DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ST. JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF SHANGHAI AND SAN
FRANCISCO
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN WITNESS (USPS 412-260)
is published monthly by St. Nectarios American Orthodox Cathedral,
10300 Ashworth Avenue North, Seattle, Washington 98133-9410.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
OCW, 10300 Ashworth Ave. N., Seattle, WA. 98133-9410
Fr. Neketas S. Palassis, Editor Email: frneketas@stnectariospress.com
Telephone (206) 522-4471; (800) 643-4233 U.S. & Canada;
Fax: 206-523-0550
MAY 2004, VOL. XXXIII, No. 5(1536)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Archimandrite Sergios to be Consecrated Assistant Bishop
2. Mother Thecla and Mother Nectaria made Abbesses
3. The Dog that Didn't Bark
4. Further Evidence of the Cost of Microevolution
5. Kosovo: Nobody Charged for Destruction of Monasteries
6. New Items from the Book Center
"Remember the time which is past and the years of your life which were
lost in the vanity of this world. Can you return of them even a single
day or night? And likewise, if the end of your life comes, can you add
or beg back a day for repentance, or even a single hour? We shall wish
to seek out the time we have poorly spent of our life, and we shall not
find it."
-St. Paisius Velichkovski
1. ARCHIMANDRITE SERGIOS, ABBOT OF ST. GREGORY OF SINAI MONASTERY TO
BE CONSECRATED ASSISTANT BISHOP OF METROPOLITAN MOSES.
Les Ponomarchuk, Chancellor of the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Seattle*
has announced the forthcoming consecration of Archimandrite Sergios to
the episcopate. The newly ordained bishop will be Metropolitan Moses'
assistant bishop with the title of Bishop of Loch Lomond. The
consecration will occur on Sunday, August 8, during the Divine Liturgy
at St. Nectarios Cathedral, Seattle, Washington.
Archimandrite Sergios was born in 1942 in Connecticut and was raised in
a small rural town. He spent his summers and holidays in an even
smaller and more rural town in northern Vermont with his Grandmother,
who had a great influence on his boyhood formation.
Archimandrite Sergios graduated from the University of Connecticut in
1964 with a BA in Philosophy and went
on to attend St. Vladimir's Seminary, graduating in 1967. In 1968 he
graduated from Fordham University with
an MA in Byzantine Studies, and in May, 1969 was ordained Priest in the
Diocese of Sitka, Alaska, where he served until August, 1972. There he
joined the history faculty of the Sitka branch of the University of
Alaska.
In 1972, with the departure of his ordaining Bishop from Alaska,
Archimandrite Sergios spent a year's sabbatical leave at St. John the
Baptist Greek Orthodox Monastery in Essex, England. In 1976, he spent a
second sabbatical year at Simonos Petras Monastery on the Holy
Mountain. In 1982 he sought and received permission from the
ecclesiastical authority to permanently leave the parish ministry and
to lead the monastic life. He spent 18 months, 1983-1984, in Greece,
living and studying in a variety of monastic communities, from small
sketes to large coenobitic monasteries, both on Athos and in mainland
Greece. In 1984 he was tonsured in a small Monastery established by his
spiritual father, Archbishop Vasili (Krivocheine), in Western Europe.
The foundation of what was originally called St. Gregory Palamas
Monastery was laid by Archimandrite Sergios
and his spiritual son, Monk Simon, in California, in far-northern
Trinity County, in 1984. During his 18 month pilgrimage to monastic
Greece, however, another community of that name had moved to
California, and in order to avoid confusion, Archimandrite Sergios
changed the designation of his community to St. Gregory of Sinai - an
older and like-minded contemporary of St. Gregory Palamas.
