Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
March 29, 2005

STATEMENT OF METROPOLITAN AMFILOHIJE OF MONTENEGRO AND THE LITTORAL ON THE MEMORANDUM ON RESTORATION OF SERBIAN ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS SITES IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OFFERS COOPERATION AND ACTIVE ROLE IN STABILIZATION PROCESS IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
PATRIARCH PAVLE EXONERATES JEWS
ROZDESTVO CHOIR FROM BIJELA TO HELP HOLY SHRINES IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

STATEMENT OF METROPOLITAN AMFILOHIJE OF MONTENEGRO AND THE LITTORAL ON THE MEMORANDUM ON RESTORATION OF SERBIAN ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS SITES IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Kosovo is an issue of interest to the Church and the people

The Memorandum of Understanding on agreed general principles for the reconstruction of Serbian Orthodox religious sites signed on behalf of the whole Serbian Orthodox church by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle is not something that suddenly appeared. It is an act that was in preparation for a long time. Our own experts and representatives of the International Community were involved in its drafting. The Holy Synod of Bishops adopted the text of the Memorandum signed by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle after a long period of debate at three consecutive sessions of the expanded membership of the Holy Synod of Bishops, two of which were also attended by Bishop Artemije. The text is not some sort of sacred resolution. In it representatives of the Church are practically given the right of veto.

Our Patriarch was concerned by some provisions of the Memorandum which is why he called a meeting of the Synod and the members of the Holy Synod's Council for Kosovo and Metohija. We once again discussed the text together and again concluded that the issue of the independence of Kosovo and Metohija is nowhere addressed, and that the Memorandum exclusively addressed cooperation with the International Community on the restoration of destroyed churches and creation of legitimate conditions for these direly needed works to be performed.

Personally, I would have added some comments on this act and asked that it also include all holy shrines destroyed from 1999 onward. By signing this Memorandum we wish to create the necessary preconditions to begin restoring these sites, too, in cooperation with the International Community, a factor that absolutely cannot be ignored.

Here I wish to emphasize my satisfaction that the Commission, which will be headed by an international expert, will include a Church representative, as well as a representative of the Serbian Institute for Protection of Monuments, thus recognizing the jurisdiction of the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo and Metohija. I see nothing bad in the fact that the company performing the restoration will be chosen by tender. According to the Memorandum only a company with experience in the building and restoration of Orthodox churches can compete. The company that offers the most favorable terms, and already has experience in performing such work, will get the job. It could be a company from Greece, Italy or Serbia but there are no such companies in Kosovo and Metohija. Consequently, claims that the Synod and the Patriarch, by signing the Memorandum, have entrusted the task of restoring the holy shrines to those who destroyed them are either unfounded or malicious. I wish to emphasize that the Memorandum is the first written guarantee since 1999 of the presence and responsibility of Serbia in Kosovo and Metohija, as represented by the Patriarchate in Belgrade and the Institute for Protection of Monuments, which in this instance represents the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia.

As far a material transactions are concerned, bishops do not have absolute power but in accordance to canonical order, and to the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, their administration of church property is subject to the supervision and final approval of the Synod and the Holy Assembly of Bishops.

It is obvious that the decisions of the Synod must be honored. Of course, I do not wish to get into a discussion regarding claims of the existence of alleged centers of power within the Patriarchate. The bishops gathered around the Serbian Patriarch in the Synod and the Assembly are a model of conciliar and brotherly decision-making. The Church is a conciliar organism with a traditional, centuries-old organization. The Patriarch is the first among equals but he, too, must work in cooperation with the bishops, just as the bishops cannot work without the approval of the Patriarch. This applies to all bishops equally.

Bishop Artemije is a grown man and I believe that he will ultimately accept the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops. The territory of Kosovo and Metohija, and the Diocese of Raska and Prizren, also includes the Pec Patriarchate, which is under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarch, so no one should be exclusive or, even less, proclaim himself solely responsible for what is under the jurisdiction of the whole Church, state and people.

It is not good for a bishop to conduct his correspondence with the Synod by way of the media. This creates a completely false portrait of the Church and creates the impression that there is a schism in it. The schism exists only in the minds of those who do not know what is the Church, and who wish well to neither the Church nor the people.

