Bishop was criticised for saying he will ‘curse’ the organizers and participants in EuroPride in Belgrade and would take up a weapon, if he had one, against those ‘desecrating the holy city of Belgrade’.

Serbian Bishop’s Curse Against Belgrade EuroPride Condemned

Bishop Nikanor (centre) during service. Photo: serbdiocese.hu

A Serbian Orthodox bishop has been criticised for saying the forthcoming Europe Pride event in Belgrade will “desecrate” Belgrade, and saying he wished he could take up a weapon to stop it.

The Program Director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, YIHR, Sofija Todorovic, said Bishop Nikanor of Banat’s talk about cursing the organizers and participants in Euro Pride and using weapons against them was a “direct threat” to a whole group of people.

“Once again, we are witnessing that the bishops and heads of the church are dealing with things that are not within their authority, but in a way that actually directly threaten a certain group, in which there is probably a larger number, among others, of believers,” Todorovic told BIRN.

“In this way, officials of the Serbian Orthodox Church are abusing the position and legitimacy they have among citizens of Serbia who are believers, in order to spread ideas that are discriminatory and that, ultimately, completely dehumanize a group of people,” she added.

The Director of Civil Right Defenders Europe, Goran Miletic, told Kurir newspaper that the statement “represents open hate speech towards the LGBT community, but also towards Croats and the [gay] Prime Minister of Serbia”.

In a video published on YouTube on Thursday, Bishop Nikanor is seen standing in front of a church and addressing a couple of believers. He said that Euro Pride participants “will come to Belgrade and flaunt and desecrate the city of Belgrade, the holy Serbian city,” and that “we raise our voice against such [people]”.

“I will curse all those who organize and participate in something like that,” Nikanor added. “I can do that much. If I had a weapon, I would use it, I would use that force if only I had it, but I do not,“ he added.

Bishop Nikanor also offended Serbia’s own Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who is openly gay and was born in Croatia.

Euro Pride is a pan-European international LGBT event hosted by a different European city each year. This time it will be held in Belgrade from September 12 to 18.

Bishop Nikanor has led Banat diocese since 2003. He has become known for provocative statements.

In April 2020, while Serbia was under state of emergency due to COVID-19 and when religious services were limited, Bishop Nikanor made a speech calling on believers to come to church because “it is the best and most curative hospital and if someone who advises you, even if it is a Serbian patriarch or a bishop, that there can only be five people in the church, he either has no religion or serves some other service“.

“The holy sacrament of communion, that is the best medicine!” Nikanor said.

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