Page 792 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

Protopresbyter-stavrophor Savo B. jović
Gravestones destroyed in Serbian cemetery in Kosovo in 1980s
was committed in Samodreža where Ferat Mujo with his son, nephew and cousin murdered Danilo Milinčić. The young man was first tied up and tortured and then Ferat Mujo knelt on his stomach and, in front of his mother who attempted to protect him with her own body, cold-blood- edly shot him in the heart. as a reminder, Danilo’s father Slavoljub was also killed in 1960 and this criminal or crim- inals were never found or brought to justice.112
The Year 1983
Bishop Pavle of Raška and Prizren in act No 128 from March 19, 1983, again informed the Holy Synod of Bishops that he sent a petition to the Commission for Relations with Reli- gious Communities of SaP Kosovo in Priština of the fol- lowing content:
“We received a report from Gorioč Monastery near is- tokthatonMarch3,1983,justafter10:00a.m.anunknown young man attacked nun ana Milošević, aged 73 years, in the monastery kitchen. While she was turned away from the door, the attacker entered and pulled her kerchief over her eyes. He then took an old housecoat that was on the bed and wrapped it around her head, pushed her onto the bed and tried to rape her. She fought him, begging that he stop attacking and molesting her, because she could be his mother or grandmother. at one point the young man re- wrapped the housecoat even more tightly around her head, then released her and ran away. Soon afterward Nedjeljko Zuvić from Sinaj arrived in the monastery and found nun ana distraught and in torn clothing. She told him through tears what had happened to her.
it is probable that the attacker was informed by some- one keeping watch outside that this man was arriving and so he released the elderly woman and ran away. Zuvić saw two young men entering the forest near the monastery when he approached with his oxen.
112 a. jevtić, “O Kosovu i sa Kosova” [On Kosovo and from Koso- vo], Pravoslavlje, No 522, Dec. 15, 1988.
Because it was a market day in istok, abbot Sava Krivo- kuća had left for istok one half hour before and the old nun remained alone in the monastery.
i went to Gorioč Monastery and spoke with nun ana and abbot Sava, and they also told me all this orally.
Reporting to you this inhumane attack on a 73 year-old nun, we ask the Commission to intervene on its part so that the perpetrators are found and punished in accordance with the law.”113
His Grace Bishop Pavle of Raška and Prizren then sent the Holy Synod of Bishops a copy of a petition sent to the Commission for Relations with Religious Communities of the executive Council of SaP Kosovo regarding the de- struction of two gravestones in the village of Dragaljevac near Uroševac. as well, the old gravestone monument in the cemetery of the village of Čabići near Klina was toppled and destroyed. at approximately the same time in august 1982 someone defecated on the threshold of the cathedral in Prizren and used the feces to defile the north door of the same church.
The Holy Synod forwarded a photocopy of this report to the Commission for Relations with Religious Commu- nities of the executive Council of the assembly of Serbia asking them to intervene so that the perpetrators of these and similar misdeeds are finally forced to stop.”114
His Grace Bishop Pavle also forwarded to the Holy Syn- od of Bishops a copy of a petition sent to the Commission for Relations with Religious Communities of the executive Council of SaP Kosovo with regard to the church property in the village of Novo Čikatovo.
The Holy Synod of Bishops forwarded a photocopy of this petition to the Commission for Relations with Reli- gious Communities of the executive Council of the as- semblyofSRSerbia.”115
Bishop Pavle also sent the Holy Synod of Bishops a copy of a petition sent to the Commission for Relations with Re- ligious Communities of SaP Kosovo stating the following:
“Recently there has been a increase in the violence and damage being inflicted on the property of the Serbian Or- thodox Church in the Diocese of Raška and Prizren:
in the village of Retimlje near Orahovica, the church building has been destroyed [and] neighbor Rifat has usurped the churchyard, making a road from the east and west sides of the church.
The doors on the church of the Holy Savior in the vil- lage of Opteruša near Orahovac were smashed, icons, can- dles and other items scattered on the floor and damaged. in both these villages grave in the cemeteries are being de- filed with human feces, breaking of crosses, pillars and fenc- ing around the cemetery.
113 AHSB, Syn No 796/1983.
114 AHSB, Syn No 2030/zap. 642, 1982. 115 AHSB, Syn No 2132/zap. 667, 1982.
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