A BISHOP'S FAITH

The Washington Times ^ | 3 August 2006 | James Morrison

[Doctor13]

EMBASSY ROW

His dwindling flock is scattered and under siege. His churches and cemeteries have been vandalized. The world appears to sympathize with his persecutors, but the spiritual leader of Kosovo's Orthodox Serbs says he cannot afford the luxury of feeling sorry for himself.

"To be pessimistic is not an attribute for a man of faith," said Bishop Artemije of Kosovo and Metohija, "particularly for a bishop."

But the bleak message the black-robed, white-bearded cleric brought with him to Washington last week showed how little political progress has been made since the 1999 NATO bombing campaign that drove Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslav forces from Kosovo, leaving the province a de facto international protectorate until its final status is determined.

Kosovo's overwhelmingly ethnic-Albanian Muslim majority insists on independence from Serbia, while the Serbian government is equally adamant that the province remain under its control. Despite an effort by the United States and allied countries to strike a deal on Kosovo by the end of the year, desultory talks in Vienna have produced little progress.