Serbs gather in southern Mitrovica church for Christmas

The Christmas liturgy was served in the Saint Sava church which was severely damaged in the March pogrom in Kosovo in 2004, when 35 Orthodox holy sites were destroyed and set on fire in a single night. Archpriest-Stavrophor Milija Arsovic called on Serbs to show unity and said that Serbs want to be united around their church and faith. He expressed the wish for the church of Saint Sava to be restored to the state before 2004 and to prevent desecration of the Orthodox cemetery in southern Mitrovica. “We want the Parish House to be reconstructed together with the church and for the usurped property in southern Mitrovica to be returned to the parish. We are not asking for what does not belong to us,” Arsovic said. Over 100 believers in buses were escorted by the police to southern Mitrovica where they attended the service in the Saint Sava church. Representative of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo Zlata Radovanovic wished a merry Christmas to Orthodox believers on behalf of the Office and wished that they may spend the year in good health and with less worries than in the year before. Other churches and cathedrals in Kosovo also celebrated the holiday of Christ's birth, and the Epistle of Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church was read out.