Metropolitan of Sweden and All Scandinavia Cleopas issued a statement following the terrorist attack in the city of Stockholm, Friday, expressing solidarity to the victims’ families.

In the aftermath of the appalling event that blemishes the coming celebration of Holy Pascha (Easter), our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of our fellow citizens who were unjustly killed and injured in Friday’s attack.

The blind and intolerant violence that targeted the peaceful land of Sweden will ultimately bring about the opposite of what its perpetrators intended because it will unite all of society’s healthy forces against fanaticism.

During these difficult moments, the steadfast relationship of trust and cooperation between this eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Scandinavian peninsula, the Kingdom of Sweden, and local society, with whom we share the same concerns, is reaffirmed.