Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej said Serbian society needs unity in order to preserve and defend Kosovo, since it would not be defended by quarrels, B92 reports.

Following the ceremony held in the Vracar (Belgrade) Municipality, on the occasion of Saint Sava Day, Patriarch Irinej said Serbs are a small nation, and must be united in order to survive.

“Unity is a foundation of our Church and state. The union of Church and the state kept us, and if we didn’t have it, we would have vanished as a nation,” Patriarch Irinej noted.

He also added, disunity and quarrels became more and more present in our society, warning that Serbs must be organized in order to preserve what was left to them by predecessors, and foremost to preserve Kosovo.

Patriarch Irinej also said Kosovo was never given to the Serbs, neither the Serbs took it away, but Kosovo was always our motherland, full of Serbian holly shrines.