Page 743 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

would resume its work, asking Bishop Vladimir, as the ad- ministrator of the Diocese, to take care that the property of the Seminary was well looked after and guarded.9
in regard to a report on cases of misapplication of the Law on state record books by some state authorities and officials, as well as by the Local People’s Council in Tutin (district of Novi Pazar) in the Diocese of Raška and Priz- ren—which confiscated the citizen record book from the administration of the Serbian Orthodox parish in Tutin with the explanation that it was state property, as well as that, on October 15, 1946, a petition was sent regarding this and two other cases to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia with the request that these three concrete orders, being contrary to the rel- evant Law, and in the interests of proper public service and for the protection of legality, be rescinded and their execu- tion halted, the Holy Synod of Bishops, in a session on Oc- tober 31 that year, decided to wait for a response by compe- tent officials.10
in a meeting on October 30, 1946, the Holy Synod of Bishops adopted the recommendation of the executive Council of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren and approved that the building of the Seminary in Prizren be leased to the District People’s Council for use as a secondary school boarding house.11
it is clear under what sort of pressure this was done if we look at other reports arriving to the Holy Synod of Bish- ops. Thus, Bishop Vladimir sends the letter of the elder of Devič Monastery, Fr. Makarije Popović, which says:
“On june 23, 1946, a delegate from the district council in Prizren, vice-president of the local council from Lauša Halim Bajram, and some other albanians, came out to divide the monastery land. Before beginning the division, the presi- dent of the District People’s Council Brajim Trnava said in front of a group of albanians and Serbs that churches are completely unnecessary. He said that the mosques could stay because they serve as places of worship, whereas church- es serve for gathering wealth. The albanians there were very pleased, while our Serbs were aghast. after the division, more land went to the albanians who worked the land dur- ing the occupation than to the Serbs who have worked it always. i was advised by a delegate from the district council that the monastery has no right to land because it is de- stroyed, and that it was decided back in March 1946 that all of the monastery’s land was to be confiscated. i asked the delegate whether the land on which the ruins were located was also to be confiscated. He said that it was not and that in his opinion we could do work there. This commission met in the afternoon.
The morning of the same day i had gathered the Serb youth of Lauša to help me repair the road to the monastery
9 AHSB, Syn No 1524/zap. 209/46.
10 AHSB, Syn No 2290/, 2415/ and 2430/zap. 268/46. 11 AHSB, Syn No 3179/zap. 376/46.
and clear the ruins. Halfway to the monastery, a Serb [po- litical] youth activist from Srbica turned all the young peo- ple back. Only five of the older ones stayed and helped me repair the road. That afternoon the president from Lauša Haim Bajram came and criticized the Serbs for coming to work. He said, ’We do not want the church anymore, and because you came to work, i will force you to do volunteer labor every day.’ This is how the will of the people is being heard, from five or six albanian criminals and arsonists to resolve the fate of Devič.
On the third day of Pentecost the child of Šaban Rama from Lauša stole a donated decorative cloth from the holy Reliquary (of St. joanićije) [St. joannicius]. When i referred the matter to the council, they said the child really should not do that anymore. Moreover, the albanians from Lauša, the hamlet of Vojvodići, and the village of Rezalo rest their cattle each day under the domes of what remains of the church. When i chase them away, they reply, ’Orefaš lirija populit’—’now we have freedom for the people’. i asked some local albanians to buy beams for a house. They an- swered that they have some but would not sell them for Devič. The district authorities are uncooperative, and give the excuse that the state has nothing to do with the church.
i had hoped this year to get the mill and half from the property in order to do something. i cannot get wheat from the faithful because they are forced to sell all their surplus. if someone wanted to bring something anyway, he would be caught on the road and everything confiscated because they do not permit the transport of wheat without a spe- cial permit.
in order to be able to rebuild Devič, a special and firm order is necessary from the Ministry, and they will not give it. Moreover, every day in this area renegades are killing eminent Serbs. For example, they murdered a teacher from Rudnik, several Serbs from Krnjinac and an albanian from the district who wanted to build a house for Serbs and Mon- tenegrins who had been torched.
Therefore, i must inform Your Grace that despite my best desire to do so i cannot begin any kind of work on re- building in such difficult days of obstruction and hatred by the surrounding albanians. We will continue to collect do- nations and when the time is right, Devič will be made by those who destroyed it. Therefore, i will be returning to the Patriarchate (in Peć).
if Fr. archimandrite Viktor, who proposed the rebuild- ing of Devič, is of the opinion that this can be done, i sug- gest that he himself come to savage Drenica, and i will col- lect donations for him toward that end,” concludes the let- ter of Hieromonk Makarije (Popović).
in his act, No 1036 from july 1, 1946, Bishop Vladimir says that actions such as this by the authorities and such bad and illegal behavior toward Serbian holy shrines and representa- tives of the Church had touched him to the bottom of his soul, and that he had filed a protest with the local District People’s Council and appealed against such treatment.
The Suffering and Persecution in Kosovo and Metohija from 1945 to 2005
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