Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
July 8, 2005

ST PETER’S DAYS OF SREBRENICA 2005 TO BE HELD FROM JULY 7-12

The Ministry of Labor and Protection for Veterans and Disabled Persons in the Republika Srpska Government will once again be the sponsor of an event organized by the Republika Srpska Veterans’ Organization and the Serbian Orthodox Church Parish of Srebrenica in commemoration of Serbian civilians and soldiers from the Podrinje region who perished during the course of the tragic conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995.

The St Peter’s Days of Srebrenica 2005 will begin on July 7, 2005 in Bratunac with the opening of an exhibition of proposed solutions for the memorial complex in Kravice and will go until July 12, 2005, when the main memorial ceremony and religious service for Serbs from Srebrenica, Bratunac and Milici who perished will be held in the Military cemetery in Bratunac.

On the same day, His Grace Bishop Vasilije (Kacavenda) of Zvornik and Tuzla will serve Holy Hierarchal Liturgy and a short memorial service in the church of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos in Srebrenica. After services His Grace will visit the massacred Serbian villages of Biljaca and Zalezje, which were attacked and destroyed on July 12, 1992, on the feast of St. Peter, by Naser Oric’s forces. A spiritual academy is scheduled to be held on the same day in the Culture Hall in Srebrenica.

During the course of the most recent war in Bosnia and Herzegovina numerous crimes were committed. Just in the attacks by the armed forces under the command of Naser Oric during the period from May to December 1992, dozens of Serbian villages were ransacked and destroyed and hundreds of civilians in the municipalities of Srebrenica, Bratunac and Skelani were murdered in most brutal fashion. Just on the territory of Srebrenica municipality 21 Serbian villages were attacked during this period and more than 400 civilians in them were killed; during the same period 22 Serbian villages in Bratunac municipalities were attacked and at least 560 people were killed.

On Christmas Day, January 7, 1993, the unified armed forces of the Srebrenica sub-region under the command of Naser Oric attacked the Serbian villages on the territory of the local community of Kravice in Bratunac municipality. In this attack on the villages of Jezestice, Kajici, Siljkovici, Opravdici, Popovici, Mandici, Banjevici, Ocenovici, Rustici, Dolovi and Jasikovaca 48 local residents were killed, 14 of them inside their homes.

While the armed forces of the Srebrenica sub-region under Oric’s command controlled this region, from March 7 to March 16, 1993, 688 households were destroyed and the Orthodox cemetery in Kravice was desecrated.

In addition to Srebrenica and Bratunac municipalities, crimes were also committed against the Serbian population in the municipalities of Zvornik, Milici, Sekovici, Vlasenica and Osmaci. According to available information on the immediate territory of this region (Bratunac and Srebrenica municipalities) from 1992 to 1995 at least 1,300 persons of Serbian nationality were murdered while in the broader region of central Podrinje and Birce over 3,000 persons of Serbian nationality perished.

Republika Srpska institutions responsible for the investigation of war crimes have been working on the investigation, collection of evidence and documentation of war crimes committed against Serbian civilians and soldiers in the Podrinje region from 1992 to 1995. This resulted in the issuance of an indictment for war crimes against the war-time commander of this region, Naser Oric, who is currently being tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia in The Hague.

The activities of appropriate institutions for the investigation, documentation and collection of evidence regarding crimes committed against Serbs in the Podrinje region are ongoing and in parallel with activities aimed at establishing war crimes committed in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the purpose of which is establishing the full and complete truth regarding crimes in the most recent war, and bringing to justice those responsible for committing crimes.

Source: www.vladars.net

LIST OF SERBS WHO PERISHED IN SREBRENICA AND VICINITY,
1992-1995

LIST OF SERBS WHO PERISHED IN SARAJEVO, 1992-1995

LIST OF MISSING SERBS IN SARAJEVO, 1992-1995

FILM REGARDING CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST SERBS

On Saturday, July 9, 2005 at 12:00 noon a documentary film will be shown in the large auditorium of the Sava Center regarding crimes committed against Serbs during the wars that occurred in the last decade of the twentieth century on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

RESTORATION OF RENEWED DORMITORY AND BELL TOWER OF MILESEVA MONASTERY

On the occasion of the consecration of the renewed dormitory and bell tower of Mileseva Monastery, the Diocese of Mileseva will be organizing a Spiritual Event on July 15 and 17, 2005 in the endowment of the Holy Dynasty of Nemanjic.