St. Gregory of Sinai Monastery was to relocate first to the Bay Area in
1986, and in 2000, to Lake County where a gift of 300 heavily-forested
acres on the southern flanks of Mount Hannah (3900 feet) - an extinct
volcanic formation at the eastern end of the Mayacamas mountain range -
in the town of Loch Lomond, gave the community - numbering 5 men at the
time - its permanent home. Without water, utilities or buildings, the
Brotherhood spent its first year living and worshipping in used Army
tents, carrying in water, and enjoying the gift of the use of a
neighbour's garage for tasks requiring electricity. From the beginning,
the self-supporting community had made its way materially by painting
ikons for churches and individuals. To this was added a modest greeting
card project, using its own ikons, for the most part, as the cards'
designs. Gradually, with the addition of two more men to the
Brotherhood, and thanks to an original push provided by a visiting
Priest from Calgary, Canada, a substantial organic v vegetable garden
was established, to which a small fruit orchard was added. A well (530'
deep) was dug; a multi-purpose building was constructed, 120' long and
housing the Chapel (dedicated to St. Silouan the Athonite), Trapeza,
kitchen, laundry and cells for the monks and their guests, and this
Summer of 2004, a second building to provide more adequate housing for
its ikon workshop and other needs, in underway.
From its beginning the Monastery was an institution of the Orthodox
Church in America, one of the jurisdictions of the Standing Conference
of Orthodox Bishops in the Americas. Concerns centering on a growing
awareness of the actual content of contemporary syncretistic ecumenism,
particularly in its chief institutional expression, the World and
Regional Councils of Churches, led the Monastery to affiliate, in
September, 2000, with a Synod of Bishops who refrain from membership in
organizations with syncretistic ideologies, practices and goals, the
Eparchial Synod of the Holy Orthodox Church in North America, whose
President is Metropolitan Makarios of Toronto. In 2001, this Synod
established a new Metropolis to serve the American states west of the
Mississippi and elected Assistant Bishop of Roslindale Moses as
Metropolitan of Seattle.
In 2002 a gift of 10 acres located in the adjacent town of Kelseyville
(whose post office supplies the Monastery with its mailing address)
some 30 minutes from the Monastery was received, together with 3000
newly-planted olive trees which will come into production with 5-7
years. With this gift came a newly-constructed barn complete with an
Italian-made, computer-driven olive press, giving the small Brotherhood
additional possibilities of supporting its life and work.
In 2003 Igoumenos (abbot) Sergios was given the rank of Archimandrite
and in early 2004, the Eparchial
Synod elected Archimandrite Sergios Assistant Bishop to assist
Metropolitan Moses in his ministry to the
geographically-vast territory composing the Seattle Metropolis.
Archimandrite Sergios will serve as Bishop of Loch Lomond.
THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE
The consecration of Bishop-Elect Archimandrite Sergius shall take place
at Saint Nectarios American Orthodox
Cathedral, in Seattle, on August 8 (new style).
The organizing committee needs to notify the Seattle Yacht Club, by
July 12th, of the exact number of expected guests. The cost of the
luncheon will be $30.00 per person. Children 5 years and under are
free.
For those seeking accommodations near the cathedral we suggest Extended
StayAmerica, 13000 Stone Avenue North, (206) 365.8100 / (800) 398.7829,
or Ramada Inn, 2140 N. Northgate Way, (206) 365.0700 / (800) 435.0754
We suggest that reservations be made NOW since August is the peak
tourist season in Seattle.
The Honorable Leonid Ponomarchuk, Chancellor, The Holy Orthodox
Metropolis of Seattle.
* The Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Seattle is the West Coast
Administration of the Holy Orthodox Church in North America. The Holy
Orthodox Church in North America is the North American Administration
of The True Orthodox Church of Greece.
2. MOTHER THEKLA AND MOTHER NECTARIA MADE ABBESSES OF THEIR CONVENTS.
On February 3/16, 2004, at the Convent of the Meeting of the Lord in
the Temple in Stanwood, Washington, a double blessing was bestowed upon
the community and all those present with the elevation of Mother Thecla
to the office of abbess, and the tonsure of Mother Evdokia to the Great
Schema Present at this joyous occasion was Archimandrite Panteleimon,
Fr. Neketas Palassis, Fr. Ihnat Ponomarchuk, Monk Nicholas, Abbess
Seraphima with some sisters from Holy Nativity Convent, family and
parishioners from St. Nectarios parish in Seattle.