Our Church is not an organization in party uniform, and it is not totalitarian, as it is rumored to be. Every member of the church has his individual responsibility and freedom to express his position. On the other hand, everyone is responsible for his actions or lack thereof, and no one in the Church is infallible. Only the Roman Pope is said to be above the judgment of all while he himself judges all. We would hope that Bishop Artemije, as an Orthodox bishop, does not share this opinion.

The Memorandum truly does not need to be assigned an importance it does not have as has been done in the media.

Prior to this, Bishop Artemije signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a representative of the Kosovo and Metohija Ministry of Culture on June 28, 2004. Publicly the Bishop claimed he did not sign an agreement with the PISG but with UNMIK; however, the text is very clear in both the English and the Serbian versions. As far as we are aware this is the first official contact, signed and verified with an official seal, between Bishop Artemije and the Pristina Government.

This agreement of understanding was drafted by Rao Bjala, a representative of UNMIK responsible for the Minister of Culture, and Father Simeon Vilovski, Bishop Artemije’s secretary. This means that the text was not unknown to Bishop Artemije, since it was the result of long negotiations on the principles that both sides fully accepted.

Neither the Ministry of Culture in Belgrade nor the Institute for Preservation of Monuments contested this Memorandum. Moreover, the Commission formed on the basis of that Memorandum included an expert of the Ministry of Culture in Belgrade, and a representative of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren appointed by Bishop Artemije.

Hence, at that time neither the Institute for the Protection of Monuments nor any other authority in Belgrade had anything against the text of such a Memorandum. It was not considered a danger to the identity of Serbian sites, even though in it Serbian holy shrines were not even described as Serbian as they are in the new version of the Memorandum signed a few days ago by the Serbian Patriarch. The Institute for the Protection of Monuments did not complain that state institutions were circumvented or contest any part of that Memorandum. Finally, Bishop Artemije did not hesitate to co-sign the document with a representative of the Kosovo Ministry of Culture, nor did he demand, as he is now doing completely without foundation, that “those who destroyed our holy shrines cannot be the ones restoring them”. He withdrew his signature of June 28, 2004 two months later, on September 15 to be exact, but not because of the text of the Memorandum or protests from Belgrade but because the restoration process was unexpectedly slow, and because the International Community refused to pay the allotted funds directly to the Diocese of Raska and Prizren. Even after the withdrawal of the Bishop’s signature, a representative of the Serbian Ministry of Culture continued to participate in the work of the Commission and the preparation of tender papers.

Once again we emphasize that the Memorandum gives the right of veto to the representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Commission, and that behind him stand the center of the Church and the State in Belgrade, and not just a representative of local government and the local Church, or Diocese.

SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OFFERS COOPERATION AND ACTIVE ROLE IN STABILIZATION PROCESS IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Members of the official Serbian Orthodox Church delegation, headed by Their Graces Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, and Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan, met with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, yesterday (on March 28) in New York. The primary topic of discussion was Kosovo and Metohija, but the position of the Church on the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina was also presented.

Bishop Grigorije informed the UN Secretary-General that the delegation which he heads came with the blessing of the Holy Synod of Bishops and His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle, and that it represents the position of the entire Serbian Orthodox Church. “The primary goal of our delegation is to offer our cooperation so that Kosovo and Metohija can truly become a multi-ethnic and multi-religious region once again. Our Church has remained present in Kosovo and Metohija despite all difficulties after the war but we need good will and help to stop the suffering of the people and the Church after more than five years of violence against Serbs and other non-Albanians, and the destruction of 150 Orthodox churches and monasteries,” emphasized Bishop Grigorije.

Citing an example of clear and unambiguous readiness on the part of the Serbian Orthodox Church to work together with the international community on the establishment of a democratic society, Bishop Grigorije informed Kofi Annan with the recently signed Memorandum on the restoration of Serbian Orthodox holy shrines signed by Patriarch Pavle.

“This is a historic moment for our Church. Those who do not wish to cooperate will not be able to influence the entire church by their non-cooperation,” emphasized Bishop Grigorije, presenting the UN Secretary-General with a signed copy of the agreement.

