Posted on 04/26/2008 9:44:36 AM PDT by BabaYaga
Patriarch calls for preservation of Kosovo covenant 26 April 2008 | 18:13 | Source: B92, Beta BELGRADE -- On the eve of the greatest Christian holiday, His Holiness Patriarch Pavle's Easter message to the members of the Serbian Orthodox Church was read.
At the beginning of the Holy Week, the patriarch called on the faithful to fulfill their Kosovo covenant, "because Kosovo is not merely a question of Serb territory, but of the Serb spiritual being, because we were born, grew, lived and matured with Kosovo and Metohija as individuals, and as a nation. We have lived and died by the Kosovo covenant".
"In these days of Paschal joy, in this time of divine mercy toward all and everybody, we cannot but remember the human injustice and violence of the mighty of this world inflicted upon our Kosovo and Metohija, our Serbia and the entire Serbian nation," the message said.
"Having Kosovo and Metohija in our hearts and our unceasing care for our brothers and sisters and all those that suffer there, having a living Kosovo and Metohija within ourselves day and night, no one will take them away from us. The Homeland is the heart of man, says one poet. Within our hearts we have placed Kosovo and Metohija. We call upon all Orthodox Serbs to fulfill the Kosovo covenant in full, and that is the Holy Lazar’s testament," the Easter message continued.
"If we complete that covenant no one will take Kosovo and Metohija away from us, neither in this nor that age, just as no one could have taken Holy Jerusalem from the Jewish people. We call upon all of you, beginning with politicians and scholars down to the most humble and youngest sons and daughters of our Homeland, that with their work and honorable lives we be deserving of and preserve Kosovo and Metohija before God," the patriarch wrote.
Kosovo, the message said, is an integral part of every Serb's life.
"Knowing this," it continued, "the creators of this historic injustice wished to inflict the deepest possible wound, and unspeakable pain and suffering on us".
"Let scholars with their scientific work defend Kosovo and Metohija; let artists with their creativeness express the beauty and the essence of our Kosovo and Metohija; let athletes vow their successes to Kosovo and Metohija; let every parent have Kosovo and Metohija be a first word to whisper in his newborn’s ears; let every farmer dedicate his first hour of labor to Kosovo and Metohija; let every worker dedicate his first hour of work to Kosovo and Metohija; let every politician dedicate his first political thought to Kosovo and Metohija, let every pastor offer his first prayer to God for Kosovo and Metohija!," the message said.
"Just as the Psalmist of old sings of the unjustly taken and destroyed Jerusalem, we too must sing in the spirit of the Kosovo covenant: If we forget you Kosovo, if we forget you Metohija, let then the right hand of the Lord forget me! Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not put forward Kosovo and Metohija as the beginning of my joy," the patriarch said.
The message sent special greetings to the members of the Serb Diaspora in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
"We greet and call them to unite in our Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, that they never again let others divide them and make them quarrel among themselves."
"We also greet our brothers and sisters in the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. We greet the entire Church of God spread throughout the world and among people of good will. We call all to peace, unity and a good witness before all those outside," the patriarch said.
The message ends with the words, "Christ Is Risen! Indeed He Is Risen!"
EASTER GREETINGS!
Armenian: Christos harjav i merelotz! Orhniale harutjun Christosi!
Coptic: Pikhirstof aftonf! Khen o methni aftonf!
English: Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!
Georgian: Kriste aghsdga! Cheshmaritad aghsdga!
Greek: Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!
Hebrew: Ha Mashiyach qam! Ken hoo qam!
Latin: Christus resurrexit! Vere resurrexit!
Rumanian: Hristos a Inviat! Adeverat a Inviat!
Russian: Khristos voskres! Voistinu voskres!
Serbian: Hristos Vaskrse! Vaistinu Vaskrse!
Ukranian: Kristos Voskres! Voistinu voskres!
Христос васкрсе (Hristos vaskrse) Christ is risen!
Χριστοs Ανεστη (Khristoz Anēstē) Christ has risen
Orthodox Easter ping!
Matthew 5
9"Blessed are the peacemakers, for (L)they shall be called sons of God.