M. Mary, Abbess Thecla, M. Evdokia - the three tonsured nuns at
The Convent of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple, Stanwood,
Washington
TORONTO
On Thomas Sunday many of the faithful of our parishes in Toronto
attended the Divine Liturgy at the Convent
of the Dormition of the Theotokos. They all flocked there with great
joy to pray during the elevation of
Mother Nektaria to the office of abbess. Elder Fr. Panteleimon, Fr.
George Kochergin, Hierodeacon Demetrios,
Monk Fr. George, Abbess Seraphima along with 3 mothers from Holy
Nativity Convent all came to Toronto for this blessed occasion
3. THE DOG THAT DIDN'T BARK
By James K. Fitzpatrick
(The Wanderer, April 1, 2004)
It is no longer just legal abortion that gets the smoke and mirrors;
there is a new version of the "personally-opposed-but" line of
reasoning making the rounds. This time the topic is homosexual
marriage,
John Kerry, for example, tells us that even though he is "personally
opposed to homosexual marriage," he does not want to interfere with the
way the states decide to handle the matter. I wonder who came up with
that dodge for him?
In some ways, we should welcome what is going on. Watching the polls
squirm this way makes it clear that being "personally opposed but" is a
ruse that serves no purpose other than letting a politician have it
both
ways with the voters. Unfortunately, it is a ruse that can work. Maybe
there are some politicians who have been punished by the voters for
talking out of both sides of their mouths like this on abortion, but I
can't think of any.
There is a danger that we can overdo the charge that the "liberal
media" are to blame when things don't go
our way, but in this case it is an accurate charge. The media's
response to the "personally-opposed-but" politicians can be compared to
the famous dog that didn't bark in the Sherlock Holmes story Silver
Blaze. This was the case, you may remember, when Holmes, while
investigating the slaying of a racehorse, mentions to Dr. Watson "the
curious incident of the dog in the nighttime." Watson, as usual,
doesn't know what to make of Holmes' logic. He responds, "But the dog
did nothing in the night-time." To which Holmes replies, "That was the
curious incident." Holmes explains that he was able to identify the
dog's master as the killer
of the horse. That was why the dog did not bark. The dog found nothing
alarming about the killer being present because he was comfortable with
his presence. The dog thought his presence normal, routine.
It seems to me that the reporters and television talking heads who find
nothing incongruous about the "personally-opposed-but" line of thinking
do so for the same reason. Just as the dog did not bark, they do not
ask the follow-up questions that should pop to their minds immediately
when some politician gets that anguished look and explains why he is
unwilling to "impose" his personal morality on those who disagree with
him on abortion or homosexual marriage. What follow-up questions am I
talking about? The obvious ones: "Why are you personally opposed to
abortion, senator?" "Why are you personally opposed to homosexual
marriage?"
It should strike the reporters that the "personally-opposed" defense
works only when the matter at hand is of relative insignificance. I can
see someone saying, for example, that he is personally opposed to
smoking in restaurants, riding a motorcycle without a helmet, or
swimming without a lifeguard present - but that he sees no need for a
law stopping others from doing these things. Permitting others to do
them does not put the lawmaker in the position of "doing nothing" while
something he considers a great evil takes place.
Consider, in contrast, what is implied when someone takes the position
that he is personally opposed to abortion or homosexual marriage but is
willing to let them take place anyway. There is only one reason to
be "personally opposed" to abortion: your conviction that it is the
taking of an unborn human life.
It is incoherent for someone who is convinced that this is what happens
during an abortion to say that he is willing to give those who want to
take that life the legal right to do so; to say that you wouldn't kill
an unborn child yourself, but think it intolerant to prohibit someone
else from doing it.
In the same vein, there is only one reason to be "personally opposed"
to homosexual marriage: your conviction
that homosexual behavior is unnatural and objectively immoral. It is
jumbled logic for someone who thinks this is the case to simultaneously
hold that it is a good thing for our laws (which, after all, are a
reflect
ion of our society's notion of right and wrong) to give legal sanction
to this activity, to make it the moral equivalent of the institution
that most Americans, until quite recently, routinely referred to as
"the
holy bond of matrimony."
