Page 839 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

Therefore, dear Sir, do We ask You to, within the term of office of KFOR and UNMiK, undertake all the necessary measures so that all the movables, together with all the im- movables, of the Serbian Orthodox Church should be pre- served. if they are destroyed or displaced, not only that we as a people suffer a loss, but also the entire european cul- ture. Numerous traces of existence of the Serbian people and its martyr Church disappear from the Kosovo-Meto- chian land, the cradle of our people, in the presence of strong international military and police forces.”
august 20, 2002
THe WORLD COUNCiL OF CHURCHeS aND THe CONFeReNCe OF eUROPeaN CHURCHeS ReQUiRe PROTeCTiON OF THe SeRBiaN ORTHODOX CHURCH iN KOSOVO aND MeTOHija
Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, and Rev. Dr Keith Clements, the General Secretary of the Conference of european Church- es, addressed two letters to His Holiness Pavle, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and Mr Michael Steiner, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Head of the UN interim administration in Kosovo.
The two officials of these two international ecumenical organisations expressed their profound concern “at the continued violence facing members of the Serbian Ortho- dox Church and its cultural and spiritual property in Koso- vo and Metohija in the recent period.” They consider the increase of deliberate attacks on the churches and holy plac- es of the Serbian Orthodox Church to be “painful and scan- dalous manifestation of the extremism and instability” in the region.
Condemning strongly these acts of violence, the Gen- eral Secretaries of WCC and CeC with sadness observed that “the international protection provided by the interim authorities in Kosovo to the minority communities, and particularly to the Serbian community” is inadequate. There- fore, they appealed to Mr Steiner and all the other respon- sible authorities to ensure effective security for all the peo- ples in Kosovo and Metohija as well as for their spiritual and cultural heritage.
The highest officials of WCC and CeC informed His Holiness Patriarch Pavle that they would continue to work on the improvement of dialogue and peace-building in the region, and that they would strive to raise the awareness of the international authorities about the difficult situation of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija.
august 21, 2002
COMMUNiQUe OF THe MiNiSTRY FOR ReLi- GiOUS aFFaiRS OF THe RePUBLiC OF SeRBia CON- CeRNiNG THe CONFiSCaTiON OF THe PROPeRTY OF THe ViSOKi DeČaNi MONaSTeRY
Republic of Serbia
Ministry for Religious affairs
Belgrade, august 20, 2002
The Ministry for Religious affairs of the Republic of
Serbia strongly condemns the attempt of the Municipal Court at Dečani to seize the property of imperial Monas- tery of Visoki Dečani.
Up to 1946 the Visoki Dečani Monastery had possessed more than 800ha of land, as well as other valuables. every- thing was confiscated that year, without any compensa- tion. in 1997, out of the entire mentioned property of the Monastery, the Government of the Republic of Serbia re- turned to the Monastery two smaller plots of land with the accompanying constructions by concluding an agreement on presenting the Monastery with a gift.
The decision made by the Municipal Court at Dečani at the beginning of august, 2002, annulling that return of property to the Monastery is not only contrary to the law and order of the Republic of Serbia and to the Resolution 1244 of the UN General assembly, but is also opposite to universal principles of fairness and morality, and as such it is void and cannot be applied.
in addition, the decision was obviously made for reli- gious and ethnic discrimination.
Therefore, the Ministry for Religious affairs is of the opinion that UNMiK must revoke this decision.
The Ministry for Religious affairs would like to point out that the described attempt of usurping the property of the Monastery is an additional proof of the necessity for enacting a law on the return and compensation of unfairly confiscated property in Serbia.
MiNiSTRY FOR ReLiGiOUS aFFaiRS OF THe Re- PUBLiC OF SeRBia
September 24, 2002
COMMUNiQUe OF THe HOLY aSSeMBLY OF BiSHOPS OF THe SeRBiaN ORTHODOX CHURCH FROM iTS eXTRaORDiNaRY SeSSiON HeLD iN Pa- TRiaRCHaTe ON SePTeMBeR 23 aND 24, 2002
The Holy assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Ortho- dox Church, presided over by His Holiness Serbian Patri- arch Pavle, held its extraordinary session in the Patriarch- ate on September 23 and 24, 2002.
[...]
The Holy assembly of Bishops expresses its true con- cern for the continuous depravation and violation of basic human rights—rights to free life and return of the Serbian people and other non-albanian ethnic communities in Ko- sovo and Metohija, expecting from the international com- munity, which supervises this southern Serbian region to
a Chronicle of the Contemporary Suffering of Kosovo-Metohian Serbs
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