Page 866 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

Metropolitan amfilohije (Radović)
tribution the Serbian Christian people made to Christian- ity and the treasure-house of the world cultural heritage and civilization Are the Christian and other countries, on the eve of the 2000th anniversary of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ going to sacrifice the land on which these people built the biggest number of temples in the Christian East, the land to which one people and one Church have centuries-old deeds? Are they going to give away the land sealed with hu- man bones and the blood of martyrs in exchange for the foundation of another state?...
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in an official letter written in the name of the Serbian Orthodox Church and sent on the eve of the conference in Rambouillet by His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Pavle to Hubert Vedrine, the French Minister of Foreign affairs, one of the plenipotentiaries of the international Contact Group and the dispensers of justice in Rambouillet, it re- mains written:
Your Excellency, having found out recently that on Feb- ruary 6, 1999, a meeting of representatives of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , the Serbian government and Alba- nian representatives is going to take place in Rambouillet under the co-chairmanship of Your Excellency and Mr Robin Cook, with the purpose of overcoming the crisis in Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia, the Serbian Orthodox Church expresses her readiness to contribute to finding a lasting and just solution for all those who for centuries have been living in this area
It is in the vital interest of the Serbian Orthodox Church to take part in the Rambouillet meeting through her repre- sentatives, Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and Hin- terland, Bishop Artemije of Raška and Prizren and their associates: hieromonk Sava from the Visoki Dečani Monas- tery, Momčilo Trajković (Serbian politician from Kosovo and Metohija—Ed ) and Dr Dušan Bataković [renowned Serbian historian and a diplomat—Ed ], since there are more than 1,300 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries Some of them are worldwide known: the Patriarchate of Peć (centuries-old seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church), the Monastery of Visoki Dečani, Gračanica, the Mother of God of Ljeviša, the Holy Archangels near Prizren and many oth- ers The Orthodox Christian Serbs, members and believers of the Serbian Orthodox Church, have been living in Kosovo and Metohija for more than thousand years and would like to live there in the future, too
For the sake of the faithful and proper representation of these vital interests of the Serbian Church, when the Kosovo issue is being resolved, we ask and demand that the pres- ence of our delegation be allowed at the conference in Ram- bouillet, in whatever status you consider feasible (even as an observer) with the right to express their views on contro- versial issues...
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Sadly enough, even the government of the Federal Re- public of Yugoslavia itself refuses to allow the Church to
participate in the negotiations, and neither the strongmen of the West feel any different.
While in Kosovo and Metohija the crimes over the most unprotected ones are rapidly increasing and the blood and tears of unfortunate people do not stop shedding, europe and america have arisen inhuman clamor enforcing the justice of their new imperialism on all the nations of the world respectively. Now it is poor Serbs’ turn. They have to make them agree to this justice, not according to the judg- ment of the true God but the most selfish, vicious human passions, by blatantly using their tyrannical diplomacy and puppet media as their mouthpieces, with the overall sata- nization of the entire Serbian people. it is obvious that they consider their judgments and decisions final in advance and that they are ready to defend them by all means, with all available means of their political and economical en- forcements, and if necessary, with their most sophisticated military force maces of which have long been swirling on earth and the sky under the guise of concern for peace and human rights.
On the same occasion, His Holiness, the Serbian Patri- arch Paul (Pavle) has recently received the ambassadors to Great Britain and France.
The european ambassadors indeed strive to appear oily and they emphasize: europe and the international com- munity would like the bloodshed in Kosovo to stop; they do not want to impose their solutions, but they do advo- cate that everyone gets the same rights. This applies to the Serbian people and the Serbian Church, too and every- thing concerning the Serbian history and the Church pres- ence in Kosovo. They claim that their aim is to protect the Patriarchate of Peć, the monasteries and temples. The Brit- ish ambassador refers to the text of the final conclusions of the Contact Group and the text of the Fundamental Hu- man Rights Principals. They say that both of them would be satisfied, if the Church gave her statement asking both parties to make an effort to achieve and apply all this. By saying that, they add, they transmit the position of all coun- tries striving for peace. They claim that they would espe- cially like to protect the “religious institutions” in Kosovo. They seek the support for their efforts...
We also hear the same beautiful words in the Ministry of the Foreign affairs in France where we are received to- gether with Bishop Luka of Western europe, Mr. Kosta Christitch, and Fr. jovan Georgijevski. “The Churches are silent,” notices Mr. Rouillard, one of the secretaries in the Ministry in charge of the Balkans. “it would be better for the pope or for you to speak, and not the NaTO command- er. it’s high time the Churches started speaking...” he says explicitly.
So, everyone is seeking the word of Church, but the question is—who really listens and hears our Church? if they really do listen, wouldn’t they have heard all those of- ficial statements regarding the Kosovo events the Church has been worriedly giving all this time, especially for the
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