To make the point, apply the "personally-opposed" logic to some other
behaviors. How would Tim Russert treat
someone on Meet the Press who argued that he is personally opposed to
slavery or wife-beating, but would not favor laws restricting the
choices of those who view these things as "alternative lifestyles"?
John Kerry
would not use the states' rights argument that he now raises when
dealing with the question of homosexual marriage to defend the cause of
the Southern states in the 1950s on the question of segregated schools.
When
was the last time you heard a politician or media guru warn us of the
impropriety of being "judgmental"
about Mormons who cling to the belief that polygamy is God's will or
Muslims who inflict female circumcision
on young women?
Quite the contrary: We are encouraged to "take a stand" on the moral
issues that matter to feminists and the
civil rights movement. Those who don't are scolded for their "apathy."
The protesters with placards marching
with Martin Luther King appear over and over on our television screens
as paradigms of moral commitment, while those outside abortion clinics
or courtrooms where homosexual marriages are being performed are cast
as ignorant bigots. There is apathy and there is apathy. There is moral
commitment and there is moral commitment.
I guess it is too much to hope for, but it would be appropriate and
fair play for John Kerry to be asked a simple question by one of the
reporters in one of the upcoming presidential debates: "Sen. Kerry, you
have made clear that you do not favor a constitutional amendment
prohibiting homosexual marriage; that you want to leave this matter for
the states to decide. But you have also made clear that you do not
personally approve of homosexual marriages, that you favor civil unions
for homosexuals instead. Why is that, senator? What do you think is
wrong with homosexual marriage?"
Don't hold your breath waiting for that dog to bark.
4."Further Evidence Of the Cost of Microevolution"
By Stephen Caesar
(CHRISTIAN NEWS, March 26, 2001)
Previously, I discussed how experiments on fruit flies demonstrated
that, when a species develops improvements within its pre-set genetic
boundaries (microevolution), it not only fails to become a newer,
higher species (macroevolution), but it also pays a price for its
improvement by becoming disadvantaged elsewhere. In a process called
"artificial selection," flies were intentionally bred to develop
increased resistance to
parasitic wasps. The hope was that, in accordance with
macroevolutionary theory, the flies would keep improving their wasp
resistance to the point where they would evolve into a new species that
was 100% wasp-resistant. Constant, continuous breeding, however, failed
to produce flies that had anything higher than a 60% resistance
to the wasps, and the flies were weaker, shorter-lived; and less able
to compete for food than individuals that
did not undergo the improvement (Zimmer 49-50).
Such disadvantages are called "fitness costs" (Read & Allen 1104).
This term refers to the fact that creatures undergoing minor
improvements to increase their chances of survival (like building up
immunity to parasites) do not macro-evolve into higher species, but
actually have to sacrifice part of their vitality to make up for
the improvements. In other words, animals only have a limited "budget"
for improvement - if they "increase spending"
on fighting parasites, they must "decrease spending" on strength, size,
lifespan, etc.
Experimentation has demonstrated that what is true for fruit flies
holds true for other animals and for humans.
Science magazine reported: "In taxa [major animal groups] as diverse as
snails, moths, mosquitoes, and fruit flies, artificial selection in the
laboratory for increased ability to resist parasite attack has been
associated with reductions in at least some components of fitness." The
intentional breeding of bumblebees to fend off internal parasites
"dramatically reduced their survival compared to bees that were not
immunologically challenged." An attempt to increase wild birds'
immunity to tetanus and diphtheria gave the following result:
"Immunized birds fledged [became the parents of] fewer and lighter
offspring than non-immunized birds" (Ibid.).
These "fitness costs," also occur when humans build up resistance to
parasites. In Africa, where malaria is prevalent, local populations
have, over time and through random genetic mutations, developed an
increased resistance to Plasmodium vivax, the mosquito-borne parasite
that causes malaria. This increased resistance, so necessary to survive
in Africa, comes with a price; the Harvard University Gazette reported
that the mutation that increases resistance to malaria "causes sickle
cell anemia, a painful inherited blood disease that occurs mainly in
blacks. Sickle cell anemia, however, is not usually fatal" (Cromie 4).
