday statement about potential conflicts within Serbia, making an urgent plea for peace and dialogue. The Church called on all parties to reject violence of any kind, emphasizing that it only creates deeper societal divisions and a cycle where everyone loses. The statement reminds the faithful that freedom and justice require love and mutual respect, and urges all to build trust through constructive dialogue rather than pursuing partisan interests.
Read the full Synodal statement:
Faithful people of the Serbian Orthodox Church, brothers and sisters, children of St. Sava,
We hear voices about possible conflicts in our nation and this deeply concerns us. The Church calls upon all who are involved in current events in any way to use this time of the Paschal Lent, a time of repentance and forgiveness, to recognize their own sins and show fruits of repentance, so that each of us might become better and so that Christ’s words: As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise (Lk. 6:31) would be our golden rule.
Let us all ask ourselves together: Haven’t there been enough divisions and discord in our nation? That is why, dear spiritual children, today as always before, we address you, imploring you on bended knee that everyone do what they can to maintain peace within us and among us. Invoking the name of the Lord and the prayers of St. Sava the peacemaker, we call on everyone without exception to completely reject violence of any kind, regardless of who it comes from or which side it originates.
Violence only multiplies violence and draws us into a vicious circle in which we are all losers, destroying the foundations of society and creating new divisions, deeper than those already inherited. This was known to our wise ancestors who once and for all said: evil cannot bring forth good. And further: Force doesn’t pray to God, but neither does God love force.
Freedom and justice are invaluable virtues, but they are unattainable without love and mutual respect. Therefore, we place on everyone’s conscience that in every place—from family, through work collectives and educational institutions, to social and political organizations—we persistently and steadfastly build mutual trust and understanding through well-intentioned dialogue. The Church carries a spiritually tested truth and historical awareness that no particular interest is more important than the common good of the people and the state, and opens its doors wide, calling for brotherly dialogue among all responsible social factors.
In firm faith and hope that God will not abandon us to folly and new sufferings, sufferings from ourselves, from the depths of our hearts we cry out: O Lord, save now: O Lord, send now prosperity (Ps. 117:25).
The Archdiocese of Belgrade is also offering prayers every Friday evening throughout Lent for peace in Serbia. In particular, the Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos is to be read in all churches.
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