The first day of the event will begin at 5:00 p.m. with a wake in the monastery church of the Ascension of Our Lord to be followed by a people’s assembly in the monastery courtyard.

The Diocese of Mileseva and His Grace Bishop Filaret of Mileseva have announced that His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle will serve Holy Hierarchal Liturgy with the concelebration of several bishops from the homeland and abroad on July 16, 2005, the second day of the church-people’s event, beginning at 9:00 a.m.

After Holy Hierarchal Liturgy His Holiness Patriarch Pavle will consecrate the renewed dormitory and bell tower of the endowment of the Holy King Vladislav followed by the serving of an atakist (prayer) to St. Sava at 5:00 p.m.

METROPOLITAN AMFILOHIJE SERVES HOLY LITURGY AT LUSTICA

On the feast of St. John His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral served Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in the monastery of Zanjica at Lustica

Speaking about the Nativity of St. John the Baptist as a divine confirmation of fasting and prayer His Eminence emphasized in a homily before the faithful gathered in the church at Zanjica Monastery that “his birth through fasting and prayer is the confirmation of something extremely important for our human life”.

“If we look a little more deeply at the history of the human race and everything that has happened in it, we will see that the greatest people were born from fasting and prayer. And not only that but the most important events in the history of the human race were born in fasting lands, that is, in deserts. Did not the prophet and seer of God Moses see the face of God through fasting and prayer, climbing on Mount Sinai? All great civilizations of humanity and all its religions were born in deserts. In tamer regions, in the fields and the wealthy lands these great thoughts and ideas born in the deserts have merely been implemented. Whoever has been to Greece, lived there and passed through there, will see that the greatest wisdom of ancient times was in stone,” said Metropolitan Amfilohije.

During the course of Holy Liturgy His Eminence ordained Petar Bikar, a graduate of the Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University in Belgrade, to the office of deacon.

Source: Svetigora Press - Z.K./M.R.

CHURCH IN BACKA PALANKA CELEBRATES ITS PATRONAL FEAST, THE NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN THE FORE-RUNNER

On the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Fore-Runner (St. John’s Day – Ivanjdan) His Grace Bishop Irinej of Backa served Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in the church in Backa Palanka with the concelebration of local clergy.

Singing throughout the Holy Liturgy was by the St. John the Baptist Choir from Back Palanka, a member of the Association of Serbian Choirs.

On that occasion Bishop Irinej congratulated the clergy, the slava hosts, the candle-bearers and the faithful who gathered on their church patronal feast. His Eminence then delivered as homily explaining the meaning of this great Christian holiday and pointing out all the dimensions of festal joy celebrated on this day by the Church.

Deacon Branislav Mrkic

LETTERS OF ST SAVA OF CHILANDAR PRESENTED IN PRAGUE

A new book was recently presented in the embassy of Serbia and Montenegro in Prague entitled “From Morava to Morava: From the History of Czech-Serb Relations in the 19th and 20th Centuries”.

The book, a unique anthology of works documenting the development of political, cultural, economic and spiritual ties between the Czechs and the Serbs during the 19th and 20th centuries, was issued by Matica Moravska from Brno in cooperation with Matica Srpska in Novi Sad.

Speakers at the presentation included representatives of both Maticas. Out of 12 works we select the contribution of Marcel Cerni regarding the hitherto unknown correspondence between Father Sava of Chilandar, who was of Czech origin (secular name Slavibor Brejer) and then translator and propagator of Czech-Serb relations, Jozef Rausar.

The manuscript of this correspondence is today a part of the literary archives of the National Museum of Literature in Prague.

The author of the study sought to record some of the hitherto unknown details regarding the visit of Sava of Chilandar to Serbia, as well as the visit of Rausar to Chilandar Monastery.

Thirty-one letters were published which Rausar received from Sava of Chilandar during the period of 1894 to 1911. Their content is precious as an important source for a more recent history of Chilandar, especially the period of the monastery’s transfer from Bulgarian to Serbian administration. Especially noteworthy is a letter from May 1896 describing in detail the formal visit of King Alexander I Obrenovic to Chilandar Monastery at Easter that year.

[Serbian Translation Services]