Thus, the improvement Africans undergo to
fight a lethal disease (malaria) is offset by a painful, debilitating,
BUT NOT FATAL, disease (sickle cell anemia).
This is a perfect example of how minor improvements within the
boundaries of a single species demand a "fitness cost,"
rather than serving as a rung on an alleged ladder that leads to a new,
higher species.
The conclusion is this: Intraspecific microevolution (small genetic
mutations that occur within a species in order to protect that species
from biological attacks) is scientifically proven. However,
transpecific macroevolution (the transformation of this micro-mutating
species into a completely new creature) is devoid of scientific proof.
Micro-mutating species do not keep mutating until they transform into
higher life forms; instead, they sacrifice
part of themselves, ultimately resulting in the same species all along.
References:
Cromie, William J. (2001). "Evolution at work: The tale of a tail."
Harvard University Gazette, February S.
Read, A. F., and J. E. Allen. (2000). "The Economics of Immunity."
Science 290, No. 5495.
Zimmer, Carl. (2000). "Attack and Counterattack: The Never-Ending Story
of Hosts and Parasites." Natural History 109, No. 7.
Stephen Caesar is currently pursuing his master's degree in
anthropology at Harvard University. He is the
author of the e-book The Bible Encounters Modern Science, available at
www.1stbooks.com.
5. KOSOVO: NOBODY CHARGED FOR DESTRUCTION OF ORTHODOX CHURCHES AND
MONASTERIES
By Branko Bjelajac, Forum 18 News Service, and
Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Thursday 6 May 2004:
No-one has yet been charged for organizing the violence in March,
including the destruction of 30 Orthodox churches. Since 1999, no-one
responsible for the destruction of 140 churches has been arrested.
There is also some evidence that churches were looted for the black
market before their destruction. Kosovo's prime ministerial spokesman
refused to admit to Forum 18 News Service that any churches were
destroyed before March and said it had not been
decided who would protect churches from further attacks. The protection
provided by KFOR was variable, with the French and German contingents
being particularly /criticized by the Serbian Orthodox Church. In
contrast, other KFOR contingents, such as the Czechs, Italians and
Swedes, risked their troops' lives to provide protection.
Captain Jonas Bengtsson of the Swedish contingent told Forum 18 that
"It is a miracle no Swedish soldier was badly injured," and commented
that "Churches have always been one of the most important things to
protect." The Swedes have, since the March violence, stepped up
protection for churches they are responsible for.
Following the violence in March, "no formal indictment has been raised
against any person for the organization
of the pogrom," Fr Sava (Janjic), deputy abbot of the Decani Monastery
in western Kosovo, told Forum 18 News Service on 4 May. "Some people
had been arrested during the investigation, but it is completely
unclear whether they are the real organizers or low rank 'soldiers' who
just carried out someone's orders." He complained that
no trials have started so far, nor has the public been informed about
who is believed to have organized the attacks on Serbs, including the
attacks on religious sites. Since 1999, no attackers on any Orthodox
Church
site have been arrested by the United Nations UNMIK mission, the
NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR, or the mainly
ethnic-Albanian Kosovo Police Service (KPS).
Early on 5 May, Forum 18 presented written questions to both KFOR and
UNMIK headquarters in Kosovo's capital Pristina asking what arrests
have UNMIK, KFOR, or the KPS made of perpetrators of violence and
looting against religious sites, and attacks on clergy; whether those
arrested were still in custody; what charges they will be tried on and
when; what investigations into violence against religious sites and
clergy are continuing; what aid UNMIK is giving to rebuild destroyed or
damaged religious sites; what protection is now being given
to which religious sites and clergy; and who the protection is being
given by, and to which religious sites and clergy. Despite promises
from both KFOR and UNMIK to respond, neither had done so by the
afternoon of 6 May.