...
43"(BD)You have heard that it was said, '(BE)YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR (BF)and hate your enemy.'
44"But I say to you, (BG)love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45so that you may be (BH)sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Luke 6
27"But I say to you who hear, (AD)love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28bless those who curse you, (AE)pray for those who mistreat you.
1 John 4
20(AZ)If someone says, "I love God," and (BA)hates his brother, he is a (BB)liar; for (BC)the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, (BD)cannot love God whom he has not seen.
This “Easter Message” only mentions Christ once, and then only in a greeting to “the Serb Diaspora;” and then only in a call for unity around the “Kosovo covenant.”
DG
>> “Eastern message: Next year in Prishtina!”
Where is that found, in the Bible?
James 4
1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
I guess you didn`t bother wahtching that video carefuly. Let me try one more time / with story about monks from High Decani monastery in south-east Kosovo, dedicated to Christ Pantocrator built in first half of 14 th century by king Stefan Decanski - and also his mausoleum. It is the bigest mediavel church in Balkans and “one of the most valued examples of the so-called Palaeologan renaissance in Byzantine painting” and “a valuable record of the life in the 14th century” (UNESCO protected monument, that World Heritage Commitee put on Danger list - along the others in Kosovo):
Kosovo, Serbia - “ The Glory Of High Decani “ 1 Of 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_V1WhCc-w4
Kosovo, Serbia - “ The Glory Of High Decani “ 2 Of 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxePrSWAB6g
” ...
Behind the barbed wires, protected by the KFOR troops and rarely visited by civilian population, this monastic community, nevertheless, lives rich and peaceful life, spreading a “good news”, the news ever so important for our troubled time: that the true spiritual life and the ultimate diplomacy is “diplomacy of the heart”. It is given in our ability to forgive, to show compassion, and to love one another.
... “
>> “I guess you didn`t bother wahtching that video carefuly.”
You are correct. I did not watch it because it has no relevance to the issue at hand. OTOH, The scriptures I posted are very relevant, but you apparently did not read them, at all.
The Serbs want (believe they should have) that monastery, and all of Kosovo. Have they ever ASKED God for it? Along with repentance (in sackcloth and ashes) of the ethnic hatreds in which they have indoctrinated their children from birth?
Please note that I am not taking the side of either of the other two (or more) Balkan ethnicities. They are no better.
“James 4:
3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” [Your “lust” to feed your ethnic hatred.]
DG
“Have they ever ASKED God for it? Along with repentance (in sackcloth and ashes) of the ethnic hatreds in which they have indoctrinated their children from birth?”
“Your “lust” to feed your ethnic hatred”
Jesus! Those words are not me from the outside, but you from inside.
This is very bad thing to write and also not very nice way to say Happy Easter! An argumentum ad personam, so I do not buy this!
In my family there have been Serbs, Croats, Germans. They suffered lot from fascism during WWII (google out JASENOVAC!) and after the war my grandfather married a Croatian woman (so much about “indoctrination”). I don`t care what nationality is behind yours DG nick but I do care about right or wrong! It shows you don`t know much about history or present times in my country or you don`t want to know, which is much worse and that makes you not on one, two but biased! Listen to the words of Decani monks so maybe some time you could quote their words also!
In the meantime, you could check out what a few “westerners” (one American and one German who actually served in Kosovo) got to say about this matter that seem that “has no relevance to the issue”. It may save you from your prejudices.
Serbian Orthdox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIeHB6ZHsjo
Kosovo , Serbia: church set in flames by muslim Albanians 04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkgHkxIfgBc
Enjoy
An argumentum ad personam, so I do not buy this!
No, I had been talking about “the Serbs.” Since you appeared to be expressing the Serb position (regarding Kosovo) I used the rhetorical device of writing “you,” to mean “you” (personally) AND any other people (including the entirety of the Serbian Orthodox Church) who also express this position. I am grieviously at fault for assuming that everyone would recognize this common device.