Later in the conversation Bishop Teodosije emphasized the firm readiness of the Church to cooperate with all communities in Kosovo and Metohija. “I am the abbot of Decani Monastery, which helped all ethnic and religious communities, including the Kosovo Albanians, during the period of war-time suffering,” he emphasized. Unfortunately, after the war we have been left surrounded by mono-ethnic cities and villages where there are no more Serbs. We would like all refugees to return and conditions to be created for the survival of those who remained in their centuries-old homes,” said Bishop Teodosije. He added that “it is especially important to preserve the Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija regardless of political solutions and the final status of the Province”. Bishop Teodosije also emphasized the security problem, which affects not only Serbs and other minority communities but even moderate Albanians. Commenting on the importance of the Memorandum on the restoration of Serbian Orthodox holy shrines, Bishop Teodosije also highlighted the Church has received for this agreement from the UNMIK chief and other international factors, which should enable the organization of a donors’ conference to collect additional funds for the rebuilding of the destroyed churches and monasteries.

Hieromonk Irinej Dobrijevic spoke of the economic and humanitarian aspects of refugee returns. When asked by the Secretary-General how the Church could be come involved and actively participate in the return process, Fr. Irinej mentioned the positive experience of Orthodox NGOs such as the IOCC and Covekoljublje (Philanthropy), which have achieved significant success on the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Explaining the Church’s view of the return process, Fr. Irinej stressed that refugee returns should first be made possible near Orthodox holy shrines where people could immediately become employed in the restoration of their churches and destroyed homes, and thus ensure the means for beginning life anew. In this respect, the Memorandum on the restoration of Orthodox churches in of tremendous importance for speeding up the return process because the restoration of churches and returns are mutually linked.

When asked by the Secretary-General about Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bishop Grigorije replied, as the Bishop of Herzegovina, that the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina cannot be compared with that of Kosovo and Metohija because in Bosnia-Herzegovina there was no eruption of violence after the end of the war. “Consequently, there are realistic conditions for a more rapid reconciliation process there in which all are expected to participate, especially religious leaders who enjoy respect among the people,” said the Bishop. He emphasized that “the greatest danger is marginalization and unitarization, and the aspiration to mono-ethnicity. Sarajevo, for example, offers a picture that is cause for concern because in it the percentage of Christians has been dangerously reduced,” said the Bishop.

Later in the conversation Bishop Grigorije emphasized a great success for Bosnia-Herzegovina would be quick economic recovery and strict adherence to the provisions of the Dayton Agreement by both local and international factors. He also emphasized that some of the decrees of the high representative “are too strict and should be balanced out”, adding that “regardless of its weaknesses, [the Dayton Agreement] can make the long-term survival of Bosnia-Herzegovina possible. On the other hand, changes to the agreement can result in great risks to the peace and stability of the region,” concluded the Bishop.

At the conclusion of his commentary Bishop Grigorije mentioned that the restoration of holy shrines in Bosnia-Herzegovina is also very important. “The restoration of holy shrines automatically enables the return of the people,” he said, adding that “Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina are mutually interconnected and normalization in one region will automatically have a positive influence on the other”.

Yesterday the members of the Serbian Orthodox Church delegation met with Leonid Kishkovsky of the World Conference of Religions for Peace in New York, with whom they discussed the problems confronting the Church in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Special emphasis was placed on the necessity of rebuilding all destroyed and damaged religious buildings as soon as possible in order to normalize the life of religious communities.

PATRIARCH PAVLE EXONERATES JEWS

The Patriarch of the Serbian Christian Orthodox Church, Pavle, rejected anti-Jewish accusations forged during the German occupation which decades later found their way in a Memorial Book published by his church.

The Patriarch expressed the willingness of the Serbian Orthodox Church to repair the injustice done to the Jews, in response to a letter sent to him by the journalist Jasa Almuli, who is a past President of the Jewish Community in Belgrade.

