“WHILE DEATH AND DESOLATION WERE SOWN, WE REMAINED THE PEOPLE OF GOD”: Patriarch Porfirije on the NATO bombing that Serbia survived in 1999!

On the occasion of marking the anniversary of the beginning of the NATO aggression against the FRY in 1999, the central state manifestation Remembrance Day was held in Vranje. The gathering was attended by a large number of citizens from Vranje and the surrounding area, the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, as well as representatives of local and state institutions.

The commemorative gathering in Vranje began with a memorial service for the victims of the NATO bombing led by the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije along with archbishops and clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Porfirije: This is an appeal against the sin called war and bloodshed

Serbian Patriarch Porfirije stated that it is difficult to find the right words for this occasion.

“Every time on such occasions, when a wise and noble message is rightly expected, no matter how much we choose our words and search for the meaningful content of what we intend to say, we are left with a deep impression of helplessness to express both the depth of the tragedy we experienced as a people and that which we, as God-like creatures and the people of God, must strive for,” the Patriarch stated.

He pointed out that he rejoices to be in Vranje today despite the sad occasion.

“I rejoice even though the occasion for our gathering is sad; it is so because for us Christians, the way of the cross is precisely the overture, the introduction to Resurrection joys. A sad but holy memory of one of the last Golgothas of our long-suffering and cross-bearing people,” Patriarch Porfirije added.

He reminded that the terrible NATO bombing began on this day, and “for the next 78 days, until June 10, 1999, it turned our fatherland into a horrific place of slaughter, terrifying ruins, debris, and ash.”

“Our entire country, with all its cities and villages, as well as all its inhabitants without exception, by the unilateral decision of the powerful of this world, found themselves in a war flame that devoured everything before it – people, cities, settlements, cultural and natural assets, infrastructure. Vranje, with its surroundings, was also among those places of suffering, and here, a force that prays not to God sowed death and fear under the slogan of peace and the promotion of life, leaving behind suffering and desolation,” the Patriarch emphasized.

He added that today we should translate our words into prayers for all those who perished in Vranje and the region, and primarily to pray for two girls – Irena Mitić and Milica Stojanović, who were only 12 and 15 years old.

“For us personally, and I believe for every Christian, and then for every person of good will, a marker of the defeating human fall is the fact that on the bomb that killed Irena while she was helping her uncle sow corn in the field, a hand-carved inscription by a certain Eric N. stood: ‘bad times, isn’t that wonderful’. This murder, as well as the message filled with morbid cynicism, similar to the one that reached our people on bombs from the same side of the world during the days of celebrating Easter in 1944, unequivocally reveals much about the root and nature of the war waged against our freedom-loving Serbian people, but also every other war that is launched with the aim of subjugating or destroying others,” the Patriarch said.

He points out that those who killed Milica and Irena did not only deprive two children of their lives, “but they reached out to abolish tranquility and life, to kill peace as the greatest gifts of God, which are the prerequisite for every existence and harmony.”

“Our prayerful remembrance tonight of the victims from 1999 is simultaneously our prayerful appeal against every sin called war and bloodshed. Both over individuals and communities, over our people and over every people on earth,” the Patriarch pointed out.

He stated that unfortunately, even these days we are witnesses “that peace is being ruthlessly taken from the earth, that the sub-heavenly forces of evil and darkness sow death and ignite war hotspots throughout the entire world.”

“Human lives, God forbid, seem to be irreversibly losing the value of the holy of holies. In addition, people, without exception, are shackled by fear due to daily threats of the use of atomic weaponry. Because of all this, today’s gathering and the memory of one of the frequent sufferings that we, as descendants of holy ancestors, bore honorably and virtuously, is not and must not be an occasion for reviving old wounds, and especially not a call for hatred and hostility. On the contrary, our intention here from Irena’s and Milica’s Vranje is to send a warning – first to say to ourselves, and then to one another, and then to the whole world, that humanity has never before faced a greater test of its maturity and responsibility,” the Patriarch emphasized.

He stressed that peace within us and around us has never been more threatened, and restlessness and fear never more prevalent.

“Will we be able not only to pray, but with every atom of our being, to conform the life God gave us to the Gospel principle – seek peace and pursue it. Hence, from this martyred city, which like our entire country to this day witnesses this horror of war and the consequences of the absence of peace through its scars, we appeal to the whole world, and especially to those given to rule and make fateful decisions that concern all and affect all – to cease all hostility, to stop the bloodshed and war destruction, and to invest all the talents and strengths God gave us into preserving peace within ourselves, witnessing peace in our surroundings, and spreading peace in the whole world,” the Patriarch said.

He emphasized that we remain with the firm intention never to forget the innocent victims, our fellow tribesmen and citizens, in prayer, and that no one and nothing, and least of all force and bombs, can convince us to give up on peace as the program and determination of our lives.

“Precisely that is the legacy left to us by the holy father Sava, which is for us at once an undying covenant and our message to everyone and anyone, the commandment of Christ in action – love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself. May the Lord grant rest and eternal life to all those who perished in the NATO bombing of 1999. Eternal memory to them,” the Patriarch concluded in his sermon.

A minute of silence for the victims of the NATO aggression against the FRY

Following the sound of the air-raid siren, the anthem “Bože pravde” was sung, after which a minute of silence was held to pay respects to those who perished in the NATO aggression against the FRY in 1999.

