Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
Oktober 25, 2004

BARBARIC DESTRUCTION OF MONASTERY CHURCH OF MONASTERY OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM IN THE VILLAGE OF NIZEPOLJE NEAR BITOLJ
DIOCESE OF BACKA AND MATICA SRPSKA ORGANIZE LECTURE
NOT ONLY ARE THEY BURYING US ALIVE BUT THEY ARE FORCING US TO REMAIN SILENT...
COMMUNIQUE - ORTHODOX DIOCESE OF RASKA-PRIZREN
SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH MUSEUM RECEIVES VALUABLE ICON OF ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA
PROMOTIONS AT SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH STAND

BARBARIC DESTRUCTION OF MONASTERY CHURCH
OF MONASTERY OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
IN THE VILLAGE OF NIZEPOLJE NEAR BITOLJ

Promises given by the president of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Branko Crvenkovski to the archschismatic Stefan "that he would discipline Vranishkovski" under the condition that the so-called Macedonian Orthodox Church does not interfere in the organizing of the referendum have been kept very quickly. Today, shortly before midnight, the state inspection of the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia destroyed the monastery church in the monastery of St. John Chrysostom and the support walls on the inclined terrain where the monastery is being built. They did not present an official decision for the removal of the building and were accompanied by a strong police escort. The schismatic Metropolitan Petar shamelessly advised that he had sent no less than seven requests for the destruction of the church and exclaimed with delight: "The church should have been torn down five months ago." Without any Christian conscience, let alone virtues of a bishop, the schismatic Petar, after chasing out the monks and nuns who selected the Orthodox Archdiocese of Ochrid in the dead of night and in the middle of winter, now wants to completely destroy all the monastics in the Bitolj region. Monks and nuns only bother the Godless, the Devil and Petar. How miserable of a man to demand and to rejoice at the destruction of a church and a monastery. Even the Muslims are reluctant to do this, knowing that God's justice will find them sooner or later; the only ones not afraid are schismatics who have already shown their true face before all.

After all that has happened to the Orthodox Archdiocese of Ochrid in the past two and a half years, hardly anything has gone unsaid. In order to evict a Bishop from his place of residence, forcibly with police, without a court decision; in order to conduct police searches of the apartments of the Bishop and the members of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Ochrid whenever it occurs to you; in order to try and sentence Bishops for entering a church and to detain them, to try and sentence them for allegedly fanning ethnic hatred by serving in the catacombs where the government has forced them; in order to chase monks and nuns from their monasteries, where they have spent sleepless nights praying for all people to build a close relationship with God; in order to do all these things, it is necessary to be completely ouside of many centuries of Christian civilization.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which is far from being a state of law, is a state where political decisions are made above the law. But if the state is to be blamed for all this vandalism, then the schismatic organization calling itself Macedonian Orthodox Church is to be blamed doubly. Since the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the Roman Catholic Church, to this day it was not know that anything like it existed elsewhere. Today in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia we see schismatics conducting a "sacred trial" or inquisition, and the state implementing it. The Orthodox Church did not have an inquisition, and under its ecclesiological and canonical laws, it is not possible for an inquisition to exist. Thus, we have another way of recognizing that these schismatics are not the Church. They are a band of outlaws gathered to realize their personal interests, and they will continue to exist as long as their interests are protected. The only sad thing is that neither the media nor the people it informs cannot realize this. Can an organization that destroys churches and monasteries be called the Church? We should remember that this was not done even by the Turks, who were of a different faith. And what kind of a future can a people that has begun to destroy churches expect? It is the same as destroying your own home; even worse, it is like destroying your own body, for the church is the body and soul of a people.

The power of the Church is in fact in the Spirit that builds everything anew. Is this the first time in the history of the Church that holy shrines were destroyed? They were destroyed by Nero, Diocletian and Julian the Apostate, by Hitler, Stalin and Tito, and now they are being destroyed by Branko. Do you think there is a difference between Hitler and Nero, or between Branko and Stalin? They are destructive men who destroy and do not build; who spend and do not earn; who wish to have slaves, so that they can remain slaves to their passions.

This monastery is been build in a non-urban zone and there more than 50 permanent buildings in its immediate vicinity, none of which have a building permit. This is not because people do not want to legalize their buildings but because, according to the law, you cannot get a building permit in a non-urban zone. But why then were all the buildings around the monastery not also destroyed; why were all the villages and half the cities built in non-urban zones not all destroyed?

Because it is easier to fight against unarmed monks and nuns who have no weapons except their tears. The building inspectors should go to Tetovo or Gostivar to tear down some palace, which cannot even be described as a house. What kind of a president is the president, and what kind of state is it where they beat you and forbid you to cry?

A state and a people that have begun to destroy destroy churches and monasteries are already hosts to the "abomination of desolation” mentioned in the Holy Scriptures (Dan 9.27). It is hard to expect much from this state and this people. But regardless of how far it has fallen because of the icon of God it carries within the people know how to recognize those who wear the masks of saints but are wolves in their heart. Petar was recognized as a wolf in Bitolj long ago. The residents of Bitolj do not respect him, let alone love him. His maliciousness and hypocracy have transcended all bounds and now are regarded as identical with that of the Devil.

