Davor Džalto
A Blog of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University

On several occasions, Patriarch Porfirije has emphasized that “the Church does not deal with politics.” In an interview given to Svetigora (September 4, 2021), the Serbian Patriarch says: “Our Church, the Church of Christ, the Orthodox Church—and the Serbian Orthodox Church, both here and elsewhere—is a Church that does not engage in any politics.” He immediately adds: “By its nature, the Church cannot be partisan, nor can it support one option against another.”

It seems that the Patriarch rejects politics as an activity of the Church and its representatives because he equates politics with party politics, that is, with partisan political struggle. This interpretation is supported by his words (available at the webpage of Slovoljubve Radio): “The Church insists on refusing to actively engage in political struggles and to represent the party and political interests of one part of its people against the other, for several equally important reasons. The first is that parties, as the name suggests, are parts of a whole, and the Church represents the assembly, the entirety of the united people of God.”

In the same text, he also expresses the following position: “This does not mean that the Church does not deal with politics in its original sense, politics as a way of life, as concern for the common good of the community. It most certainly does—and is obliged to—engage in education, culture, and the values that have shaped and continue to shape the identity of the Serbian people.”

Weiterlesen auf publicorthodoxy.org

Bild: Patriarch Porfirije (© kremlin.ru)