Julanijana Anđelković: The names of the fallen are inscribed on the monument, even more importantly they are in our hearts for all time

Julanijana Anđelković, a woman from Vranje and granddaughter of Mane Anđelković, one of the victims of the NATO aggression who died in his home, addressed the gathering in Vranje.

“It was a place of gathering and warmth that they turned into a place of destruction and sadness. The lives of our neighbors and all people of Vranje changed. In the NATO aggression, 62 citizens of Vranje died, and that is why today we stand in a silence that speaks louder than words, remembering the time of sirens and detonations. For us, today is not just an anniversary and a memory, but also empty chairs and childhoods that learned too early what fear is,” said Julijana Anđelković.

According to her, it is our obligation to remember history and nurture peace, to teach both this and future generations how important life is.

“And today as I speak this, I think of my grandfather, of his smile and voice, but I also think of the 2,500 people who lost their lives during the NATO aggression. Let tonight’s pain and the loss of our loved ones remind us of the value of every day and call for even greater responsibility. The names of the fallen are inscribed on the monument, but even more importantly they are in our hearts for all time. It is also important that we gathered the strength to call the 1999 bombing by its real name – aggression and a crime above all crimes,” said Julijana Anđelković.

Dodik: They beat us heartlessly, they targeted everything they could reach

Milorad Dodik emphasized that no day in the calendar is the same, but that we will always remember this one for what happened to our people.

“For the second time, we were beaten by the largest military alliance in history, which practiced on Serbs in two waves, first over the Republika Srpska, and later over Serbia, in order to achieve its ambitions here, and it chose the Serbs specifically to drop depleted uranium on them, which hit us not only on that day, but hit all of our future,” Dodik stated.

He pointed out that even today we are “witnesses to many unfortunately newborn babies among our people who are being treated in our various health institutions for diseases they contracted because of depleted uranium.”

“That cannot be forgiven. Faith teaches us to forgive, but how? They beat us heartlessly, they targeted bridges, schools, hospitals, they targeted moving trains, buses, fields. They targeted everything they reached, they targeted our radio-television, they targeted our people, killing with the desire to kill the spirit,” Dodik added.

They, he added, celebrated every one of their alleged hits hilariously.

“We know that now, seeing them rejoicing in how they are capable of beating and killing children. And that is why we cannot consider this an ordinary day. To you, Mr. Aleksandar Vučić, I will never stop being thankful, and this people shouldn’t stop either, because you snatched this day from oblivion. Your arrival at the head of Serbia returned and is returning our dignity. Dignity, so that we can stand here and say, we were beaten by the bombs of the NATO pact. Only because they decided so, because they practiced for some other operations, because they never had unity among themselves to do it through formal decision-making systems such as the United Nations, but a group of the willing and unwilling decided to do us an enormous historical injustice and trouble. Cynically calling this operation ‘Merciful Angel’, while remaining heartless criminals remembered in the history of our people,” Dodik stated.

He emphasized that it is impossible to agree to any other policy except the policy of military neutrality and not joining the NATO alliance.

Vučić: I will never give up Kosovo and Metohija and my Serbia

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, thanked those present and reminded them that this is the 13th time he is attending the commemoration of the anniversary of the start of the NATO aggression.

“Thirteen years ago, I agreed with Milorad Dodik that we would mark all important dates together. Every March 24th, whenever we think so many years have passed and the wounds are healed, we are always surprised that they aren’t, and that they bleed as if it were yesterday. Today, despite everything, we see things more clearly; every war and violence in the world today did not start yesterday, they started on March 24, 1999. And if someone asks today why international law is being violated, territories seized, and the sovereignty and integrity of states destroyed, the answer is because you introduced that practice in 1999 when the end of international law was played, and the world perhaps headed toward its own self-destruction,” Vučić said.

Reflecting on the words of Julijana Anđelković who spoke of her perished grandfather Mane, he repeated that this gathering is not only a memory of our civilians and soldiers whom they killed, but also a warning that what happened on March 24, 1999, should be a lesson for us for the future.

“Falsely accusing Serbs of having Greater Serbian pretensions, after they expelled Serbs from Krajina and dealt with Serbs west of the Drina, the war in KiM and the dismemberment of Serbia began. They had a terrible influence on the media; there were always those who were voluntary subjects of the occupier, but fortunately they were always in the minority. We recently found out that they also asked the Hungarian government to launch an attack from the north. Thanks to our friend Viktor Orbán, that did not happen. And you think they stopped when the Kumanovo Agreement was signed? They didn’t stop, explaining to us that it wasn’t against the Serbian people but against Milošević’s government,” said the President of Serbia.

He reminded that the dismemberment of the country continued even after the NATO aggression.

“It continued after a year, they continued the dismemberment of the FRY, Montenegro also left, fake negotiations began in Vienna in 2006 so that the Albanians could declare independence in 2008. Our leadership was silent, everyone was silent, and I will tell you why. Foreigners always told me ‘just recognize Kosovo and you will get the Nobel Peace Prize’, but I always looked into the future, more into the footsteps of my children than my ancestors. I could not give up Kosovo and Metohija and my Serbia, and I never will,” said the President of Serbia.