Page 798 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

Protopresbyter-stavrophor Savo B. jović
Kosovo Serbs and Montenegrins arriving in Belgrade to protest against discrimination in Albanian-dominated Kosovo, April, 1986
a request for urgent intervention so that the Serbian Or- thodox clergy, monks and nuns in Kosovo, together with the inalienable property of the Serbian Orthodox Church, are finally properly protected.
a letter in the same regard was also sent to the Com- mission for Relations with Religious Communities of the executive Council of the assembly of the Socialist auton- omous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, and separately published in Pravoslavlje.”127
in the very next meeting, September 19, 1987, the Holy Synod of Bishops discussed a copy of a report by the church parish in Prizren sent to the Municipal assembly in Priz- ren, as follows:
By the Law on nationalization of 1959 many residential and business facilities were taken from the church parish in Prizren. among these, a building at Riste Naumovića Street No 10 in Prizren was nationalized with the explana-
127 AHSB, Syn No 2053/zap. 606/87. 796
tion that the priests who were parish priests in Prizren have their own houses. The church parish asked that the afore- mentioned building be left because the old Prizren priests would be followed by younger ones not born in Prizren, who would need an apartment. Nevertheless, the Munici- pal assembly in Prizren nationalized the building.
Now that the old priests have died and new ones have come who are not born in Prizren and do not have houses there, the church parish is responsible for providing them with apartments.
Since the building in Riste Naumovića Street No 10 in Prizren is not being used by anyone nor can it be used be- cause half of the building has collapsed, we ask the Mu- nicipal assembly of Prizren to understand us correctly and return the aforementioned building to us.
Forwarding this, His Grace Bishop Pavle of Raška and Prizren in act No 613 from august 26, 1987, proposed that everything possible be done through the Commission for Relations with Religious Communities in order to posi- tively resolve this in favor of the church parish in Prizren.
The Holy Synod of Bishops forwarded a copy of this petition to the Commissions for Relations with Religious Communities of the executive Council of the assembly of the Socialist Republic of Serbia and the executive Council of the assembly of the Socialist autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija and asked for intervention in order to grant the request of His Grace Bishop Pavle.”128
The Year 1988
His Grace Bishop Pavle of Raška and Prizren in his annual report to the Holy assembly of Bishops under number 98 from april 27, 1988, says the following:
“i have visited the president of the Municipal assembly of Novi Pazar in regard to difficulties affecting church prop- erty there that have not been resolved for years. We dis- cussed everything, some of the easier ones have been fixed but the most important ones still remain unresolved.
The land parcel in Novo Čikatovo over one hectare in size which is the former location of the church of Sts. Peter and Paul, destroyed to the foundations during World War ii, where the brothers Demaku after the demonstrations in 1981 built two houses is still in trial at the Court. Last year we offered this land parcel in exchange for the land of al- banians with whom there were difficulties in the village of Batuša but that solution was not accepted. The diocese ex- ecutive Council is asking that the Demaku brothers pay rent to be determined by the Municipal assembly in Glo- govac for land of the same class but also for the area on which the houses stand because we neither sold nor gave them this land. if they refuse we will ask to have the hous- es, which were illegally built, destroyed. We will see how the Court will decide.
128 AHSB, Syn No 2072/zap. 619/87.