BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - The influential head of the Serbian Orthodox Church appealed to his flock to remember the sanctity of marriage and family as they prepare to celebrate the Orthodox Easter.
In his traditional Orthodox Easter message released Thursday, Patriarch Pavle said the world "needs more togetherness and unity in all segments of society, and especially in the family which is in a deep crisis."
The patriarch's letter — distributed to media ahead of Sunday, when Orthodox Christians observe Easter — deflected this year from the broader issues of society and turned to the nuclear family.
"In life's ever faster speed, people have less and less time for each other, spouses drift apart and children are left to themselves," the patriarch wrote. "The resurrection of Christ teaches us that ... every moment spent with our loved ones is infinitely precious and has its echo in eternity."
The patriarch also noted that "at a time when nearly every second marriage ends in divorce and the young are misled from the path of righteousness, we desperately need the kind of family union that Christianity teaches."
In Serbia — Yugoslavia's dominant republic — the Patriarch wields considerable influence. Most people living here are Orthodox Christian and observe Easter according to the old, Julian calendar.
During Slobodan Milosevic's reign, the Patriarch's messages subtly reflected his anti-Milosevic stance, his support for reforms and the pro-democracy movement that ultimately ousted the former Yugoslav president in the October 2000 popular revolt.