Pascha festively celebrated in Kosovo and Metohija

KiM Info Newsletter 24-04-06

KIM Info Service, Decani, April 23, 2006

The feast of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was festively celebrated throughout Kosovo and Metohija today. In Gracanica Monastery His Grace Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren served the vigil service and Holy Hierarchal Liturgy with the concelebration of the clergy and priest-monks of the Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija. A large number of faithful from Gracanica and all of central Kosovo attended the services, once again gathering this year at the monastery to celebrate this most joyous of Christian holidays with their bishop.

In Visoki Decani Monastery Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan served the paschal vigil service and Holy Hierarchal Liturgy with the hieromonks of Decani. The service, which began exactly at midnight with a formal religious procession around the church and the reading of the paschal Gospel, continued until five o'clock in the morning with Holy Liturgy where almost all the faithful in attendance partook in communion. In addition to pilgrims who came to the monastery from various parts of Serbia, Serbs from the returnee villages near Pec also attended the religious service. Adding to the joy was the presence of some fifty Romanian soldiers and policemen serving in Kosovo and Metohija, who together with the their Italian and other colleagues from KFOR and UNMIK police also attended the service. Parts of the ceremony were periodically served in the Romanian language, and the church echoed alternatingly with the joyous greeting Hristos Vaskrse - Hristos Inviat (Christ Is Risen).

Bishop Teodosije read the paschal epistle of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle, whose message to the faithful was "that after crucifixion comes resurrection, and that there is no joy of new life without the tomb from which dawns life in Jesus Christ". His Holiness and the Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church called on the faithful in Kosovo and Metohija to remain true to the covenants of their holy ancestors and to survive in their centuries-old homes despite all difficulties.

VISIT OF HIGH INTERNATIONAL AND KOSOVO OFFICIALS TO DECANI MONASTERY

Around noon Visoki Decani Monastery received a visit from UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen, who was accompanied by KFOR commander general Giuseppe Valotto, Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu and Decani mayor Nazmi Selmanaj. Representatives of the diplomatic missions in Pristina, including the U.S.A., Russia, Germany and Italy also came to the monastery, as well as representatives of OSCE and the EU. Among the guests who also came to wish a happy Pascha were SLKM representatives Oliver Ivanovic and Randjel Nojkic. Bishop Teodosije received the high guests and showed them the church before they were served in the monastery library. On behalf of the UN International Mission Mr. Petersen wished a happy holiday to the monastery brotherhood and to all Orthodox Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu also conveyed his own holiday best wishes on the occasion of Pascha with the wish that all citizens of Kosovo live in peace and tolerance. President Sejdiu expressed his special respect toward Visoki Decani Monastery, as well as toward all other Orthodox holy shrines in Kosovo, which, he said, "are the wealth of all citizens of Kosovo".

Bishop Teodosije expressed his sincere thanks to the international and Kosovo officials for their holiday wishes, emphasizing that "the feast of the Resurrection is the feast of joy, hope and optimism, which inspires all of us to make even greater joint efforts in the spirit of understanding and tolerance in order to ensure a peaceful future and dignified life for everyone in Kosovo, especially those who are endangered". Bishop Teodosije mentioned that it is necessary for Kosovo institutions and UNMIK to give stronger support to Serb returnees who are slowly coming back to their homes. He specifically mentioned the Serbs in Klina, Bresje, Lipljan, Velika Hoca and Orahovac, who are demonstrating great courage and determination to stay and survive in their own homes. Bishop Teodosije said that the visit of Kosovo President is an extended hand of support and presented him with the books Kosovo Crucified and The March Pogrom, documents that talk about the persecution and suffering of the people and holy shrines, with the wish that nothing similar is ever repeated. "There have always been those who destroy and those who built. Today it is up to us all to make the joint effort to restore what has been destroyed and bring back the pre-war splendor of these holy shrines."

After the discussion in the monastery library and the departure of President Sejdiu, the international guests joined the formal paschal banquet together with the faithful and other guests.

CELEBRATION OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST IN GORIOC MONASTERY

The atmosphere was festive today in Gorioc Monastery near Istok where Hieromonk Danilo (Kandic) of Decani served Holy Liturgy. For the first time in years the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord was attended by the first Serb returnees to Istok and Djurakovac (11 Serbs from Istok and 17 from Djurakovac) who are expecting to move into a collective center in the near future while waiting for completion of the restoration of their homes.

PASCHAL LITURGY IN DEVIC MONASTERY

As in the previous two years the Resurrection of Christ was also celebrated in Devic Monastery in a church whose walls are still covered by soot and derisive graffiti from the March 2004 pogrom when the church and the monastery residence halls were torched. Protosingel Makarije (Ristic) of Decani served the paschal vigil service and Holy Liturgy. For security reasons, this year there was no faithful, who in previous years came to this holy shrine for Pascha and other feasts. Despite this the Devic nuns, full of paschal hope, filled the church with their joyful chanting.