The new leader of the Serb Orthodox Church (SPC), Patriarch Porfirije, on Saturday visited the earthquake-hit Croatian region of Banija, telling its residents that he was not a politician but would do his best in his new office to defuse any tension among people.

Patriarch Porfirije, who before his election as the new, 46th leader of the SPC in mid-February, was the Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana, visited Majske Poljane and Glina, communities in Sisak-Moslavina County hit by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake on 29 December.

During his first visit in his capacity as the SPC leader, Patriarch Porfirije was accompanied by Serb Orthodox Bishop Gerasim, head of the Eparchy of Gornji Karlovac.

“Nothing is an obstacle if we stick together,” he told the Kukolečas, the first of the five families he visited in Majske Poljane, who have been living in housing containers since the earthquake. Five residents of Majske Poljane were among seven people killed in the 29 December earthquake.

Porfirije said that he was aware that housing reconstruction was yet to begin, but that the earthquake victims “can count on us to help.”

“Croatia certainly considers reconstruction one of its priorities, as do all people of goodwill,” he said.

He noted that last year’s tragedy showed that people needed one another.

“Maybe God sometimes allows trials in our lives so that… we can discover humanity in ourselves and make an effort to overcome our egoism and self-containment. And to make us cooperate and realise that together we can easily repair material damage as well,” he said.

During a visit to Mile Bajlović, a resident of Majske Poljane, whose house was also destroyed in the earthquake, Patriarch Porfirije was approached by a man who said that he was a Croatian war veteran and that he was glad to see SPC representatives visiting and helping his friend.

Asked by reporters if he would work on improving political relations between Croatia and Serbia, Porfirije said that he was not a politician and did not want to be one but that in spreading the gospel he was called upon to do his best to “help defuse any possible tension between people.”

“My powers are certainly not big but I will do my best to help (defuse tension) among ordinary people, among office-holders and – I don’t want to sound pretentious – also between states.”

“Only when we are together can we share the true joy and true peace,” he said.

After visiting the earthquake victims in Banija, Porfirije visited the Civil Protection base in Lekenik, where two big and four smaller housing containers were delivered, a donation by the SPC and the Serbian Embassy in Zagreb.

He said that with the help of good people and the city of Belgrade the SPC had secured slightly more than 100 housing containers and that it would also help in the reconstruction of houses in Sisak-Moslavina County as well as that it would now be more present in the area than before.

Also in Lekenik was Boris Milošević, Deputy Prime Minister and deputy head of the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake, who thanked Patriarch Porfirije and the SPC for helping the local residents from the very first day of the tragedy.