From the Diocesan Annual Assembly - 2009
RESOLUTIONS
of the Diocesan Assembly of the
Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America
Miami, Florida February 27-28, 2009
The clergy and congregational presidents and delegates of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America, meeting at St. Simeon Mirotocivi Church in Miami, Florida under the omophor and archpastoral oversight of His Grace Bishop Dr. MITROPHAN, bring forth the following Greetings and Resolutions:
1.We greet and ask the blessing of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch PAVLE and all the hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who “rightly divide the word of truth” of Holy Orthodoxy, and who pastor the flock of Serbian Orthodox Christians throughout the world. We especially pray for the health of His Holiness the Patriarch, that God will grant him healing, strength, and health for many years. Eis polla eti, Despota!
2. We continue to await and look forward to the final administrative reunification of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the total healing of the tragic disunity which began hampering our common work and witness so many years ago. It is our firm conviction that this administrative unity is necessary for our future advancement as the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America, and we urge all to work to bring about the speedy accomplishment of this sacred task.
3. We greet and express our unity in Christ with all our brothers and sisters, Orthodox Christians both here in America and throughout the world. May we all rededicate ourselves and each other continuously to our Lord Jesus Christ as found in His Orthodox Faith and Church, and may we all be worthy of our high calling as we seek to bring this faith to the whole world. To this end we welcome concrete signs of this unity of faith and work, such as the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas and its activities such as International Orthodox Christian Charities, the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, the Orthodox Christian Fellowship for college students, and the Orthodox Christian Education Commission, and pledge our cooperation and support to them. May we all grow together in faith and love and spiritual understanding through our common worship, our common Eucharist, and our common Christian ethos, which transcends every worldly division.
4.Last year, in the wake of the illegal declaration of independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo from Serbia, we declared our firm opposition to this alienation of the heart and cradle of all Serbs from the rest of Serbia. At that time, we resolved: “We declare with all our souls and minds that, as Serbian Orthodox Christians, our Kosovo and Metohija has always been—and is especially now—most dear to us as the soul and heart of all Serbs. With one voice we vehemently condemn the February 17, 2008 unilateral and illegal declaration of “independence” by the Albanian-dominated parliament of the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. To our shame as Americans, this action, in contravention of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, the United Nations Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, and all norms of international law, was taken with the tacit approval and at the de facto instigation of the United States government, which quickly led a number of nations in recognizing this illegal government as a new sovereign state.”
We further resolved at that time: “It has been evident for decades that Albanians in Kosovo have been bent on creating an ethnically pure Albanian state and eradicating all trace of Serbian history and culture in the very cradle of Serbian religious and cultural identity,” and gave many concrete examples of these illegal and immoral actions of ethnic cleansing against Serbs.
We continued, “In the face of this long history, the Serbian people have no reason to believe, as the western powers repeatedly claim, that the former leaders of the KLA, now transformed into the government of the new ‘independent’ Kosovo, are now committed to the protection of human rights and elemental freedoms for their non-Albanian residents.”
In the past year, we have seen nothing to change our rejection of the illegal declaration of the Serbian province of Kosovo’s independence. Therefore, we reiterate what we concluded then:
“(W)e join Serbs and people of good will everywhere in rejecting this bogus independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo. We express our solidarity with His Grace Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren, his clergy, monastics, and his faithful flock, and all the embattled Serbs of Kosovo, whose presence reminds the world that Kosovo is Serbian, and who maintain and guard our greatest national shrines, including the Patriarchate of Pec, Gracanica, and Visoki Decani. We pledge ourselves to support them morally, spiritually, and materially as they represent us all in this Serbian Holy Land. We also commend and thank those nations and organizations which have refused to recognize this illegal declaration of independence. Finally, we call upon the United States and other architects of Kosovo independence to abandon this failed and illegitimate policy and return to the tried and tested norms of international law. With one voice and heart we join Serbs everywhere in proclaiming: Kosovo is, and will always be, Serbia!”
5.We note with sorrow and alarm the increasing abandonment of traditional basic Christian morality by western society and culture. No society can remain strong without a firm underpinning of moral values. In particular, we speak out in defense of the most innocent and helpless of all, the yet to be born, who continue to be killed in huge numbers through the practice of abortion. A society which allows free and unfettered legal access to abortion is a society which is gravely infected by the culture of death and a gross self-centeredness which refuses to take responsibility for personal choices and behavior, all at the expense of those who have no voice to speak out in their own defense.
6.Another symptom of the culture of death is the increasing push for the legalization of euthanasia. From the Christian perspective, life is a gift from God, and it is not ours to take at will. Care at the end of life can be full of difficult decisions, and it is not always clear at what point the attempt to preserve life needs to transition to care during the process of dying. There certainly comes a point where extraordinary attempts to preserve a life coming to its end in this world are no longer helpful or advisable. But there never is a point at which we can take upon ourselves the active bringing of death, no matter what our motives. Indeed, it is possible that those last days may become a time of great spiritual growth and of a deepening faith and relationship with God, which from the Christian perspective is the meaning and purpose of our whole life. The time of the end of that process is God’s decision alone, not ours.
7.We condemn the attempt by a minority to foist upon the rest of society the redefinition of one of the foundational units of society, marriage and family based upon the unique, committed, and life-long relationship between one man and one woman. The integrity of the institution of marriage has long been under attack from those who have made divorce legally easy and common, and by those who choose to enter into intimate relationships without the benefit of marriage. Now the definition of marriage itself is being revised to mean practically any combination of people in any kind of relationship at all. Society may, through the political process, grant legal recognition and protection to any kind of personal relationship it wishes. But society may not simply decree a change in the very meaning of the words we use to convey ideas. The idea of homosexual “marriage” is an impossibility given the universal meaning of the word marriage as a union between and man and a woman.
8.From our Christian perspective, we see the present economic crisis as an opportunity for us to reexamine our lives, our behavior and our priorities. In times of economic boom we often take the good times for granted, and so enter into a destructive and wasteful consumerism, putting instant gratification of our whims and desires above prudent financial planning and practices. This is harmful not only financially but also morally and spiritually. We come to depend on our nest eggs and on the financial markets rather than on God and the one thing needful, which is our relationship with Him. We are tempted by the good times to be greedy, profligate, and passionate towards possessions, and to abandon the ascetic and disciplined approach towards everything which is such an integral and vital part of Christian life. We can apply the gospel story of the rich young man, and our Lord’s words that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, to the experiences of our recent past. We encourage all to use this time of financial correction as an opportunity for spiritual correction, helping us to once again put our trust in God and His love and saving will for us, and to return to a healthier understanding of our use of and relationship with all the things of this world. And we call on all to give aid generously to those who find themselves in real want due to this crisis.
9.We look forward to hosting for the first time in the Eastern American Diocese the National Church Assembly-Sabor of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America, scheduled to be held at St. George Church in Canton, Ohio in August. We pledge to do everything possible to help make this convocation productive, memorable and enjoyable.
10.Finally, we thank our hosts of St. Simeon Mirotocivi Church in Miami, Florida for their exemplary hospitality to all of us at this Diocesan Assembly.
