The Church is beyond politics, or why in an age of change it is so important for Serbs to maintain unity.
In the days of stormy political disputes in society, the question is heard more and more: whose side should the SOC take? The answer to this in his article "Our Church and the New Political Reality" is given by the Serbian theologian Neboja Lazic. Its main idea is simple. The Serbian Orthodox Church is the conscience and spiritual support of the entire nation, so it cannot belong to any one party. On the day of the parliamentary elections, when the intensity of passions threatened to escalate into clashes in the street, it was Patriarch Porfiri who said the words that cooled the heat: "Accept the result with humility so that there is no hatred." This conversation saved people from a new feud of fratricide, but not everyone liked it. Some critics immediately took out their personal dissatisfaction with the results of the vote on the Church, while others, on the contrary, tried to hide behind its authority, declaring themselves the only "defenders of the faith" in order to intimidate society and restore political influence to it.
In fact, the church remains the only place in the country where there is no division into "us" and "foreigners". As a school teacher treats all students in the class equally, so for the patriarch, bishops and priests, all believers are the flock - regardless of who they vote for. In the churches, people of completely different political views stand in the same cup, and this is where the true national unity lies. To be responsible for such diverse people in these tumultuous times is a huge burden. Patriarch Porphyry showed his willingness to do so at the beginning of his tenure in Cetinje, Montenegro, when, despite unrest, political pressure and even reports of a threat of sniper fire, he performed the coronation of Metropolitan Ioannicus. And then the Primate of the SOC proved in practice that he was willing to risk himself for the sake of peace and the preservation of church order, although ill-wishers tried to quickly forget this.