Almuli wrote to the Patriarch that recent and more thorough analysis of historical records revealed how and why a group of Serbian inmates released from the Croatian concentration camp Jasenovac during the Second World War accused Jewish prisoners of treacherous and improper behaviour. Thirteen inmates were delivered by their Croatian captors to the authorities of the Serbian quisling administration in Belgrade where they made signed statements in the Commissariat for Refugees. In the first rendition of their statements made on 9th and 13th of April 1942, they did not blame the Jewish inmates for any outrages. However, two days later, on 15th of April, they were summoned back to the Commissariat to make additional statements with anti-Jewish accusations calculated to please the German occupation administration. The most brutal among them was the one attributed to a Vojislav Prnjatovic from Sarajevo, who in a lengthy report is alleged to have stated the following:

“A Jew remains a Jew, even in the camp of Jasenovac. They retained in the camp all their bad traits, with the difference that these had become more visible. Selfishness, skil in deception, disloyalty, meanness, perfidy and treacherousness turned out to be their main qualities. …Thus, the Serbs, in addition to suffering from the Ustasha (guards), were also suffering from the Jews”.

The Jasenovac camp from which Vojislav Prnjatovic was released is known as “the Auschwitz of the Balkans”. More than 20,000 Jews from Croatia and Bosnia were slaughtered there along with hundreds of thousands of Serbs and unaccounted number of Gypsies. They were imprisoned by the Croatian clerical-fascist Ustashas who assumed power in the puppet “Independent State of Croatia” after the Germans invaded Yugoslavia in 1941. In Jasenovac knives did the killings in the most brutal and barbaric way, mostly manually, sledgehammers, iron rods and axes. The name of the Jasenovac camp is inscribed in the Israeli Yad Vashem memorial museum together with other notorious death camps.

In his letter to the Patriarch Pavle, Almuli expressed belief that the rejection of the anti-Jewish accusations ascribed to the released Serbian inmates could appropriately be made on the occasion of the pending commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the attempt by the last remaining camp prisoners to storm the gates of the camp when the Ustasha guards showed intent to kill them all. On 22nd of April 1945, while the units of Tito’s Liberation Army were approaching the camp, about one thousand remaining prisoners attacked barehanded the guards and stormed the gates, but, caught in crossfire, only 67 of them reached freedom.

Remembering this tragic attempt at breakthrough, solemn gatherings and prayers are planned to take place on 17 April 2005 on the killing grounds of Gradina in the Bosnian Serb Republic and on the 22nd of April in Belgrade, capital of Serbia.

Patriarch’s Response

Answering Almuli’s letter, Patriarch Pavle wrote:

“I gratefully acknowledge receipt of your letter describing us the injustices done to the much suffering Jewish people.

“The days are approaching for commemorations in Serbia and in the Serbian Republic in Bosnia of the 60th anniversary of he breakthrough of inmates from the Jasenovac camp. Serbs and Jews lived together during centuries, and were equally tortured and destroyed in Jasenovac during the Second World War. Wishing to repair an injustice done to our Jewish citizens decades ago, the Serbian Orthodox Church rejects anti-Jewish slanders attributed to Vojislav Prnjatovic and twelve other inmates released from Jasenovac, and which on April 15, 1942, the authorities under German occupation extorted or forged”.

The statement of Patriarch Pavle is the first rejection from such a high place of the alleged declarations that were reproduced without comment in several major works on the Jasenovac camp. It may help to quell the recent outburst of anti-Semitism of some dissatisfied youth in Belgrade.

ROZDESTVO CHOIR FROM BIJELA
TO HELP HOLY SHRINES IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

Next month the Rozdestvo (Nativity) church choir from Bijela will be holding a series of fundraising concerts. The choir will be organizing the cycle under the name of “Let us rebuild our Kosovo holy shrines” in the month of April to contribute to the restoration of destroyed Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija.

The concerts are to be held in the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Risan on the 9th, in the church of St. Sava in Tivat on the 16th and in the church of the Deposition of the Precious Robe of the Theotokos in Bijela on the 23rd of April. The faithful will have an opportunity to make voluntary donations to help the campaign of the Bijela choir. Local residents of Bijela are planning to celebrate the Easter holidays in the church of St. Kyriake in Josica with an Easter concert.

Z.K./ S.K.

Source: Svetigora press

[Serbian Translation Services]