It is well-known that the Jews used the Wailing Wall to make a state. The Orthodox Archdiocese of Ochrid today stands before a wailing wall. But it is not a state, and it will use the wall to make a Kingdom not of this world. The remains of the wall that the schismatics have not yet destroyed with the help of the state will be part of the plan for the new Jerusalem being built by Christ, for the stones of that wall are chiselled following the example of Herma's tower, mixed with tears of redemption, and fortified by joyous sorrow and suffering for God's justice.

Schism is many times more terrible than heresy. Heretics are outside the Church and can be easily recognized; schismatics destroy from within. Only those who have not had dealings with a schismatic do not recognize the kind of people they are.

Orthodox Archdiocese of Ochrid

DIOCESE OF BACKA AND MATICA SRPSKA ORGANIZE LECTURE

As part of the visit of the delegation of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Diocese of Backa, on Wednesday, October 27, 2004, beginning at 7:00 p.m., a lecture will be held in the formal auditorium of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad on the themes “The Challenge of Globalization and the Orthodox Church” (speaker: Deacon Andrei Kurayev) and “The Relevancy of Orthodox Ascetic Teachings about Humanity” (speaker: academician Sergei Sergeievitch Horuzhy).

We are forwarding an official statement by the Diocese for Raska-Prizren and Kosovo and Metohija regarding the interview of UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen for the most recent issue of the German weekly "Der Spiegel" where he gravely insulted the Serbian Orthodox Church and the suffering people of Kosovo and Metohija

NOT ONLY ARE THEY BURYING US ALIVE BUT
THEY ARE FORCING US TO REMAIN SILENT...

Petersen's statement in "Der Spiegel" represents an extremely irresponsible act both politically and morally and gravely insults the families of killed Serbs and all those who for the past five years have been living a horror story directed by UNMIK and ethnic Albanian leaders. At the same time, the UNMIK chief's comments at this critical period incite further violence toward Serbs and provide an alibi to the criminals who for more than five years have been carrying out a policy of ethnic terror under UN rule. Everything that the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija have gone through under UNMIK administration, especially during the March pogrom, really can be rightfully called horror and not horror produced by the imagination but the consequence of the catastrophic results of the UN mission, which after five years of violence and discrimination wants to proclaim its own overnight triumph on the tragedy of an entire people and its Church. This least successful of all peacekeeping missions in the history of the UN has only brought suffering and pain to the non-Albanian population of Kosovo and Metohija, allowing the perpetration of systematic violence and crimes against Serbs, Roma, Gorans and other minority communities and without one single UNMIK chief being held accountable.

ORTHODOX DIOCESE OF RASKA-PRIZREN AND KOSOVO-METOHIJA

COMMUNIQUE

ERP KIM Info Service
Gracanica, October 20, 2004

"So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within
you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Mat. 23:28)

In an interview for the most current issue of the German weekly "Der Spiegel" UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen has continued the impudent campaign of mud-slinging at the Serbian Orthodox Church, which he now accused with unprecedented hypocrisy of working with Belgrade politicians "to spread horror stories that have nothing to do with the reality in Kosovo and that are counterproductive for the Kosovo Serbs".

This latest statement by Petersen, and the cynical words of "Der Spiegel" reporter Renate Flottau that "many KFOR troops and UN administrators do not ascribe the lack of freedom of movement for the Serbs to a threat from the Albanians" (presumably it is a figment of the Serbs' imagination) and that "Orthodox Bishop Artemije has become accustomed to playing the role of victim" represents the continuation of a comprehensive and skillfully planned media campaign launched from UNMIK headquarters with the recent personal attack on Bishop Artemije for withdrawing the representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the commission for the restoration of destroyed churches. In a recent telephone conversation, a UN official and close associate of Petersen openly threatened that the Church would have serious problems because of its position. Through UNMIK's communiques and certain foreign media this slanderous campaign is continuing from day to day primarily against those who wish to express their dissatisfaction with the work of the UN mission and Kosovo institutions through their legitimate right of nonparticipation in the upcoming Kosovo elections, which are a parody of democracy and have the goal of drowning out every voice of protest and dissent with the policies currently promulgated by the new UNMIK chief and those who stand behind him.

