The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church said that he does not belong to any political side and urged unity for the sake of the survival of the Serb nation.

“I do not belong to any political side. I would like and I pray that there will be no divisions among us but a single policy, a single view and one path – the good of our people,” Patriarch Irinej said in an Easter interview to TV Hram which has been published on Good Friday.

The Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates religious holidays based on the Julian calendar and celebrates Easter based on a set of calculations which differ from those used by the Catholic Church.

The Patriarch said that “without unity among us, there can be no survival”.

Irinej said he spent several days in Kosovo earlier this month, adding that “it’s not true that there are no Serbs there”. According to him, there are fewer Serbs in Kosovo than there were once but a large part of them are still there. “There are some who would gladly return home, but they have no place to go back to,” he said.

He said that Kosovo is not a burden which would force the Serbs to give up their holy land.