Page 801 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

planted it). Unable to separate the “calculator” from the mass, she tried to take the whole package but realized that it was heavy and so she called her mother, Marina. She came, took the mass in her hands and headed to the office where her husband, sexton Dragomir, was. Little ana ran in and told her father that they had found something. He went out and immediately understood what it was but he also saw that the device was disarmed since the wires had been pulled out. He immediately showed it to the priest, the elder of the church, Fr. ilija Šmigić, and then also to the secretary of the Diocese, Protopresbyter Zoran Grujić. Fr. Zoran immediately called the police and they called ex- perts from Priština, who came and took away the found explosive.
The person who planted it is unknown, as is the target, i.e. for whom it was intended. Was it just “emperor Dušan” or someone among the living? it is up to competent officials to determine that. On our part, we thank God who through the intercession of St. George kept us all safe from harm.
Nevertheless, there were consequences. Fear crept into the people because if it happened once without conse- quences, the second time or the time after that, who knew where and how things might end.
a little later that same day, at 10:45 a.m., a horrible ex- plosion occurred in front of the Faculty of Philosophy. The explosive was planted in a garbage container. Four people were hurt by the explosion and all the windows on the front of the Faculty building shattered. Two other explo- sives were found the same day in Priština, one of them, planted in front of a monument to Vuk Karadžić in front of the faculty was removed, fortunately, before activation. Like in all of Kosovo and Metohija, the people there are also disturbed. Hundreds and thousands of apartments and houses in Priština and other locations have been post- ed for sale, and permanent displacements have increased strongly. if things continue in this direction, the epilog is not difficult to foresee.
We ask the Holy Synod of Bishops to accept the above report for its information and to undertake appropriate steps with competent state officials to repair this unstable situation in Kosovo and Metohija. Before it is too late.”
in a meeting on March 18, 1997, the Holy Synod of Bish- ops decided that “a photocopy of the relevant report is to be forwarded to the Ministry for Religions of the Republic of Serbia with the request that competent state officials undertake energetic measures to finally stop the terror againstallresidentsofKosovoandMetohija.”135
in another act, No 37 from March 17, Bishop artemije wrote:
“it is with pain that i am again contacting you to inform the Holy Synod of the new suffering of the Church in Ko- sovo ’from those hands that do evil’. We still have not re- covered nor regained our composure after the terrorist act
135 AHSB, Syn No 417/zap. 252, Mar. 18, 1997.
in Prizren (regarding which i informed you recently, on March 7 of this year) and a new one has already occurred. Namely, three days ago, on March 14, 1997, we were
informed by the administration of Dečani Monastery that unknown attackers broke a window on the Serbian Ortho- dox church of the Holy Trinity in the village of Donji Ratiš near Dečani and threw a flaming device into it, which caused damage to the church interior. This church was already de- stroyed in 1941 by the Balists; it was restored five years ago through the efforts of local residents and the monks of De- čani Monastery, who have been conducting regular ser- vices there.
The damage to the church has not yet been assessed but it is obvious that it will take some time to repair the damage and reequip the church for religious services. al- though police have carried out an on scene investigation, it is still not clear who could be the perpetrator of this bar- baric act. We hope that the security services will find the perpetrators of this act, yet another in a series of terrorist attacks that have shaken Kosovo and Metohija and instilled fear and unrest in the Serb people, in timely fashion.
The above is provided for your information and further appropriate action.”
On april 3, 1997, the Holy Synod of Bishops decided that a photocopy of the report of the Bishop of Raška and Prizren be forwarded to the Ministry for Religions of the Republic of Serbia with the request that competent state officials undertake energetic measures to finally stop the terror against the Serbian Orthodox Church on the terri- tory of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren.”136
The Year 1999
The Holy Synod of Bishops by decision no 1101/zap. 601 from july 5, 1999, was informed of the letter of the Bishop of Raška and Prizren sent on july 4, 1999, to His excellency Mr. Sérgio de Mello, UNMiK, Priština, and General Mi- chael jackson, KFOR, Priština:
“Respected sirs,
it is with great unrest and extreme concern that we are forced to address you again in writing after the violence that has been perpetrated against the Serb people in Koso- vo and Metohija during the past several days.
Only two hours after the signing of our joint Statement with the leaders of the Kosovo albanians, where both sides sincerely understood the responsibility to work on peace andreconciliation,wehaveexperiencedviolenceandprov- ocations without precedent which has been organized by these same exact albanian leaders.
The ’celebration’ organized by the Kosovo albanians, which was accompanied by a great deal of shooting, un- rest, violence and provocative behavior, despite the pres- ence of KFOR forces and UN authorities in the city of Pri-
136 AHSB, 447/zap. 322, Apr. 3, 1997.
The Suffering and Persecution in Kosovo and Metohija from 1945 to 2005
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