PATRIARCH PORFIRIJE: GENERAL MLADIĆ’S NAME WILL REMAIN DEEPLY ETCHED IN MEMORY OF SERB PEOPLE

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 7 /SRNA/ – His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia said in his sermon during the funeral service for General Ratko Mladić at St. Luke Church in Belgrade that his name would remain deeply etched in the memory and prayers of the majority of the Serb people.

The Patriarch said that the Serb people owe General Mladić gratitude as a soldier who, at a tragic and difficult time, stood at the head of the army, made a sacrifice and laid down his life for the survival of his people.

"The Serbian Orthodox Church does not pass judgment on anyone with regard to eternity, but prays for everyone and leaves everything to the judgment of God, who alone is just," His Holiness said during the funeral service.

The Patriarch stressed that there are human courts and human justice, which are temporary and conditioned by many deceptive factors.

“Earthly courts and earthly justice do not always measure everyone by the same standard. Our people carry a bitter experience. We know that no earthly court is infallible, nor can its judgment exhaust the truth about any life. God’s judgment is the only final and just one, and His word is truth,” the Patriarch said.

He pointed out that this judgment is not like an earthly court, and that before it stands an infinite love for man.

"Today we stand before the bier of Ratko Mladić, whom we know to have been a Christian, who in recent years went to confession and received Holy Communion, believing and hoping in God's mercy, and who ultimately fell asleep in the Lord holding a cross on his chest," the Patriarch said.

Whenever, the Patriarch says, we gather in prayer and celebrate the Divine Liturgy, Orthodox Christians pray for the peace of the entire world and for the salvation of every human being, what we do today, too.

"The question arises whether death is the last thing we will say about ourselves, or whether man is perhaps something more than that. Is there someone who, before death, gives us a different perspective and a different answer? We Orthodox Christians know that this is Jesus Christ, who gives an answer worthy of human being, and that answer is found in His cross and resurrection," the Patriarch of Serbia said.

Through His death, Christ defeated death, the Patriarch stressed, while through His resurrection He opened the doors of eternal life to all.

"God created us for eternal life. Death is not disappearance, but a temporary separation," Patriarch Porfirije said.