30.12.2024.
Press Release
In order to provide truthful information to the public, and regarding biased news articles published by certain media, the Ministry of Defence states that religious service is based upon the Law on the Serbian Armed Forces, which also applies to the practice of assigning feast days (Slava) to commands, units and institutions.
A key step forward in restoring religious service in our armed forces was made on August 1, 2013, when Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim military priests started their military and religious service in the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.
Determining and celebrating assigned feast days is regulated by special regulations that require that a command, unit or institution obtain a blessing from the military bishop after submitting a reasoned proposal to be granted a certain feast day, which is then forwarded to the Minister of Defence for approval through the competent department of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff.
Therefore, the aforementioned articles, which discuss the topic of feast days observed by various organizational units of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces in a mocking manner are extremely offensive to our Orthodox service members. They also mockingly and maliciously interpret the role of the Minister of Defence in determining feast days, despite the fact that his only role is to verify the General Staff’s proposal submitted with the military bishop’s blessing.
We hereby ask that the media refrain from publishing inaccurate and unverified information regarding the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, and especially from making interpretations that can cause offence to our members on the grounds of religion.
