Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
June 17, 2004

MICROFILM OF ORIGINAL ST. NICHOLAS MONASTERY GOSPEL RETURNED

A microfilm copy of the original “Nikoljsko Jevandjelje” (St. Nicholas Monastery Gospel), located in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin has finally been returned to Cacak thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Danica Otasevic, the director of the Cacak Library, and Dr. Vladeta Jankovic, the Serbia and Montenegro ambassador to London.

Mid-18th century National Library director Djura Danicic has linked the St. Nicholas Monastery Gospel with a manuscript written for Bosnian Duke Hrvoje around 1404. The manuscript was part of the collection of the Serbian National Library in Belgrade until World War I when it vanished together with 55 of the most valuable manuscripts and old printed books. In 1966 Vladimir Mosin located the St. Nicholas Monastery Gospel in the Dublin library.

Source: Vecernje Novosti daily, June 17, 2004

RESTORATION OF LEONTIOS DORMITORY

The Information Service of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija in its communique number 1 dated June 16, 2004, informed that the UNESCO World Heritage Center and the international NGO IKOMOS have informed the Coordinating Center and the Republic of Serbia’s Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of their full agreement to begin reconstruction of the Leontios Dormitory in Decani Monastery.

Although the dormitory itself is not among the buildings under UNESCO protection, it is an integral part of the monastery of key importance to the Decani operations.

The beginning of work on the reconstruction of the dormitory is expected to begin in the near.

YOUNGEST SERBS FROM PRIZREN BAPTIZED IN DECANI MONASTERY

On June 6, 2004, Dobrila, Slobodan and Valentina Pleskonjic were baptized at Visoki Decani Monastery. Barely escaping certain death during the March Kristalnacht in Prizren, Ljubisa and Tatjana Pleskonjic baptized their three children in Decani Monastery: two and a half year old Dobrila, one and a half year old Slobodan and one month old Valentina. In addition to this joyful news about the youngest Serbs from Prizren who since March 17 have been temporarily lodged in the German military base in Prizren together with some 30 other Serbs from the city, we include the shocking eyewitness account of Ljubisa Pleskonjic who by a miracle of God managed to pull his family from the flames before an rampaging Albanian crowd. Decani monks Metodije and Dimitrije performed the holy sacrament of baptism.

"On that fateful March 17, when the madness of the Albanian chauvinists began, my wife Tatjana and I and our two small children, Slobodan and Dobrila, were in our apartment in the complex of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Serbian Seminary in Prizren, where we were temporarily lodged after returning to our native city in September of last year. At about 4:50 p.m. the Albanians began to gather. We thought they would be holding a protest rally as in previous days and then disperse; however, to our misfortune, this was not the case. In the first attack, they broke down the door of the Seminary, and then they entered the apartment on the first and then the second floor. I pushed two heavy benches in front of the door and wedged myself between the wall and the door so they couldn't get in. There were screams coming from the hallway outside and at one point, when they tried to use axes to hack through the door, I thought we were finished. Then they set fire to the door. Flames were everywhere. I helped my wife and children to get out of the window onto the roof; I could not get out myself because I am pretty big. I remained in the apartment where the fire was spreading. Out of despair and fear I grabbed the refrigerator and began to smash it against the wall until I made a hole large enough to get out. I walked across the roof of the neighboring house and arrived at the first house in our block. Thanks to the Kosovo Police Service, which tossed tear gas at the mob, we managed to cross the street and arrive at the Teranda Hotel. Just when we thought we had managed to save ourselves, the raging Albanians again attacked us. The KPS police fled and left us by ourselves in the middle of the street. We remained hidden between two garbage dumpsters until five in the morning when we were found by a KPS patrol which then at our request transferred us to the German base where we still live,” said Ljubisa.

[Serbian Translation Services]