Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
May 24, 2005

NEW ATTACKS ON SERBIAN CHURCH IN CROATIA

Holy Father Nikolaj Church (1618) in Vrlica was broken into during the night between May 21-22, 2005.

The church flag was also removed and burned. Police have conducted an on-the-scene investigation but the unknown perpetrator still has not been apprehended.

Provocations directed against priests have also become more frequent as of late. Upon passing through Kistanje Father German, the abbot of Krkva Monastery, and a group of seminarians traveling with him by automobiles were exposed to insults. To make things even worse, the insults came from people who illegally appropriated monastery property. Orthodox Serbs in Dalmatia are uneasy due to several incidents in the past few days but they hope that the authorities will calm down those wishing well to neither themselves nor others.

HAGIOGRAPHY OF ST. PETER OF CETINJE BY METROPOLITAN MITROFAN BAN DISCOVERED IN OSTROG MONASTERY

A previously unknown document about St. Peter of Cetinje whose author is the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Mitrofan Ban was recently discovered in the archives of Ostrog Monastery. The discovery was made by Professor Predrag Vukic, a historian in the employ of the State Archives.

According to the Professor, the manuscript by Metropolitan Mitrofan Ban bears the title “Hagiography of St. Peter of Cetinje” and consists of 26 handwritten pages describing the life of St. Peter, according to both folkloric sources as well as historical facts.

“The document also bears the signature of Mitrofan Ban, which clearly and unambiguously confirms that he is the author. In addition to already known facts, the hagiography also includes folkloric teachings related in a short and approachable form, which basically confirm the supernatural powers of St. Peter of Cetinje. This refers to his curses and blessings, which have been recorded by Mitrofan Ban. Of course, this is just a fragment in comparison with the rich folkloric teachings about St. Peter and his unique spiritual powers,” said Professor Vukic. He added that to this day these teachings have not been collected in a single work. In conversation with Radio Svetigora he said that the document was found in a file containing later documents relating to the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Vukic said that with the blessing of Bishop Joan, the abbot of Ostrog Monastery, he will try to see the document published in the near future and thus inform the general public of its contents.

Source: Svetigora

FORMAL OPENING OF THIS YEAR’S STS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS SYMPOSIUM IN HERCEG NOVI

The eleventh annual theological and philosophical symposium, which is this year is dedicated to the theme of “Memory and Forgetting” began yesterday in Savina Monastery in Herceg Novi.

"Forgetting is the root of all sin. Humanity is transient like the dust and if it is bound to the truth, all memory is connected with the name of God. What else is in a name but memory for it is by name that human works are protected,” said His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral yesterday, as he opened the eleventh annual theological and philosophical symposium in Savina Monastery yesterday dedicated to the theme of “Memory and Forgetting”.

The first speaker at this theological and philosophical gathering organized by the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral and the Faculty of Philosophy in Niksic was His Eminence Metropolitan Kyrill of Varna and Veliki Preslav. He compared the Slavic illuminators Cyril and Methodius and their contribution to the Slavs with a special overview with the years 1876, which was fateful for Bulgaria, and 1875, when the Herzegovina uprising occurred in which Montenegro also took part.

American literary historian at Podgorica University Radojka Vukcevic spoke about memory and forgetting through the prism of the novel “A Possible Life” by Stoja Magdalinic. Magdalinic’s novel is set in 1942 in the village of Basca near Rozaj with events spreading to Yugoslavia, Albania and Italy during the tempest of World War II.

“Magdalinic creates a bridge between history and fictional narrative, and demonstrates a unique self-consciousness with respect to the narrative and textual nature of the past. Historical and biblical remembrances, mythological recapitulations, reminisces, anthropological and psychological generalizations and not infrequent deep philosophical mediations are interwoven naturally and spontaneously,” said Vukcevic of “A Possible Life”.

Vladimir Djordjevic from Smederevska Palanka spoke about “Forgetting and Anamnesis” regarding truth, forgetting and remembering, philosophy and technology.

The presentation of Professor Vuko Velas from Herceg Novi dealt with “Vertical Memory, the World of Life and Culture”, and Visnja Kosovic spoke about temporal collectivity as the essence of meaning.

Source: Svetigora

INVITATION TO PRESS AND MEDIA CONFERENCE

On Wednesday, May 25, 2005 at 1:00 p.m. a press and media conference and presentation of three-dimensional laser scanning of Chilandar Monastery will be held in the conference room of the Serbian Ministry of Culture, Vlajkoviceva Street no. 3.

The results of scanning conducted at Chilandar Monastery will be presented at the conference.

The Serbian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments contracted the VEKOM company to carry out three-dimensional scanning of Chilandar Monastery.

Three-dimensional animation and the results of scanning of this unique cultural monument will be shown to reporters and experts in the field.

In addition to representatives and experts from VEKOM company, the meeting will also be attended by Minister Dragan Kojadinovic, Deputy Minister for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Miladin Lukic, and the director of the Serbian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Gordana Markovic.

[Serbian Translation Services]