In the violence in March, thought by observers including NATO's
commander in southern Europe, Admiral Gregory Johnson,
to be pre-planned, ethnic Albanian mobs attacked Serbian homes,
churches and schools throughout Kosovo. The attacks took place despite
the presence of KFOR and UNMIK, the local KPS, and the KZK (Kosovo
Protection Force). The violence left 19 people dead, 250 homes looted
and burned, as well as 30 churches and monasteries and several
graveyards heavily damaged, looted, burned or destroyed. With the
previously destroyed 112 churches and monasteries, this brings the
total number destroyed since international forces took over
responsibility for
Kosovo in 1999 to 140 (see F18News 24 March 2004
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=286 ).
Mimoza Kusari, spokesperson for Kosovo's prime minister Bajram Rexhepi,
insisted to Forum 18 that all the
churches and monasteries destroyed during the March violence will be
rebuilt. "As soon as the damage has been assessed they will be restored
to the same condition as they were before the violence," she told Forum
18 from Pristina on 6 May. Asked if they will be able to reopen as
places of worship she responded: "Of course." She said priests, monks
and nuns would return "as soon as the buildings are ready". Asked who
would protect them from further attacks she said this has not been
decided, though the Kosovo government presumes this will be the
international forces. Kusari admitted that the KPS, KFOR and UNMIK "did
not do very well" during the March violence. She said that immediately
afterwards the Kosovo government established a 5 million Euro fund from
the consolidated budget - "money from Kosovo taxpayers" - to finance
the rebuilding of damaged property. "The priority was residential
homes." She said damage to historical sites -including Serbian
Orthodox churches - is now being assessed by experts from the United
Nations cultural organization UNESCO and the Council of Europe. "UNESCO
experts are here at the moment and Council of Europe experts will be
here next week."
UNESCO has estimated that 27 million US dollars worth of damage has
been done to the 27 churches which can
be rebuilt, out of the 30 destroyed. On 3 May, UNESCO director Koichiro
Matsuura stated that the Decani Monastery, which was attacked by mortar
fire on 17 March, will be recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Although Fr Sava believed such a listing was "significant", he was
skeptical about how it would protect the monastery. "In the existing
security and political conditions such a decision represents no
guarantee," he told Forum 18. Valbona Boshtrakaj of Kosovo's Culture
Ministry said it expected the experts
to submit their final report with the assessment of the damage to
Serbian historic sites at the end of May
. She told Forum 18 from Pristina on 6 May that after that, a budget
would be allocated to pay for restoration. She claimed that her
ministry had invited the Serbian Orthodox diocese to cooperate but
"they are not willing to have contact with the institutions of the
provisional self-government". However,
she said Albanian and Serbian experts were working jointly with UNESCO
experts on the field assessments of the damage to Serbian sites.
Although prime-ministerial spokesperson Kusari admitted that some 30
Serbian Orthodox churches had been destroyed or damaged during the
March violence, she refused to admit that more than 100 Serbian
Orthodox
holy sites had been destroyed or damaged since international forces
took control of Kosovo in 1999. "You must have mistaken information,"
she told Forum 18. "Churches were under special protection - nothing
happened to them before March."
Arguments have persisted about whether and how KFOR and the other
security agencies should and could have
done more to protect Serbs and Serbian-owned property, including
Orthodox sites. The Serbian Orthodox iocese has complained of what it
regards as the failure particularly of KFOR troops from Germany and
France. One German KFOR officer of the Multinational Brigade Southwest
said that KFOR is still investigating their failure to protect the
destroyed and damaged Orthodox sites in the town in March. "I can't say
why
we failed to protect them," he told Forum 18 from Prizren in southern
Kosovo on 6 May. "We are still looking for the reasons." He said he did
not know when the investigation would be complete and whether the
findings would be published. Asked about Serbian Orthodox claims that
German KFOR troops did not do
as much to protect Serbian lives and property as troops from other
national contingents, the officer
referred all enquiries to the German defence ministry in Berlin.