However, despite all slander after the last decade or so Bishop Artemije will be remembered as an authentic voice of the Serbian people's conscience and a "good shepherd" (Jhn 10:11) who carried the truth about events in Kosovo and Metohija from Washington to Moscow, and from Berlin to Paris and London. His position was and is unchanged: that violence is not and cannot be the path to the progress of either a society or an individual. After becoming one of the major proponents of resistance against dictatorship during the time of the Milosevic regime, following the establishment of so-called peace in Kosovo and Metohija Bishop Artemije remained the voice "of one crying in the wilderness" (Mar 1:3), pointing out that one evil rule had been replaced by another that is even worse because it enjoys international support and supposedly acts in the name of democracy and multiethnicity. As dozens of Christian churches and monasteries were reduced to ashes under the guise of false peace, and hundreds of Serbs, Roma and other members of minorities were killed and kidnapped throughout Kosovo and Metohija, Bishop Artemije persistently called on the international community to fulfill its responsibilities, and to protect those who are exposed to injustice. At the same time, he called for Serbian repentance, for a change in the regime and a renouncement of Milosevic's policy in order to start on a new path toward Europe and the world. He was the first to offer the hand of reconciliation to the Albanian leaders, the first among Serbs in Kosovo to acknowledge and condemn crimes against Albanians during the war, the first to initiate cooperation with UNMIK and KFOR, and lead the Serbs into the new Kosovo institutions in the hope that democracy can and must be built only through cooperation and dialogue. Serbian extremists and false patriots called him a traitor and a foreign agent, and Albanian extremists called him a Serbian nationalist. However, before God and throughout the world the moral reputation of Bishop Artemije has remained unblemished because he was and is a man fighting for justice, the survival of his Church and its faithful people in a region where Serbs have lived and prayed to God for centuries.

And how has the international community and Kosovo Albanians paid Bishop Artemije back for his deeply moral position and personal sacrifice? With new crimes, new destroyed churches and dug up cemeteries. Is this a defeat for Bishop Artemije and his Gospel-inspired "politics"? Certainly not, because regardless of all the tragedies that have befallen the Church and its people, Bishop Artemije is the moral victor who from start to finish remained consistent in his actions and with evangelical principles. Today, as the smoke still rises from the ashes of Serbian property destroyed in the March violence, and the organizers of that violence shamelessly strut before the television cameras, the supposed peacemakers in Kosovo have risen against the Bishop only because he dared to once again speak the truth to their face, something that is disagreeable to them at this time: that no one has the moral right to push those who are deprived of every possible freedom and right to vote in elections that are most necessary to UNMIK and the Albanian leaders; that those who destroyed churches or peacefully watched their desecration only yesterday from their UNMIK offices have the least moral right to define the conditions under which they are now to be restored, and no right to accuse the Church for the fact that no one has done a thing on restoration. The Bishop remains consistent in the belief that democracy in Kosovo and Metohija must be built on the joint reconciliation of Serbs and Albanians, on common forgiveness and repentance; however, he also remains consistent with the teaching of the Gospel that one must not build his "house upon the sand", i.e. upon lies and deception, but upon the "rock" of truth and justice (ref. Mat. 7:25-27).

We should not deceive ourselves: Whether the Kosovo Serbs vote in the elections or not, it will not bring any improvement either to the Serbs or to Kosovo for as long as UNMIK and the international community continue their policy of tolerating Albanian ethnic violence and rewarding Kosovo institutions with even greater competencies to the detriment of the non-Albanian population and the stability of the entire region. The Church first and foremost addressed a pastoral message to the public, witnessing the truth that injustice cannot be called justice nor can lies be called the truth; that individual and collective freedom is the basic prerequisite for normal participation in the building of a democratic society; and that the misfortune of the Kosovo Serbs should not be merely used for mutual political battles and the winning of international favor. At the same time, the Church has warned UNMIK that it does not have the moral right to manipulate and threaten the Serbs, using them as a justification for its own failures. This was and will remain the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church despite all threats, blackmail and insults, no matter from which side they come.

[All citations are translated from Serbian.]

SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH MUSEUM
RECEIVES VALUABLE ICON OF ST. NICHOLAS OF MYRA

On Monday, October 25, 2004, the Serbian Orthodox Church Museum in Belgrade received an exceptionally valuable gift. An icon of St. Nicholas of Myra the Wonder-worker was presented to His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle by Mr. Dusan Rozic, in the presence of Museum director Slobodan Mileusnic. Mr. Rozic is a private art collector who has lived in Zurich for more than thirty years.

Russian Tsar Nicholas II Romanoff originally presented this icon to King Aleksandar Obrenovic of Serbia. The icon was created in the 18th century by court artisans. It is decorated with an 18-carat gold plate, emeralds, diamonds and rubies.

His Holiness Patriarch Pavle sincerely thanked Mr. Rozic for his gift and his elevated sense that it is necessary for this precious icon to remain in the Serbian Church and its people.

BELGRADE BOOK FAIR 2004

PROMOTIONS AT SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH STAND

Presentation of editions of the Publishing Council of the Moscow Patriarchate and the album “75 years of the Russian Patriarch”. Speakers include Protopresbyter Vladimir Silovyev, and Father Vitaly Tarasyev, administrator of the Office of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Presentation of the Orthodox children’s magazine “Svetosavsko zvonce”, the children’s book “The Magic Meadow” and the Workbooks for Religious Instruction by Presbyter Kosta Kovjanic. Participants include Dr. Drago Sando, authors Slavica Tomic and Father Kosta Kovjanic, and Radmila Misev, editor in chief of “Svetosavsko zvonce”.

Russian Church presents its book “The Liturgical Use of Bells”

Presentation of special issue of the magazine “Svevidje”
on THE SERBIAN LANGUAGE IN MONTENEGRO

“The Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, A-L” by Protodeacon Radomir Rakic.
Speakers include the author and Zivica Tucic

[Serbian Translation Services]