Page 757 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

7. Binča Monastery has had its entire 10 hectares of for- ests confiscated and in the process no care was taken to leave the monastery at least 10 hectares of spare and for- ested land to which it has a right by law;
8. Before the war Gračanica was given 100 hectares of forests by the agrarian Trusteeship. after the war the mon- astery got nothing of this forests, although it has a right to 30 hectares as a cultural monument;
9. The meadow of the church in Mušutište in the dis- trict of Prizren was expropriated with compensation of 100,000 dinars, which has still not been paid;
10. a land parcel of the church in Dvorani in the district of Prizren was expropriated with a decision and without ;
11. a field of the church of Velika Hoča in the district of Prizren was expropriated by the Peasants’-Viticulturists’ Cooperative without exchange or compensation and a vine- yard planted on it;
12. a land parcel of 47 ares [1 are = 100 square meters] was expropriated from the church of Novi Pazar but the compensation has still not been paid;
13. Back in 1945 and 1946 the churchyard of the church in Kamenica was confiscated without any decision and buildings were built there for the use of authorities and organizations, i.e. factories. No compensation for this was given to the church in Kamenica;
14. By the decision of the Court in Kamenica a church land parcel was expropriated and a hotel was built on it. an appeal was submitted to the District Court in Gnjilane, which overturned the decision of the lower court but to this day it has not issued another decision to give appropri- ate compensation in either money or land.
15. in similar fashion a field was confiscated from the church parish in Kamenica, which one year ago filed an appeal with the Regional Council in Priština—the agrari- an Court but so far there have been no results. a while ago the parish priest intervened but as of this day there have been no results. To this day the matter rests with the Re- gional Council in Priština.
in submitting the above report, it is this diocese’s ex- ecutive Council’s honor to note that the diocese’s execu- tive Council has directed church parishes and monastery administrations to initiate legal proceedings for the resto- ration or compensation of expropriated property; howev- er, it appears that the church and monastery administra- tions are meeting with little success.”47
The Year 1955
Bishop Vladimir submitted to Holy Synod of Bishops a re- port from the administration of Gračanica Monastery in which a brother of this holy shrine, Hierodeacon jevdo- kim, writes:
47 AHSB, Syn No 53/1954.
“in the year 1948 upon order of the Regional Council of Kosovo and Metohija the administration of Gračanica Monastery turned over chambers of the monastery living quarters for the use of a [Communist] party school, which continued to use them until February 4, 1950. Of the cham- bers in the monastery building—the monastery at that time had only one monk—in agreement with the monastery ad- ministration of that time the monastery was left with only a small room and the kitchen. after the departure of the party school it was determined that the monastery build- ing, which had been in excellent condition during the en- tire time of the occupation, had been significantly dam- aged during the two years of its use by the school. (...) No rent was paid for the use of the building the entire time. The question must be asked: Who will pay for the damage that was done?
Now the building has been taken over by the Yugoslav army, which is using it as a warehouse. By the decision of the District Council the administration of the monastery was supposed to have turned over the entire building to the Yugoslav army, which means that according to the de- cision the monks were forced to leave the chambers they were using. The administration submitted an appeal against this decision to the District People’s Council (registered with the DPC in january 1950 under No 1011) with the re- quest that the chambers necessary to the brotherhood be left to it (...).
The state Police has also occupied certain monastery chambers. We ask that it move from the monastery build- ing and find appropriate facilities for itself in the village. The national police have converted the chapel into a deten- tion center.
it is necessary to sent a commission as soon as possible to inspect the roof of the church and the residence, which are leaking, and are now covered with a thick layer of snow. it is necessary to repair the roof so the frescos do not suffer as a result of the dampness.
We ask that an appropriate sign be placed in the main entrance to the monastery courtyard so that people know that Gračanica Monastery is a historical monument under the protection of the state.
With the permission of the District People’s Council, the Žegrap company constructing the industrial railway has moved into monastery chambers and converted the mon- astery courtyard into a parking for commercial trucks.”48
The Year 1958
The suffering of the Serbian Orthodox Church and her faith- ful continued during the time in office of his Grace Bishop Pavle of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren. immediately up- on his enthronement, by act No 400 from October 11, 1958, he reported to the Holy Synod of Bishops the following:
48 AHSB, Syn No 55/1955.
The Suffering and Persecution in Kosovo and Metohija from 1945 to 2005
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