The German KFOR officer said that all Serbian Orthodox churches in the
southwest brigade area are now protected by fixed posts and by mobile
patrols. However, other KFOR contingents risked their troops' lives to
defend Serbs in March. "It was very dangerous for us," Captain Jonas
Bengtsson of the Swedish contingent, based in the village of Ajvalija
near Pristina, told Forum 18 on 6 May. "It is a miracle no Swedish
soldier was badly injured." He said the thirteenth-century Gracanica
monastery and the
church in the village of Laplje Selo survived only because "we kept the
Albanians out". "In my personal
opinion, if we had failed to keep the Albanians out these churches
would have been burnt to the ground.
I'm sure the Albanians wanted to do this." He described these two sites
as "big symbols" for the local
Serbs. "Churches have always been one of the most important things to
protect."
Captain Bengtsson told Forum 18 that his contingent had stepped up its
protection for the two churches since the March violence, with fixed
posts outside both. He said his contingent also had responsibility
for two churches in Pristina. "St Nicholas' Church was burnt out during
the March attacks, the other is unfinished and not functioning, so we
assess the threat as not too high." However, he declined to say why
KFOR had failed to protect churches adequately in the March violence.
"I can't answer this - it is for a higher political level to comment,"
he told Forum 18.
A recent visitor to the Patriarchate of Pec (Peja) in western Kosovo,
which was guarded during the March violence by Italian KFOR troops,
told Forum 18 that it "probably survived the March attacks only because
the
nuns refused to leave and said they would burn with their church if it
came to that."
One Czech KFOR officer who took part in defending St Andreas Church in
the town of Podujevo in northern Kosovo during the unrest has described
the assault. "We were defending a Serb Orthodox church against a mob of
500 Albanians, but there were too many for us," Captain Jindrich
Plescher told the Prague Post. "When they broke through the wall
[around the church], we got orders to retreat. They smashed everything
inside, including our communications centre, made a big pile in front
and set it on fire. Then they turned
their attention to the adjacent Serb cemetery. They knocked over
tombstones, dug up the coffins and scattered the bones in them."
Fr Sava complained to Forum 18 of the "complete insecurity" facing
Kosovo's Serbs today. "The unreadiness
of KFOR troops at several locations to protect Orthodox churches and
monasteries, especially in the German
and French sectors where huge damage has been done, raised serious
concerns and doubts about whether KFOR will provide any protection at
all to other sites with Orthodox Christian monuments, or whether they
will be left for destruction." He said the Church has asked KFOR to
bring in more troops and to take wider
authority to protect not only the Serbian population, but its
sanctuaries also. As well as the destruction
of frescoes, icons and other church property, Fr Sava is worried about
the black market in stolen church
goods. "Since 1999, more than 10,000 icons and other church vessels
were destroyed or stolen for the purpose of selling them on the black
market." Many valuable books and treasures have been lost and, because
the
movement of Orthodox clergy has been restricted and no remains have
been found of items such as metal filigree crosses and other vessels,
the Orthodox fear that churches were first looted for the black market
and then burned down or otherwise destroyed. The KPS has arrested
several local Albanians who tried to sell church treasures on the black
market. The Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren has released
(below) a list, checked as accurately as
possible, of the 30 religious sites damaged or destroyed in March.
Prizren:
1. Ljeviska, Holy Mother of God, completed 14th century. Burned from
inside, heavy damage to frescoes from 12-14th centuries.
2. Church of Christ the Saviour - 14th century. Burned.
3. Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr (1856). Burned and
dynamited.
4. Church of St Nicholas (14 century). Burned from inside.
5. Church of St George (16th century). Burned from inside.
6. Church of Holy Sunday (14th century, later reconstructed). Burned
down.
7. Church of St Panteleymon (14th century, later reconstructed). Burned
down.
8. Church of Ss. Kozma and Damian (14th century, later reconstructed).
Burned down.
9. Church of Holy Sunday in Zivinjane, near Prizren. Dynamited.
10. Monastery of the Holy Archangels (14th century). Looted and burned
in the presence of German KFOR
soldiers.
Also: Orthodox Theological College. Burned down.
