Page 789 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

mission for Relations with Religious Communities in Priš- tina, as follows:
“a few days ago i received a threatening letter. The let- ter was sent to Belgrade, and was sent to me in Prizren from the Patriarchate. i am providing a copy of the letter.
a similar letter was sent to Crna Reka to hieromonk Dr. artemije Radosavljević, the administrator of that monas- tery. i am providing a copy of that letter as well. On the envelope of his letter there is no postal seal and conse- quently we do not know from where the letter was sent.
i am also informing you that after the demonstrations in Priština and other locations in Kosovo from March 26 and april 1, 1981, the following damage was done in the Diocese of Raška and Prizren by chauvinists of albanian nationality:
1. april 28 of this year—10 windows broken on the church of the Holy emperor Uroš in Uroševac;
2. May 1 of this year—38 gravestones damaged in the cemetery of the village of Bresje near Kosovo Polje;
3. june 5 of this year—six gravestones damaged in the cemetery of the village of Štimlje.
i have also sent a copy of the threatening letters ad- dressed to Fr. artemije and myself to the Secretariat for internal affairs in Prizren.
The threatening letters to Bishop Pavle and Fr. artemi- je read as follows:
“Serbian priest,
i know you will ask yourself who is writing to you and that you know that you have reached your end. Go quickly, Serbian filth, to your Serbia. You will not be here for long because the grave will soon receive you. Did you come here to spread chauvinism? That is our place. july 12 is near, you are collecting people but you will not. Know that it is the end. Know it well. and i will pull out the beard of that bearded bishop. For we have had enough of Serbian na- tionalism. You should move, you should move to Serbia, you Serbian son of a bitch...”
in this regard the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church issued a decision, No 1295/zap. 474 from june 23, 1981, saying the following:
ministrator of Crna Reka Monastery in the Diocese of Raška and Prizren to which no further comment is neces- sary.
at the same time, we are also providing a photocopy of the report of His Grace Bishop Pavle, No 208/81, sent on the same matter to the Commission for Relations with Reli- gious Communities of the executive Council of SaP Koso- vo in Priština.
The only thing we can add to this is the request to pro- tect our people in Kosovo. We hope this will be done.”106
His Grace Bishop Pavle of Raška and Prizren by act No 494 from September 26, 1981, sent the President of the Municipal assembly of Prizren a petition as follows:
“a few days ago, as i was returning from the bus station in Prizren at about 3:00 p.m. when i was at the intersection leading to the city center and SUP, a youth 15–16 years old ran up from behind me, caught me by the beard and pulled. While i came to my senses, he ran down Prizrenska Street and disappeared. However, when i arrived at the farmer’s market, he caught up with again and hit me lightly on the head, on my priest’s hat to be precise, and again ran away.
i thought that would be the end of it and did not tell anyone what had happened. But yesterday, September 25, 1981, at about 4:00 p.m. as Protopresbyter father Milutin Timotijević, a professor of the Seminary, was walking on the sidewalk of Moše Pijade Street toward the Seminary, more or less near the Varteks shop, three young men walked toward him. When they reached him, one of them hit him on his priest’s hat, which fell into the river, and the youth ran away. a man who happened to be passing by ap- proached Fr. Milutin and said, ’i regret what just happened to you and i will get your hat from the river.’ With the help of another youth, he retrieved the hat from the river and handed it to Fr. Milutin, who thanked him and continued on his way.
i do not know if this was done by the same young man but actions such as these hardly deserve praise. For neither i nor professor Fr. Milutin provoked him or his friends in any way, and hence the motives for such aggressive actions lie elsewhere.”
The accompanying text of the letter sent to the Com- mission for Relations with Religious Communities of the Federal executive Council is very brief and says:
“it is with great regret that the Holy Synod of Bishops forwards the Commission photocopies of two threatening letters received by His Grace Bishop Pavle of Raška and Prizren and hieromonk Dr. artemije Radosavljević, the ad-
sion for investigation of Causes for the Permanent Dis- placement of Serbs from Kosovo of the matter.”107
106 AHSB, Syn No 1295/zap. 474, June 23, 1981. 107 AHSB, Syn No 1885/zap. 678/81.
The Suffering and Persecution in Kosovo and Metohija from 1945 to 2005
“adopt the proposal of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch
German and send photocopies of the threatening letters,
together with the report of His Grace Bishop Pavle of Ra-
ška and Prizren No 208/81, to the commission for relations
with religious communities of the Federal executive Coun-
cil and the executive Council of the assembly of SR Serbia
with a note that no further comment is necessary here and
arequesttoprotectourpeople.” atthesametime,itaskedthemtoinformtheCommis-
Upon discussion at the meeting of October 23, 1981, the Holy Synod of Bishops decided to send a photocopy of this petition to the commissions for relations with religious communities of the Federal executive Council and the ex- ecutive Council of the Socialist autonomous Province of Kosovo, noting that this was being forwarded lest they de- lude themselves that Kosovo was the land of milk and honey.
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