Vucic extends Christmas message to patriarch, Serbian Orthodox Church and its believers

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic extended on Tuesday a Christmas message to Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church and all believers who observe the Julian calendar, and noted that "only if we are united can we safeguard and develop our Fatherland."

"Your Holiness, I extend to you my heartfelt greetings for Christmas, the most joyous Christian holiday, and I wish you a happy and blessed New Year of 2026. The holiday of the Birth of Christ is an eternal and universal symbol of peace, love and dignity - fundamental values that our noble ancestors have enshrined in the preservation of the family, the home, the Fatherland and our Orthodox identity, which we proudly cherish," Vucic noted in the message.

As always, during festive days, we also stand unwaveringly with the Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, who, by walking consistently on the path of Orthodoxy, also light the way for the entire Serbian nation in the country and the diaspora, Vucic wrote, noting that the Serbs would remain strong and dignified on that path.

A nation that knows and respects its roots looks to the future with determination, he added.

"At the beginning of the third millennium of Christianity, the glorious past of our nation is as much an inspiration to us as it is an obligation to always have the deepest awareness of who we are and what kind of values we cherish, even in periods of challenges and in times of all kinds of progress," Vucic wrote in the Christmas message.