Bishop Irinej of Backa: The Church expressed its position on Kosovo, only those who will not hear didn't hear it

Bishop Irinej of Backa stated that the Serbian Orthodox Church "explicitly determined and announced its position on Kosovo and Metohija," and regarding public invitations to do so, he said that "there's none so deaf as those who will not hear, and none so blind as those who will not see."

As he stated in the Politika newspaper, in the author's text for the Pogledi column, "as if the church had not said everything that was relevant to it, demands were repeated day after day to 'determine' according to the proposal of the European Union."

Bishop Irinej reminded that the Serbian Orthodox Church had issued a statement after Patriarch Porfirije had been "acquainted with the provisions of the mentioned document" on January 20, the day of the patriarch's patron saint's day, which was also attended by President Aleksandar Vucic.

Bishop Irinej "once again reiterated the views that Patriarch Porfirije announced on January 20," in which, among other things, it was said that "Kosovo and Metohija is an integral and inalienable part of the Republic of Serbia."

Also, he stated that "the preservation of Kosovo and Metohija within the borders of the Republic of Serbia is a constitutional obligation and imperative, both for the Church and the state."

"If the position of the patriarch and the Church on Kosovo and Metohija is not clear or sufficient for someone, it is surely a matter of misunderstanding of what the Church is and what its role is in the world," Bishop Irinej said, who is also a member of the Synod and the spokesperson of the Serbian Orthodox Church, but he signed only as a bishop.