Ambassador Wisner visits Serbian Orthodox Church

KiM Info Newsletter 21-04-06

Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch's Residence, Belgrade, April 17, 2006

Acting on behalf of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle, His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral today received the special envoy of the U.S. State Department for negotiations on the future status of Kosovo, His Excellency Ambassador Frank Wisner in the Patriarch's residence in Belgrade. The Serbian Orthodox Church delegation also included Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, Bishop Joanikije of Budimlje and Niksic and Father Irinej (Dobrijevic), consultant for international and inter-church relations to the Holy Synod of Bishops and director of the Office of the Holy Assembly of Bishops' Kosovo and Metohija Committee. Also present at the meeting were the U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade, Mr. Michael Polt, and Mr. Gustavo Delgado, a political advisor in the U.S. Embassy.

Ambassador Wisner asked Metropolitan Amfilohije to convey greetings to His Holiness and congratulations on the occasion of the greatest of Christian holidays, the Resurrection.

Having visited the institutions of the European Union in Brussels, Macedonia, Pristina and the government in Belgrade, Ambassador Wisner told Metropolitan Amfilohije that it is very important for the Church to stay and survive in Kosovo and Metohija, and to develop its life there. The position of the U.S. Government is that the Church should have a role in the negotiating process on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija in order to protect her rights and her monasteries in holy shrines both internationally and through local laws.

Metropolitan Amfilohije said that Kosovo and Metohija is the greatest worry of our church. He emphasized that "the Church, by her nature, desires truth and justice for all people living in Kosovo and Metohija" and that toward that end the Church is ready to assist in finding a just solution for an issue that is not the concern of only one country but of the entire region.

Thanking Ambassador Wisner for his interest and concern for the rights of the Church and people in Kosovo and Metohija, Metropolitan Amfilohije said that he hoped that "the United States would work on reaching a just and long-term solution for Kosovo and Metohija in order to protect the existence and rights of the Serbs and all others living there". He emphasized, however, that the Church and people are not encouraged by the fact that to this day Serbian Orthodox holy shrines and cemeteries are being destroyed and desecrated, as in the case of the cemetery in Pec whose entrance is blocked by a garbage dump.

Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina presented the ten basic principles of the Serbian Orthodox Church with regard to the resolution of the future status of Kosovo and Metohija. He highlighted the four basic requests: the return of the expelled, the restoration of destroyed holy shrines and sites, the return of property, and decentralization, i.e. local self-administration.

Recapitulating some of the key points mentioned by Metropolitan Amfilohije and Bishop Grigorije, Father Irinej (Dobrijevic) said that the same requests were made by the official delegation of the Serbian Orthodox Church before representatives of the U.S. Administration and the United Nations, and that these had been very well received. He then presented several concrete proposals on how these requests could be implemented.
Extending his holiday greetings for Pascha, Metropolitan Amfilohije presented Ambassador Wisner with the book Endowments of Kosovo, which outlines the history of all the Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija and describes their importance for Christian culture and spirituality of the Balkans and Europe.