Posted on 06/27/2002 1:50:06 PM PDT by joan
MOSCOW, JUNE 27, RIA NOVOSTI - The Russian Orthodox Church denounced the latest vandal outbreaks in Kosovo as Serbian cemeteries were desecrated near the towns Orahovac and Djakovica with gravestones smashed and emblems of the extremist Kosovo Liberation Army painted on them.
That was not the only case of shrines desecrated in Kosovo and Metohija, says the External Church Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchy. The situation is especially bad in the area's west and south.
Remains were exhumed and scattered round the graves in the Siga and Brestovik village churchyards near Pec, from which Serbs were ousted in 1999, Artemius, Bishop of Rasa and Prizren, says in a letter to General Marcel Valentin, KFOR commander.
Though international peacekeepers are guarding the area, criminal proceedings were not launched on any of the numerous vandalic acts, and no arrests made. Local ethnic Albanian police officers, the KFOR top, and international rights organisations are passing the outrages in silence, points out the bishop.
Over a hundred Orthodox Christian churches have been ransacked and ten or more cemeteries desecrated since warfare finished in Kosovo and Metohija, Bishop Artemius says in an open letter to Bairam Resperi, Prime Minister of Kosovo.
If the Russian offer to help was sincere, however, they could redirect that aid to help Serbs and/or their churches within non-Kosovo Serbia - maybe some restoration efforts. It just seems a shame that Muslim countries and American Jews are financing brand NEW mosques in Kosovo, but the Serbs get paltry aid from other Orthodox countries.
A few days ago a German KFOR general has refused to provide protection for the people who wanted to rebuilt a destroyed monastery near the town of Prizren:"We will provide military escort when the attitude of local population change!!!"he said!
There is more chance of building a Church in Saudi Arabia than rebuilding a monastery in Kosovo.Welcome to Europe people!
BTW Russians do want to rebuild some monasteries but,they would be surelly,attacked by KLA so,the whole idea is shelved,for the time being!
As far as desecrated grave are concerned,that was an old Albanian speciality for decades,long before Miloshevic...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.