Also: Bishop's residence in Prizren and a Deacon's house. Both burned
down.
Orahovac (Rrahovec):
11. Church of Holy Sunday (1852), in Brnjaca. Set on fire and
destroyed, along with a parish home. Djakovica (Gjakova):
12. Church of the Resurrection of the Most Holy Mother of God (16-19th
century). Burned down, with the old and new parish homes, later
levelled to
the ground.
13. Church of St. Lazarus, in Piskote. Damaged in 1999, in 2004
completely
razed together with a nearby graveyard.
14. Church of St. Elijah, near Bistrazin. Damaged in 1999, in 2004
destroyed.
Also: two belfries of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity that
survived the initial destruction in 1999
, in 2004 razed to the ground. Since March 2004, the local population
have completely removed all the building remains using lorries, and the
municipality has opened a public park at the site.
Srbica (Skenderaj):
15. Devic Monastery (15th century). Burned to the ground, and graves of
saints opened up. Alongside the monastery, 20 adjoining buildings have
been looted and burned.
Pec (Peja):
16. Church of St. John the Baptist (Metropolitan seat with parish home
and apartments). Burned, but the walls are still standing.
17. Church of Most Holy Mother of God, in Belo Polje. Burned in 1999,
renovated in late 2003, set on fire in March 2004, but lightly damaged.
Urosevac (Ferizaj):
18. Cathedral Church of King Uros. Three hand grenades thrown at the
church, which was set on fire. 19 KFOR and UNMIK troops were wounded
attempting to protect the church severely. The structure is still
standing, under KFOR & UNMIK protection. The city graveyard was
severely damaged.
19. Church of St. Elijah, in Nekodim. Destroyed along with a graveyard
after KFOR troops left.
20. Church of Ss. Peter and Paul, in Talinovci. Set on fire and a local
graveyard destroyed.
21. Church of the Most Holy Mother of God, in Sovtovic. Destroyed with
a local graveyard. Kamenica (Kamenice):
22. Church in Donja Slapasnica. Stoned and broken into. Stimlje
(Shtime):
23. Church of St. Archangel Michael (1920). Set on fire, but it remains
standing. Pristina:
24. Church of St. Nicholas (early 19th century). Burned down along with
a parish home, many icons, and a
large historical church archive. Kosovo Polje (Fushe Kosove):
25. Church of St. Nicholas (1940). Burned and desecrated, but still
standing.
26. Church of St. Catherine, in Bresje. Looted and desecrated. Vucitrn
(Vushtrri):
27. Church of St. Elijah, (19th century). Looted and partially
destroyed in 1999, in 2004 completely burned down. Also destroyed was a
local parish home and a graveyard. Obilic (Obiliq):
28. Church of St. Michael, newly built. Set on fire with car tires,
still standing but severely damaged
due to the high temperature of the fire. Kosovska Mitrovica
(Mitrovice):
29. Church of St Sava, in the southern part of town. Set on fire twice.
Photos show the fire brigade extinguishing fire in neighbouring houses,
but not in the church. Parish home also burned down. Podujevo
(Podujeve):
30. Church of St Andreas, (1929). Initially defended by Czech KFOR
troops who were overwhelmed by the
numbers of the attacking mob. Church and graveyard now destroyed.
Belfry dynamited, as well as a church
yard wall. Graves dug out and bones scattered in neighbouring fields.
For more background information,
see Forum 18's latest Kosovo religious freedom survey at
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=137
6. NEW ITEMS FROM THE BOOK CENTER
Click here to
order the titles below
(SG) SPIRITUAL GEMS FROM THE
GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, by St. John Chrysostom, translated by Robert Charles
Hill.
A collection of 1-2 page selections on various subjects taken from the
Homilies on St. Matthew. A handy
volume with a subject and biblical citation index. 175pp. Paper e$14.00
JUST PUBLISHED:
THREE NEW BOOKS FROM THE 12 GREAT FEAST SERIES FOR CHILDREN
20pp. each. Full color Paper: $6.00 each
(ASC) THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
(PE) HOLY PENTECOST
(TRA) THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD