It is with an exceedingly heavy heart that I write to you, concerning a tragic event which took place at Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in Belgrade, Serbia, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, when a seventh-grade student armed with pistols and Molotov cocktails ​shot and killed eight children and a security guard.

As did our Patriarch and Father Porfirije, we also send expressions of deepest condolences to the families of those killed in the school shooting at Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School, but also express our deep faith that the Lord will place those whose earthly lives were extinguished in this tragic event, in the dwellings of the righteous, and comfort those who mourn their loss.

For this reason, we kindly ask that, in your respective parishes and monasteries, you prayerfully remember those who tragically lost their lives at Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School on May 3, 2023, and to pray for the comfort and consolation of their families, classmates, teachers and staff as well. Moreover, we also ask that you keep them in your daily prayers.

May the Risen Lord enlighten our hearts and minds, so that all violence in the world can be abolished. May He help us to transform our own hearts, to turn from violence, and to seek peaceful ways of resolving differences.