The patriarch and seven other high-ranking dignitaries of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) were on their way to Pec (Peja in Serbian), in western Kosovo, when they were denied entry at the Merdare border crossing "without explanation", the statement said. Porfirije, who was elected patriarch in 2021, is considered a close ally of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Pristina had already prevented him from entering Kosovo in December 2022. "As long as Serbia... does not allow visits of our representatives to Serbia, and especially as long as it does not cease its campaign against the Republic of Kosovo in the international arena... as long as it continues its hate speech and threats against the Republic of Kosovo and its representatives, we will not allow visits either," the Kosovar foreign ministry reacted on Facebook. The eight clerics intended to travel to a monastery where the annual assembly of the highest dignitaries of the Orthodox Church will be held, which considers Kosovo -- which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 -- the cradle of Serbian Orthodoxy. Kosovo "is at the same time our cradle and our home," the Orthodox patriarch said in his Easter encyclical in 2024, adding: "In Old Serbia are our living and our dead." "From the point of view of human rights and freedoms... the decision to ban the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the bishops from visiting the historical seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church is unreasonable and unacceptable," the statement said. The meeting planned for Pec will instead be held in Belgrade on Tuesday, at the Cathedral of Saint Sava, the SPC added. After a bloody war that was followed by Kosovo's declaration of independence, Pristina and Belgrade finally agreed in 2011 to open a dialogue under the auspices of the European Union to normalise their relations. But more than a decade on, tensions have outweighed progress. Read Also: Kosovo apoia Ucrânia apesar de Kyiv não reconhecer independência (Portuguese version)