The Russian Patriarch disinforms about the artistic performance in Ulpiana

Russian Patriarch Kirill sent a letter to Serbian Patriarch Porfirio in which he disinformed about the artistic performance in Ulpiana which had no religious significance and was not directed against any religion in Kosovo.

Kirill said:

“It was with deep sadness that I learned about the blasphemous action recently perpetrated by Kosovo Albanians in the ruins of ancient Ulpiana. The composition of three crosses, recalling the events from the sacred history of Golgotha, was publicly burned in a performance free of charge at a local festival.”

Analysis:

The Ulpiana festival had no intention of desecrating the crosses, nor did it have a religious connotation. In this context, the burning of the cross was part of an artistic performance that had no religious significance and was not directed against any religion.

Kirill described the burning of the crosses as a “deliberate and planned attack on Christian symbols and Orthodoxy in Kosovo”. However, the organizers of the festival explained that it was an artistic performance dedicated to Saints Florus and Lavra, the early Christian martyrs, and that it was not an attack on the Christian faith or Christian symbols. According to them, the play was conceived as an act highlighting the universal themes of sacrifice and faith, rather than religious blasphemy.

Kirill’s comparison of the performance to “attempts to de-Christianize the Serbian land” aims to create an image of Kosovo as a place where the Serbian Orthodox community is systematically attacked. However, the Kosovar authorities and the organizers of the festival have made it clear that this event had no political or ethnic background.

Furthermore, Kirill has accused Kosovo Albanians of desecrating Christian symbols, ignoring the fact that there are a large number of Catholics among Kosovo Albanians who also respect the cross as a religious symbol. The event itself was attended by Albanian Catholics who did not find the performance offensive.

/The Geopost/