In order to preclude further misunderstandings, I will undertake to use the following formulation:
“SSS ethnicity” shall mean all persons who adhere to the concept of “Kosovo covenant” and/or “Greater Serbia.”
“AAA ethnicity” shall mean all persons who adhere to Albanian ethnic concepts.
“CCC ethnicity” shall mean all persons who adhere to Croation ethnic concepts.
The same can be used for Romanians, Bulgarians, and Greeks, if necessary.
This is very bad thing to write and also not very nice way to say Happy Easter!
Oddly enough, That is exactly what I would say about the “Easter message” you posted.
It says NOTHING about Jesus; about how He died so that we might live. NOTHING about How God LOVED us so much that He gave His only begotten Son. NOTHING about the main issue of “Easter,” that the same Son of God was ressurected showing us that WE can be resurrected, if we follow Him. NOTHING about what that same Son of God COMMANDED:
John 13:34
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
I don`t care what nationality is behind yours DG nick
I am an AMERICAN. I love my country. I think you (personally) and all “SSS ethincity,” and AAAs and CCCs, etc. should also love your own countries. The difference is that almost nobody in America hates the Germans, or the Japanese, or the Russians; nor do we wish to take what is theirs.
but I do care about right or wrong!
So, do I. And I say that it is WRONG for an “Easter message” to be, not a message of the risen Christ, but instead a message of ethnocentricity: “They have got what is ours. And we will not rest until we get it back!”
It shows you don`t know much about history or present times in my country or you don`t want to know,
I already KNOW way too much. The SSSs believe that they are good, and that AAAs and CCCs are bad. “They stole our ____ a thousand years ago. AND, they have committed atrocities and genocide against us.” And, the AAAs and the CCCs have the same ethnocentric world view against the other two.
which is much worse and that makes you not on one, two but biased!
Well yes, I AM biased: one of the grave challenges we here in America face is that all too many churches/denominations have been infiltrated by those who do not know God. Instead of the love Christ commanded, they preach HATE. They teach that people who hold to different opinions, or have a different skin color or ethnicity, are EVIL. They preach that it is a GOOD thing to HATE those other people.
This is WRONG, and it is damaging our country. If it continues, the US will become “Balkanized.” Thus, since we have plenty of our own troubles, we do not need to become involved in the ethnic hatreds of the original Balkans.
DG
I know this won’t win me any friends here, but to me since the Serbs let Albanians move in over the years and let them become the majority there, they lost it. It’s just like the “Native Americans” here, and the Greeks in Asia Minor. It would be silly now to claim they should reclaim these long lost lands. Turkey will never be Greece again, and the Indians here will never get back there land. So it is, and the Serbs should accept that they failed to guard their territory, just like we might have to someday get over in our Southwest. If they wanted to keep the land, they should have defended it in the first place.
>>”It would be silly now to claim they should reclaim these long lost lands.”
I think that I understand your point. “The Balkans,” and “Balkanization,” are a hiss and a byword which also describe other real world conflicts. It is not solely the Serbs: the Croatians, the Albanians, the Greeks, the Bulgarians, the Romanians, et. al., have struggled mightily over their mutual boundaries for thousands of years; and they have brought forth a mouse of perpetual enmity. Each has conquered (stolen) areas in the dim past, parts of the lands which now are incorporated into the nation states of another ethnic group.
When a rational adult looks at this situation, he soon realizes that it is an utter absurdity to imagine that ALL parties could be satisfied in their “historic” claims or yearnings. So, in order to keep their children from seeing this absurdity (and trying to live in peace with their neighbors) each ethnicity teaches their babies that they, alone, are “good,” and that the other claimants (ethnicities) are therefore “evil.”
Furthermore, the inhabitants of the Balkans are not the only examples of ethnic enmity. You mentioned the Turks and the Greeks. The Germans have felt entitled to parts of France, Poland, Hungary, etc. France and England have mutually stolen each other’s territory. The old Iraq felt entitled to Kuwait. Pakistan and India feel entitled to Kashmir. Hutus and Tutsis are exemplary of the various tribal hatreds in Africa.
