Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

The destruction of the Christian heritage in Kosovo

Sandro Magister | 03.10.2005 13:36 | Analysis | World

To worldwide indifference, more than one hundred ancient churches have already been assaulted and destroyed. Others are defended by NATO soldiers. The role of the Vatican and the growth of Islamic extremism

Since the war ended with the defeat of the Serbs in 1999, more than one hundred Orthodox holy places have been assaulted and destroyed in Kosovo, many of them going back to the 13th and 14th centuries. Earlier, while the Serbian army of Slobodan Milosevic had control of the region, it is calculated that 212 of the 560 Muslim mosques in the area were damaged or razed.

In Kosovo today, the Orthodox Serbs are a besieged and endangered minority. Of the roughly 250,000 who fled following NATO´s military intervention, only a few thousand have returned. Together with the 130,000 who remained, they are herded in restricted zones and kept under constant threat. Power rests in the hands of the Muslim Kosovar Albanians. The future status of the region is uncertain. Formally, Kosovo remains an autonomous province of the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro, but resolution 1244 of the United Nations defining its status also refers to the Rambouillet accords of 1999, which appeal to the principle of self-determination of peoples in outlining the definitive arrangement of the area. And the overwhelming Albanian majority has enlisted this point in its bid for independence.

The destruction of Christian churches is part of this plan - or, at least, that´s what the local Orthodox community fears. "Either destruction, or transformation into museums," specifies Fr. Sava Janjic, vice-prior of the monastery of Decani.

This monastery is one of the masterpieces of medieval art in Kosovo, an historic cradle of Serbian Orthodoxy. It is occupied by 35 monks, many of whom have entered during the last twelve years, in a complete rebirth of monastic life. During the war, they were lavish in their defense of the Kosovar Albanians, threatened with ethnic cleansing by Slobodan Milosevic´s army. But today, it is the monks who are under constant threat. The Italian soldiers of KFOR ensure the defense of the monastery. The monks may not venture beyond the security fence to visit their faithful unless they are accompanied by an armed escort. The condition of the other 25 monasteries and churches under KFOR protection is similar. Among the most precious holy places - and the ones most at risk - are the patriarchate of Pec, the monastery of Gracanica, and the cathedral of the Mother of God of Ljevisa, in Prizren.

Artemjie, the bishop of Raska and Prizren, the highest Orthodox authority in Kosovo, laments "the inexplicable silence of Christian and democratic Europe in the face of such grave crimes committed against a Christian and European people, which the Serbian people is." And he accuses the Vatican of having been "amply implicated in the events" that produced the current situation.

Fr. Sava specifies that an authentic smear campaign has been unleashed against the Serbian Church: "The schools teach the theory that we did not build most of the Orthodox holy places in Kosovo, but that Roman Catholic Church did, and that they do not belong to us."


There are approximately 65,000 Catholics in Kosovo. "We have excellent relations with the Muslims, and the government treats us well," a spokesman for the apostolic administration of Prizen told the Norwegian news agency for religious liberty "Forum 18."

But there is a more disquieting reality behind these words. All throughout Kosovo, new mosques and Koranic schools financed by Saudi Arabia are springing up, and the influence of the Islamist currents is growing.

This is confirmed by the dangers incurred by Muslims who convert to Christianity.

These dangers were almost nonexistent in the past. Islam is generally weakly rooted in the Albanian population, and is accompanied by weak social controls.

But now extremist groups have appeared. And life has become difficult for those who convert. Last May 11, in Gnjilane, a convert was brutally beaten and threatened with death as a "traitor."

The ones most targeted are the converts to the evangelical Churches, which are the most active in the missions. Many of the newly baptized are forced to keep their conversion hidden even from their loved ones.

The Catholic Church has chosen to keep a low profile and not to proselytize, and thus it feels Islamic pressure less. The moderate Muslim leader Ibrahim Rugova recently said that he has come to know the Catholic faith better and that he respects it a great deal.

Sandro Magister

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

What a crock of shit from a political correct do gooder!

03.10.2005 16:08

Defeat my ass otherwise the Americans would have occupied the whole country by now. The whole war was nothing but state terrorism by NATO supporting terrorist forces in the Balkans supported by Bin Ladin. Shame on you lot for supporting Albanian terrorists and shame on Britain for allowing the illegal sex trade by the Albanian mafia.

Long live Serbia you pro terrorist scum!

Trap Jaw


Kosovo

03.10.2005 18:45

Let's face it, for most distant observers, the whole Kosovo situation seems plain strange.

For the longest time, pre-Blair forces in the UK worked tirelessly to enable the Serbs to commit atrocity after atrocity without punishment. The Mass Media was ORDERED to make distinction between the REAL leadership behind Serb warcrimes in Serbia proper, and their proxies in the various ex-Yugoslavia states. The people of the WEST were categorically informed that the rulers of Serbia were NOT responsible for the Crimes Against Humanity committed by the regional serbs against the muslims and others in Bosnia, etc.

After many long years of UK protection of serbia, and arms sales to the serbs by the Israelis, the US finally stepped in and bought the conflict to an end with military action and military threat. Serbia was officially told that if they stopped misbehaving (which they did), serbia proper would NOT be punished for its crimes.

Then came Kosovo...Kosovo, the one territory where the serbs WERE pretty much behaving reasonably. Of course, in truth the serbs had become entangled in wider power-politics. The war against the serbs over Kosovo was unreasonable in every respect. Many serbs deserved the severest of punishment, but NOT because of Kosovo.

The Kosovo war served two purposes. First and foremost, Blair intended to lead the US army into its first major land war since vietnam, 'blooding' the army again, and making possible his future wars. Unfortunately, the US army was sh*t-scared of a conflict with an army trained and armed largely to state-of-the-art USSR standards. US victory was assured, but at horrible cost (eg US helicopters would have lasted only SECONDS over any battlefield there). Blair failed TOTALLY in his aim, but the false-flag of 911 would give him a successful second chance later on.

The second purpose, of course, was the short and medium term stabilisation of the region, now that serbia had clearly failed to become a lasting major player. Serbia needed to be made to face the reality of its failed ambitions, and to adjust its political outlook accordingly. This, of course, was the actual outcome, which is why you get so many serbian cry-babies here and in similar places!!!

twilight


Laugh? I nearly paid my poll tax....

03.10.2005 21:16

"state-of-the-art USSR" weapons? Ha!

Twilight, keen as ever to come to a theory without facts getting in the way. Please explain how pre-Blair governments worked "tirelessly" to help the Serbs kill, murder, and maim their way across the former Yugoslavia.

Remember to give us links and references, now....

Boab


Typical

04.10.2005 02:58

This kind of behaviour shows just how the weak-kneed UN is incapable of protecting the christian population of Kosovo. The UN should get out immediately and give Kosovo back to its rightful owners, Serbia.

Humpty Dumpty


allahway

06.10.2005 15:46

I wonder whay allahway and the rest of the pro-islam left think of this.Seeing thou the yanks liad waste to serbia and its people,why was the yvonne ridleys,the linsey germans etc,Where they making allince with serbain orthodox priests,saying "this is war on slavs".Me thinks that they think that "Muslims" are are better sort of opressed.

Mr lustbather


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech