At the entrance to the Church the iron grates have been broken, as have all the buildings on the north side of the Church, as well as those nearest the street and deeper into the courtyard where the parish home was located. The bottom one-third of oldest fresco - of the Mother of God with Christ and a small basket of bread - has been scraped and the bare wall can be seen! Moving further through Prizren we immediately saw that the whole quarter of Kaljaja has been burned, and soot can be seen around all the windows and doors of the Church of Christ the Savior (but it is still standing). The dome of the Church of St. Panteleimon above the Seminary is visible but so is the fact that the church has been burned. The Orthodox Cathedral has been burned and its roof destroyed; only the high walls remain. Albanians are removing everything that remains in it. The Bishop's residence is destroyed and its roof has collapsed; the main door from the street is blocked by debris. We heard that the other Churches in Prizren were also burned but we were unable to visit them.
On Monday, March 22, 2004 from noon to evening we visited our Holy Shrines from Pec and Decani to Prizren and Strpce with the help of U.S. UNMIK police.
In the Pec Patriarchate, where security has been reinforced thanks to God and the Italian KFOR general, all is calm. Bishop Joanikije Budimljansko-Polimski has been in the monastery throughout the last several days, which has been a source of comfort for the brave sisterhood there.
In the city of Pec the Church (of St. John the Fore-runner) and the Bishop's residence have been destroyed but we were unable to stop and take pictures.
In Belo Polje near Pec the Church appears unchanged from outside but the interior has once again been burned. Also burned was the parish home and all the restored houses of Serb returnees.
In Djakovica the old parish Church has been destroyed and both parish homes, and the material from the old home carried off; the wall around the church has been destroyed the Albanians are already parking their cars in the part of the churchyard next to the road. As we passed next to the new, now destroyed Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Djakovica we saw that all the debris had been removed a park created; all that remains is some of the smaller debris somewhere in the middle. We also saw in passing that the churches in Piskote (St. Lazarus) and Bistrazina on the hill (St. Elijah) have been completely destroyed.
In Prizren we first visited the Mother of God of Ljevis and thanks to God managed to enter the church and take pictures. The Holy Throne has been destroyed and the church destroyed; however, it appears that quite a bit can be saved if we can quickly get strong security around the church (because the Albanians are already using it to relieve themselves; we saw one leaving the church and zipping up his fly, and urine was visible in the church itself!). At the entrance to the Church the iron grates have been broken, as have all the buildings on the north side of the Church, as well as those nearest the street and deeper into the courtyard where the parish home was located. The bottom one-third of oldest fresco - of the Mother of God with Christ and a small basket of bread - has been scraped and the bare wall can be seen!
Moving further through Prizren we immediately saw that the whole quarter of Kaljaja has been burned, and soot can be seen around all the windows and doors of the Church of Christ the Savior (but it is still standing). The dome of the Church of St. Panteleimon above the Seminary is visible but so is the fact that the church has been burned. The Orthodox Cathedral has been burned and its roof destroyed; only the high walls remain. Albanians are removing everything that remains in it. The Bishop's residence is destroyed and its roof has collapsed; the main door from the street is blocked by debris. We heard that the other Churches in Prizren were also burned but we were unable to visit them. Viewing with sorrow the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, we saw for ourselves that terrible consequences of the torching, for only the walls remain which have themselves been destroyed, somewhere more and somewhere less. A Serb man, Dragan Nedeljkovic, aged 55 years, burned to death in the Seminary building on Wednesday, March 24; the burned body of a woman /a Serb?/, whose identity has not yet been established, has also been found.
We visited Holy Archangels and saw the horrific results of the torching and destruction of the monastery. From the west side toward the monastery complex everything in wood was burned /the old wall on the Bistrica side stands intact/; the roof is largely in ruins but the dome of the Chapel of St. Nikolai of Zica and Ochrid still stands. Inside the chapel everything is destroyed, toppled and burned; we found only pieces of the brass polielei (polijelej) and took several pieces with us. The monastery workshop has also been burned, to the left of the eastern entrance to the courtyard. The Germans have now tripled the number of soldiers and military vehicles near St. Archangels but what is the point now?
In Sredska we stopped to visit the monks from Holy Archangels and we found both Abbot Herman and Fr. Myron there. They are well but they informed us that two of our churches in Sredacka Zupa have been burned.
We arrived in Strpce at nightfall and met with priests and people from the crisis staff in the Church of St. Nicholas. Unfortunately, they informed that in the village of Drajkovce the Albanians had murdered a father and son, Borko and Dobri Stolic, on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 in the house where they were living (after fleeing Urosevac earlier). Serbs are keeping watch everywhere throughout their territory.
Despite KFOR statements that they will secure all roads, what is most concerning is the fact that members of the UCK (the Kosovo Liberation Army) and the KZK (the Kosovo Protection Corps) armed with rifles are moving along some roads. The problem is that many of the roads are being patrolled only by members of the Kosovo Police Service which, it is a well-known fact, have been recruited from the former KLA. Generally speaking, security for Serbs moving on the roads and in the Serb enclaves has not improved despite all the stories and promises of the so-called International Community. It is characteristic that even the UNMIK police visibly relaxes as soon as it enters Serbian enclaves; it can be seen on their faces and they admit as much themselves.