Yet, all of these entitlements (and many others) have the same fatal flaw: whatever lands each nation/ethnicity/tribe now possess (and that which they lust after) ONLY belongs to them, BECAUSE they took it from someone else, by force of arms. Therefore, claims of ownership (”We used to own ____ but they took it from us!”) based on the principal of prior ownership must fail; because other prior ownership claims extend back into prehistory.
DG
Whoa !! Take it easy DG !!
SSS ethnicity ?! What does that mean ?! Easier for you to be distanced ? Or what ? Personally I think it is easier for you to talk along these lines because, although you are educated person, you do not know allmost anything about these matters at hand, apart you saw on CNN that is, or some book you maybe found time to read sitting in your favourite chair….all I can say to you….is….THERE IS MORE TO IT THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE !!If you really want to be considered serious collocutor, I am more than willing to tell you some more !! And I am not cynical, I really want people to understand as much as possible !! Let me return to ‘’SSS’’ thing….and ‘’ GREATER SERBIA’’…We are defending thorugh this media our GOD given right to have and to posses and to live in free country. By defending this right we are coming to you and people like you who call us or idea we are defending as GREATER SERBIA thing ?! Let me ask you like this : Perhaps one sunny day some folks from somewhere in USA decide to secede….on which grounds, I think it doesn’t matter at all…..and in the process of doing so, some countries offered and give them diplomatic, logistic and some other help. And thus, after a while they ( that secede folks) decide to go public on international organisations scale and ask for recognition. And some countries decide it is ok to recognize them as independent country….WHAT WOULD U.S.A. DO ABOUT THAT ? WHAT WOULD YOU THINK ABOUT PEOPLE FROM 12000 KM AWAY, WHO WOULD START TO TELL YOU, IT IS O.K. FOR THEM ( THOSE SECEDE PEOPLE) TO BE INDEPENDENT !! …SLAPPING YOU, ALONG THE WAY, WITH SOME VERY WELL KNOWN MARKS AS YOU JUST DID !!
Which brings me to your comment about Easter message from our Patriarch. Small reminder for you : THIS IS ONLY PART OF EASTER MESSAGE, you know, as the title of this article is telling us – a excerpt which is dedicated to preserving christianity in Serbia`s south-western province of Kosovo and Metohija.. And the guy is Serbian Ortodox church Patriarch, you know. Of course his message will in one part reflect on recent and rather painfull events we’ve experienced recently…such as sedetion of part of our country, …But, I suggest you to see this message first, then come here and lecture me…
You say you love your country. Why cannot I love mine too ? Is it forbiden for one to stand and fight for it on top of one’s lunges if one is not an AMERICAN ?! Is America untouchable? Is it possible you can say this? I have right, you know, to express my discontent by recent events and I did not expected to be called SSS thing…..and please, please, do not talk generally, that in America there is none whom hates or at least diesliks another nation. It hurts my intelligence.
‘’Ethnocentricity’’
Oh, that was,mmm, rather good ! But let me remind you….again, this is part of Serbia we are talking, here, now, we want back !!We are bringing up our children to be honest and fair people ones they are adults. I, for my sins, was first time facing ethnic hate when one old ustasa said to my grandfather and me ( I was 5 years old at a time ) : ‘’I killed too few Serbs…I should’ve killed you more !! ‘’ Do not dare to compare my nation to the other nations (not whole nations as that but schavinists) which annihilated other nations for its Lebensraum !! It is not right !!
And, my dear CNN watcher, Siptari ( you call them Albanians ) did not preach HATE, they practisized it (as you may see in that video I sent you) !! You are lucky, you have churches in your country, on Kosovo there are so few left. Because those scums ruined or burned to the ground 300 of them !!And let me tell you this too : there were not slaves in my country, EVER !!! And there were not war fought for liberation of slaves as well !! Maybe you should ask some black man what KKK stand for and after obtaining an answer you should come here and tell me again about non hating people in your ‘’ home of the brave’’ country !!
AS I HAVE SAID IT……I AM MORE THAN WILLING TO HELP YOU TO OBTAIN SOME KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MY CONUTRY. FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME !
I`m not sure if it`s part of “way too much know”, but I tell you now that the ful name of the province is – Black bird field (Kosovo) and Lands of Church (Metohija), that Albanians are mostley illegal immigrant who came during communistic regime and got their inDependancy with help of your government and Saudi money etc, etc, off topic.
“So it is, and the Serbs should accept that they failed to guard their territory”
The outcome of event maybe telling you so, but in fact Serbs were STOPED to guard their territory (Kosovo, by the way, is much more then just some territory) as during the communist regime (Aleksandar Rankovic during that time started to take care of that situation, but he and his collaborators – all Serbs were forcly retired) as well in 1998/9 (at the time for “higher” goal of turning public eyes from Clintons sex scandal).
“like we might have to someday get over in our Southwest”
Someday, if it by any chance came to that point of losing Southwest, I`m sure you wouldn`t stand to that faint hearted statement, being indifferent of protecting your country law, constitution and people. Would you say the same thing for european countries attacked in WWI and WWII to say “they failed to protect country”. Unfortunately your sentences confirm my theory that what we learned from history is that we didn`t learn anything, so it does repeat (in different perspectives and times) and slaping us with same dillemas, fiers, fights, heroes and villans, oppressors and victims, in hard way searching for higher evolution of menkind that in the peak of catharsic events we also find the best values of it. Serbia (in or out of Yugoslavia) was the founder of League of nations and United Nations and member for long time. Those organisations were created to protect countries of futur dividing, ethincal fightings, wars and changing borders and with this as you see it “minor incident somewere in the Balkans” is changing what was guaranteed after WWII. Kosovo is not part of Yugoslavia, but Serbia, it is not like Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro or Serbia which has the right to be independent (although some of them were never that – like Slovenia or Macedonia). US is on the wrong side of this one.
What Would Bismarck Do?
In the Balkans, 1914 is never far away.
by William S. Lind
http://www.amconmag.com/2008/2008_03_24/article2.html
With this - everal decades after the Congress of Berlin, when Bismarck was asked what would start the next war in Europe, his reply was:
Europe today is a powder keg and the leaders are like men smoking in an arsenal…A single spark will set off an explosion that will consume us all…I cannot tell you when that explosion will occur, but I can tell you where…Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans will set it off.
Like I wrote above, It`s not topic of politics, but religion. I agree that that part of SOC Patriarch Paul`s epistle is call both for political, but also for essential – for saving of people, cultural and religious monuments, preservation of what Serbs call it “Sacret land of Kosovo and Metohija”. The epistle is very long, there`s no translation in english of the whole message in this what I`ve posted, but I can tell you that major part of it is dedicated to Easter, meanings and symbolics of happiest day for Christians, to Christ`s words and deeds.
Since you`ve been brutaly misinformed of this issue :-), I will bring to you the whole text of Serbian Orthodox Churche Patriarch Paul`s epistle:
http://www.spc.yu/eng/serbian_orthodox_church_her_spiritual_children_pascha_2008
Serbian Orthodox Church is with their people in good and bad throughout the long centuries of struggle for justice and freedom – it had a major role in preserving christiandom during turkish occupation in 14-19 century and also in WWI and WWII as any spiritual leaders would helped their people in bad times. Unfortunately, during turkish aggresion in Bosnia for centuries, bosnian church (also orthodox, but different in organisation of clerics, among scientists and historians called heretic church), failed in preserving religious and ethnical core of most of their people – Serbs and Croat, so many of them converted into Islam surching way out of misery and sufferings, bringing us today what is known as Bosnians – slavic muslims, although majority of Bosnia is inhabited by christian Serbs and Croats).
Today we selebrated Easter, it was beautiful day in Belgrade, I took a long walk with my family mostley along most popular cultural and historical site in Belgrade – Kalemegdan fortress (today with parks, museums, restaurants, monuments and zoo) which was built by Romans, Serbs, Austrians, Hungarians, Turks and Serbs again and got name Battle Hill – Kalemegdan (in one exellent book I`ve read two years ago which talks about historical underground buildings in Belgrade, somebody was quoted that Belgrade holds 2 million living and 6 milion dead people). Among various visiters today I heard german, english, bulgarian and franch people speaking. Why am I telling you this? Instead of critisizing Balkans from your sitting chair I invite to visit my country and White City (Beograd) so you could let your knowledge out of that cocoon.
“I already KNOW way too much.”
Your words are telling me quite the opposite. You found one stand, which is obviosly a compilation of others perceptions took out of context, and stick to it. By the way you continue to talk with me in wrong terms, generelizing the nations with words of ethnocentristic, nationalistic, bad mannered is not showing your knoledge but prejudicies. Knowledge without understanding and empathy, wrapped up in cynical stand of “us and them”, nations SSS vs AAA vs CCC, is leading this conversation nowhere and it`s only good for “after lunch” distant and cold chating with a dring and cigar. And where people just talk out some “all-known facts” without thinking and understanding it`s just not case for me. Knowing and understending (which is of the most importance) things make somebody “know way too much”, although in my opinion, nobody can know everyhing. One great thinker said long time ago “I know that I don`t know anything”.
By the grace of God
Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church – to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Paschal greeting:
CHRIST IS RISEN!
“Today all is filled with light,
heaven and earth and the lower regions;
therefore, let all creation celebrate the resurrection of Christ,
for in Him we are established.”
With these words of the great church hymnographer we congratulate you all on the Feast Day of Christ’s resurrection, and greet you, dear spiritual children, with the greeting,
CHRIST IS RISEN!
After Great and Holy Friday, the greatest tragedy of mankind, but also the glory of God when man became a merciless judge of God’s Love, when man judged and killed the God-Man Christ, when a lie, deceit, and delusion triumphed over the crucified Christ, when heaven and earth and the lower regions became ashamed because of the evil act of mankind, and when the darkness enwrapped everything – behold the Day of the Passover of the God-Man Christ from death to life, from the darkness of the tomb into the light of the Day. Behold the Day above all days, the Time above all times, in which He has shattered the chains of sin, death, and the devil with which mankind and all of nature were imprisoned. Behold the day of our freedom and joy! With the Resurrection of Christ, everything and all is filled with a new light of life, a light in which we are established. Therefore, let us rejoice and be glad in the Lord’s Pascha, the Feast Day of freedom and life. Those imprisoned by darkness most of all rejoice in the freedom of light. With the Resurrection of Christ, the centuries old injustice brought upon man by sin and death has been conquered. The holy apostle Paul, overtaken by the resurrectional delight, victoriously asks: O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory? They are no more! For the sting of death has been broken, and Hades has been emptied, and the prisoners of Hades have been freed.
The light of the world has shone forth from the tomb like the Sun, just as before the passion it had shone on Mount Tabor. Let all creation rejoice in the Resurrection of Christ, for through its might the weak and helpless become strong and powerful. In the Resurrection of Christ the entire universe has been changed. This is why the Resurrection is a new creation of the world and a new birth of man, this time from the very Life which the Resurrected Christ bestows upon the world and man. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” says the Lord of Himself.
The Resurrected Lord appeared to the myrrhbearing women and the frightened apostles, who out of fear of the Jews had run away. And gathering them again around Himself, He fortified their faith by saying to them: Do not fear, I have conquered the world! — the world which only a few days earlier had condemned Him and crucified Him on the Cross. In like manner, He today and always gathers all of us around Himself and says to us: do not be afraid, for I have conquered the world! Having seen and experienced the glory of Him resurrected, let us glorify Him and proclaim to the world: Christ is risen, O ye people! Christ is Risen, let us glorify Him! Christ is Risen, believe O ye people, for “we proclaim that which our eyes have seen, and our hands have touched” as the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian says, “so that you too believing may have eternal life”. Our faith is the faith of the cross-resurrection experience. We know, and this is why we believe. The knowledge obtained through experience is the greatest confirmation of faith.
Before his suffering, burial and resurrection, our Lord brought three of his disciples to the peak of a very high mountain. That was Mount Tabor. On this mountain, in the mystery of His transfiguration, He revealed to them the mystery of His divine nature within Him, the nature which they and the entire world would come to know through experience after His resurrection. The manifestation of the divine nature and glory was accompanied with the light of the uncreated grace which is in Christ and which the world has received through the Resurrection of Christ. The world without Christ is a world of darkness. The world with the resurrected Christ is a world of eternal light, the light which enlightens every part of our soul and our entire being. This is why we are children of the light. From Him Who is the Light of Life we have received light to shine forth in this world. This is why the Lord says to us: “May your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify our Father Who is in heaven”.
Only the resurrected Christ is the cornerstone of our faith and of our life. At the same time He is the cornerstone and divine-human head of our holy Church. Another stone has no one laid, nor can anyone lay. When the disciples asked St. John the Baptist whether the Christ was the One which was to come or whether they should wait for another one, he said to them: His sandal strap I am not worthy to loose! The holy prophet, forerunner, and baptizer of the Lord St. John said this — he who laid his hand upon the head of the Savior. If then he who is the greatest ever born of woman said this, how is it then that somebody can proclaim himself the visible head of the Church, infallible and vicar of the Son of God here on earth? God forbid! Our Holy Church with all her priests and the faithful people stands firmly in the Christ-Resurrected Faith of the holy prophets, apostles, martyrs and saints. At the same time, we are the Church to which God gives strength to be a Church of dialogue with all people and nations, calling all of them to the enlightenment of with the light of the Resurrected Christ. We do not withdraw within ourselves, nor do we shut in Christ within the narrow confines of our mind. On the contrary, we shine the light upon the world and witness the Truth to others, as did the holy apostles, saints, and martyrs. This is how the world recognizes that we are Christ’s, for the Holy Apostle Paul says: “I was everything to all in order to gain somebody for the Gospel of Christ…”
What is the resurrection of Christ for us who live 2000 years after it happened? Is it only a recollection or memory? Is it only a celebration, or is it something more and something deeper? The grace of Christ’s resurrection is the inexhaustible fountain of the salvation of man and of the world in every place and age. It is the absolute and complete change of man and of the world that the God-Man Christ has brought with his coming and resurrection. So then, Christ’s Resurrection has the same and equal strength and power for us today, 20 centuries later, as it did for His contemporaries. The Holy Apostle Paul assures us that we eternally live with Christ, for “…through one Man’s righteous act [that is, the resurrection] the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” (Romans 5:18) “…Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him…likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6: 9-11). The past, the present, and the future have been saved by the Resurrection.
In these days of Paschal joy, in this time of divine mercy toward all and everybody, we cannot but remember the human injustice and violence of the mighty of this world inflicted upon our Kosovo and Metohija, our Serbia and the entire Serbian nation. Kosovo and Metohija are an integral part of every Serb’s life, as every Serb is a part of Kosovo and Metohija. Knowing this, the creators of this historic injustice wanted to inflict the deepest possible wound, unbearable pain and suffering, the pain and suffering which directs us to the single, salvific suffering on Golgotha of our Lord.
Kosovo and Metohija is not only a question of Serbian territory. Above all it is a question of our spiritual beings, because we were born, grew, lived and matured with Kosovo and Metohija as individuals and as a nation. We have lived and died by the Kosovo testament: “The earthly kingdom is transient, while the heavenly kingdom is forever!” This is why the question of Kosovo and Metohija is so vitally, psychologically and anthropologically connected with every one of us. This is well known to the mighty of this world, and this is why they collectively wish to hurt and punish the Serbian Orthodox people; they wish to break and crush them in order to make out of us a defaced mass ready to fall down on our knees before them, surrendering to their will and manipulation. By submitting ourselves to Christ’s will and His teachings, we bring light upon their unlawful acts, their hypocrisy, similar in many ways to Pilate’s washing of hands in the blood of the Righteous One.
Having Kosovo and Metohija in our hearts and our unceasing care for our brothers and sisters and all those that suffer there, having a living Kosovo and Metohija within ourselves day and night, no one will take them away from us. The Homeland is the heart of man, says one poet. Within our hearts we have placed Kosovo and Metohija. We call upon all Orthodox Serbs to fulfill the Kosovo covenant in full, and that is the Holy Lazar’s testament. If we complete that covenant no one will take Kosovo and Metohija away from us, neither in this nor that age, just as no one could have taken Holy Jerusalem from the Jewish people. We call upon all of you, beginning with politicians and scholars down to the most humble and youngest sons and daughters of our Homeland, that with their work and honorable lives we be deserving of and preserve Kosovo and Metohija before God.
Let scholars with their scientific work defend Kosovo and Metohija; let artists with their creativeness express the beauty and the essence of our Kosovo and Metohija; let athletes vow their successes to Kosovo and Metohija; let every parent have Kosovo and Metohija be a first word to whisper in his newborn’s ears; let every farmer dedicate his first hour of labor to Kosovo and Metohija; let every worker dedicate his first hour of work to Kosovo and Metohija; let every politician dedicate his first political thought to Kosovo and Metohija, let every pastor offer his first prayer to God for Kosovo and Metohija!
This is the call to the unending battle that will be well pleasing to God, and our prayer will be heard by God, for we do not give the question of Kosovo and Metohija into the hands of deceiving people and their interests, but rather to God and His judgment. Just as the Psalmist of old sings of the unjustly taken and destroyed Jerusalem, we too must sing in the spirit of the Kosovo covenant: If we forget you Kosovo, if we forget you Metohija, let then the right hand of the Lord forget me! Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not put forward Kosovo and Metohija as the beginning of my joy.
Dear spiritual children, we live in a hard and critical time of globalization, in a time of the abolishing of basic human rights: the right of man to life; the right of a baby to be born; the right of parents to raise and guide their children; the right of a mother to be a loving and caring mother of her children and a wife to her husband, the right of man to be a man! A strange civilization of globalization is being created according to the measure of deformed moral values, that is, immorality, without the yeast which gives human life eternal meaning. Such a civilization which is in direct opposition to the Resurrected Christ and His Gospel cannot survive. Being mindful of this, let us be wise and cautious when we approach this strange table of worldly offers and delights. Let us choose wisely only that which is worthy of Christ; let us choose that which is worthy of our calling and dignity. Let us refuse all that is of pseudo-civilization, distorted and inhuman, just as Christ refused all the offers of the Devil: if you bow down to me all this that you see will be yours! We know the true answer: It is written: serve only God, and to Him only bow down!
We especially greet our brothers in the diaspora: in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Europe. We greet and call them to unite in our Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, that they never again let others divide them and make them quarrel among themselves.
We also greet our brothers and sisters in the Republika Srpska and Bosna and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. We greet the entire Church of God spread throughout the world and among people of good will. We call all to peace, unity and a good witness before all those outside. Let us renew ourselves with the resurrected Christ, and let us shine with good and virtue in this world. Gathered at the Divine Liturgy, in good witnessing of the Truth, let brother embrace brother, let us greet one another, heaven, and earth, with the all-joyous greeting:
Christ Is Risen!
Indeed He Is Risen!
But let me remind you….again, this is part of Serbia we are talking, here, now, we want back !!
Siptari ( you call them Albanians ) did not preach HATE, they practisized it (as you may see in that video I sent you) !! You are lucky, you have churches in your country, on Kosovo there are so few left. Because those scums ruined or burned to the ground 300 of them !!
Kosovo is YOURS!!! THEY HATE!!! THEY are SCUM!!! And THEY think the SAME about YOU (you personally, and you Serbs). And, you are both right, and you are both completely wrong.
The various factions in the Balkans will continue to accuse each other of atrocities, and teach your children that the others are evil, and have what is yours, and you must get it back. And you ALL will keep on hating and killing each other over thousand year old grudges. And what is worse, each faction will continue to believe that God told them to do so.
Because of this obvious fact, I hereby give you permission to do exactly what you want to do: Keep on hating and committing atrocities against the other; and keep on feeling completely justified because you are only retaliating for the other side's atrocities against you.
There. Have at it.
DG
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