SOC BASIS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY

DERVENTA, AUGUST 4 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said in Derventa that Srpska will keep preserving peace and developing, as well as help the Serbian Orthodox Church /SOC/, which is the basis of national identity.

He has warned that nations that are not united around their faith lose their identity and compete in various hilarious things that do not even belong to a human being, least of all to God. "We could see that recently at the opening of the Olympic Games, where the Christian faith was tried to be desecrated and hit again," said Dodik and asked what would happen if by any chance the feelings of another religion, say Islamic, were hit? "I don't think the Olympics would have taken place," said Dodik. Dodik addressed the gathered in Derventa, where the Old Church complex was consecrated expressing his satisfaction that the cathedral church and the building around it were jointly restored, and pointed out that during his presidential mandate, 1,000 churches were restored in Republika Srpska, as well as a dozen monasteries, and many new ones were built, which is something to be proud of. "That's pride and it's an indicator that we can," emphasized Dodik. He pointed out that the authorities of Republika Srpska also helped other religious communities, but they never forgot the SOC, aware that it is the basis of our identity. "Not only the one we live today, but the one we survived in times when that was almost impossible. During the Turkish occupation, when they tried to Islamize entire societies, and the Serbs convert to another religion, we survived that difficult time of several centuries , thanks to our Orthodox Church and many of our martyrs, priests who did not spare their lives in order to preserve their faith," Dodik pointed out. He stated that as the Most Reverend Metropolitan Fotije of Zvornik-Tuzla said, the synergy between the state and the church is proving to be decisive and almost crucial for the Serb people. "Whenever it worked, the people worked too, when it didn't, the people suffered and were in the convoys, recording a series of events of this type throughout history," said Dodik. His Eminence Metropolitan Fotije of Zvornik-Tuzlan and His Holiness Bishop Gerasim of Upper Karlovac consecrated the complex of the Old Church in Derventa today in the presence of many believers. The old church was built between 1851 and 1855. The church was razed to the ground on the Ascension of Jesus in 1992, when it was mined by members of the HVO and the so-called Army of BiH. In December 2017, the conceptual design of the entire complex, which includes the renovation of the church and the construction of the Sint Sava Home, began. The cathedral church was consecrated in 2020. The Serbian Orthodox Church decided that the new cathedral church would be dedicated to the Annunciation, which is celebrated on April 7.