UNMIK/PR/726
Pristina – SRSG Michael Steiner celebrated Orthodox Easter Sunday by attending a church service at Kosovo’s Pec Patriarchate.
He was joined for the occasion by Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi and COMKFOR Marcel Valentin.
After the service, both SRSG Michael Steiner and Prime Minister Rexhepi spoke of the need for normalizing relations between Kosovo’s ethnic communities.
By attending the Orthodox Easter service at the Pec Patriarchate, SRSG Michael Steiner said that he and Prime Minister Rexhepi were demonstrating their commitment to building peace and tolerance between all of Kosovo’s religious and ethnic communities.
SRSG Michael Steiner described their visit as a big step down the road toward “normalizing relations” between the people of Kosovo.
The SRSG and the Prime Minister also met with the nuns of the Patriarchate, who described the many hardships that Serb and other minority communities face in Kosovo.
Also in attendance at the service was a group of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) hoping to return to their homes in Kosovo in the near future.
The Pec Patriarchate was the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 13th to the 18th centuries. Today it remains the seat of Serbian Patriarchs and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
