SERB ORTHODOX BELIEVERS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS

ZAGREB, Jan 7 (Hina) - Serb Orthodox believers on Friday celebrated Christmas according to the Julian calendar in a packed Church of Holy Transfiguration in Zagreb. The Christmas Mass was served by the archpriest of Zagreb, Milenko Popovic, with the assistance of archpriest Marinko Juretic. Following the liturgy, archpriest Juretic read out to the gathered believers a pastoral letter by the head of the Serb Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle. In the message, Patriarch Pavle stresses that "the Serb Church and people have paid dearly for the national and ideological adventurism of the twentieth century." The new century and millennium start in conditions of a complete crisis, Patriarch Pavle said, adding the basis of the crisis was "the deepest and most difficult crisis possible - the crisis of humanity." "We have accepted the wrong as the right, the lie as the truth," the Patriarch notes, adding in terms of the number of human victims the 20th century had surpassed all other centuries. "The forms of ideological dictatorship which were established, especially in Orthodox countries, were an unprecedented attack on human freedom and life. In the name of ideology millions of people lost their lives only because they wanted to think and live differently," the head of the Serb Orthodox Church said, adding that Christmas was a holiday of "warmth and of the warm human heart." At the end of the Mass, archpriest Popovic offered his best wishes for Christmas to the gathered, wishing that Christmas may bring peace, good, and love to their families and among the nations. According to the custom, Christmas presents were distributed to children at the church. (hina) rml .