"We are all responsible for one another and nobody has any excuse for evil, hatred and intolerance, nobody has justification for that, no matter how much external circumstances sometimes indicate that perhaps we may be right," the metropolitan said.
The line between good and evil does not divide peoples, states or parties, but "passes through the heart of each of us... And that's why each one of us is responsible for good and peace in the world. Each of us individually and all together," he said, adding that the biggest enemies were passions, egotism, hatred and intolerance.
During the service, a letter from Serbian Patriarch Irinej was read out in which he called for living in brotherly love and praying for Kosovo and Metohija, saying that as long as there were Serbs, there would be a Kosovo.
Before the service, Croatian Television broadcast Irinej's Christmas message to Orthodox Serbs in Croatia, in which he called on them to "freely preserve and nurture their religious and national identity and to advance their Orthodox culture" because Croatian laws, which they should respect, guaranteed that. He called on them to be good citizens of their state and to see to its progress and greater good.
Speaking to reporters after celebrating an orthodox Christmas service at the Church of St. Nicholas in Karlovac, Gornji Karlovac Bishop Gerasim told reporters politicians in power in Croatia and Serbia should stop fomenting an atmosphere of row and conflict.
He was asked if he had anything to add to Patriarch Irinej's Christmas message.
Addressing "politicians in both Zagreb and Belgrade," Gerasim said, "It seems to me you are trying to divide us again. You did it in 1991 and I have a feeling you want to do the same thing again. I urge you, in the name of peace, not to do it."