Page 905 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

tation. in Thy Name’s sake, do not forsake us ’til the end time, and do not break the bond of Thy covenant. Do not completely distance us from Thy mercy, for the sake our fathers, Thy righteous servants. Hear us Lord, for the sake of the sainted Sava and the martyred Lazar. For the sake of innocent children murdered and exiled, and grieving or- phans. Our collective soul has become filled with appre- hension, our hearts and bellies with tumult, our bones with tremors because of our many transgressions, and of Thy righteous anger. Descended from Nemanja and Lazar, Orlo- vić and Tankosić, we have become unworthy of our ances- tors. Our tormentors are uprooting the foundations of Thy shrines, thereby extracting the roots of our life and being. They want to destroy Dečani monastery and dismantle the beautiful Gračanica, to remove the cross atop the Patri- archate of Peć, and build a minaret atop Ljeviška church. “They’ve severed the nerves in our eyes, and now would like to snatch away the ’seeing’ white cane from our hands. Land we’ve received from Heaven, others have promised away,” sold, and they have betrayed us to our mortal enemies.
But don’t Thou, our only Lord, betray us. Thou, the One True God, do not abandon us to our mortal enemies and executioners, but call us to Thee and again give us life. Should even my skin decompose, and my bones rot, i will again arise and stand before Thee, glorify Thee, and confess to Thy Holy Name. For we, as a people were of your flock, but were made sacrificial lambs, and objects of prey for wild beasts, and food for worms. along with the criminal on the cross, we cry: “Remember us, o Lord, in Thy Kingdom.”
Gentle and almighty Lord, look at Thy needy, who for centuries have been oppressed and trampled by all who have passed this way. Remind Thyself that we are earthly dust, with a soul inside our bodies. For Thou hast stood, in the beginning, above the dust and called us from non-be- ing into being, led and resurrected us from death into life. For Thou art the Resurrection and Life, and Thy many mer- cies are boundless, before which my sins are like dust and ashes to be dissolved and dispersed by the breeze of Thy Spirit and cleansed by the Cross of Thy Son, so that we can be made whiter than snow and more radiant than the sun.
in all of this Lord, we have not forgotten Thee. Because of it, Thou wilt not forget the trampled plantings of Thy vineyard. if we should forget our Lord’s Name, or if we hold out our hands to a false and alien god, bring us back and re-direct us, illuminate us with the radiance of Thy face. Cleanse us of our visible and secret sins and transgressions, resurrect us from our graves. Because Thou art God who ventured and descended into hell, broke the shackles of the captives and resurrected adam’s progeny, consecrating for us the Heavenly Kingdom.
Should i forget you Kosovo, my jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten. May my tongue cleave to my palate if i fail to remember you, Metohija mine, or if i do not place you at the beginning of my song, my psalmody to God, who is my salvation.
† The monk Hariton (Lukić) was kidnapped by albanians in the presence of KFOR troops in the middle of Prizren on june 14th, 1999. His body was found on august 8th, 2000, in an unmarked individual grave in the cemetery of the albanian village of Tusus near Prizren by the Commission of exhumation. The body was decapitated and severely mutilated. The head was not found. The body was buried at Monastery Crna Reka, on November 12, 2000.
†Hieromonk Stefan (Purić) was kidnapped in front of the mon- astery Budisavci in Metohija on july 19, 1999 by Roman Catholic albanians. To date, the international forces of NaTO and UNMiK have not located him.
The Cry of the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija
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