Communiqué of the NGO "Majka devet Jugovića" (Mother of the Nine Jugoviches)

Following information that is appearing in the daily press about the misuse of financial resources collected for the soup kitchens in Kosovo and Metohija, we feel morally responsible for informing the public about the facts relating to this unfortunate case.

The NGO "Majka devet Jugovića" has been operating since the year 2000 and thanks to the campaign "an SMS for a meal," we succeeded in establishing four soup kitchens, which have been operating all these years and providing meals for the socially most vulnerable food Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. With the blessing of the Bishop of Raska and Prizren, money collected for the soup kitchen was deposited to the diocesan bank account and not on a separate bank account for the NGO. Funds for our needs were withdrawn from the treasury of the Diocese, and the NGO regularly submitted reports to the Diocese and to donors on funds spent.

In the recent period the NGO "Majka devet Jugovića" has not been given complete information regarding the state of the bank account and the amount of funds for the use of the soup kitchens. This raised suspicions, and not only in our NGO, that funds were being siphoned off for other purposes, which was quickly proven by an investigation of a commission of the Holy Synod of Bishops.

Our four soup kitchens continue their work with the blessing of the Administrator of the Diocese, Bishop Atanasije, and provide food for 1200 people. We are currently working on opening a fifth kitchen in the Gnjilane region. We take this opportunity to note that the cost of one meal per person is not 750 dinars, as some media erroneously published, but 75 dinars.*

We call on our donors and all people of goodwill not to stop helping the soup kitchens and the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija because of these unfortunate events because the Holy Synod of Bishops has undertaken timely measures to protect the fund collected for the soup kitchens and thus preserved the moral dignity of our NGO and our whole Diocese.

Our NGO is hopeful that in the future with the support of our donors and faithful we will succeed in justifying their full confidence.

Chair of NGO "Majka devet Jugovića" [presbytera] Svetlana Stevic

Activity of anti-church sites aimed at undermining the authority of the SOC continues

The administrator of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren Bishop Atanasije yesterday criticized the opening of a new anti-church website under the name of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren, where articles are being signed by certain "monks of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren":

"These are uninformed and misguided people who with their lies are further aggravating the position of Bishop Artemije, in whose best interest they are supposedly writing. They are thus only demonstrating that they do not know what the Church is nor order within the Church and thus continuing the misdeeds of Simeon Vilovski, who brought his bishop and the Diocese into this position."
  

For the last few years, an ultra-radical group of monks and laity in the Serbian Orthodox Church has launched the work of several anti-church sites, including Gazimestan, Ihtus, Maranata, Borba za veru (the Struggle for Faith), Novinar.de, etc. In the files of Simeon Vilovski in Gracanica Monastery, a folder was found with a series of articles he wrote for these forums along with a few other monks of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren. Especially prominent among these were hieromonk Benedikt Preradovic, the administrator of Holy Archangels Monastery, who was removed two days ago from Gracanica Monastery for failing to accept the blessing from the competent bishop and for his arrogant behavior. Most active beside him was hieromonk Ksenofont Tomasevic from the same monastery, who was removed in 2005 from Decani Monastery by the unanimous decision of the brotherhood for creating discord and unbalanced psychological behavior. It is known that they also actively aided by some monks from Crna Reka Monastery with the blessing of hegumen Nikolaj, especially by hieromonk Naum. These and other "loyal children of Bishop Artemije" as they call themselves, are also behind the latest anti-church site, which propagates the most impudent fabrications against Bishop Atanasije and the Synod of the SOC.

These para-church sites have for years been regularly publishing the worst lies and insults, including those directed against Patriarch Pavle, now against Patriarch Irinej and against the most eminent bishops of our Church. Unfortunately, the writings of these deluded people is being uncritically repeated by certain printed media, especially prominently by Frankfurtske Vesti, in which reporter Rada Loncar has for years been giving a distorted picture of events in the Diocese in a highly unprofessional way and conducting a personal media campaign against Bishop Teodosije and Decani Monastery.

In the continuing investigation into the uncanonical activities of Simeon Vilovski and his accomplices in the Diocese, special attention will also be devoted to the anti-church activities of this group of “monks from the Diocese of Raska and Prizren”, some of whom began two days ago to actively distribute emails and phone messages lies about the alleged imprisonment of Bishop Artemije in order to cause unrest in the monastery. One member of Pokret 1389 (the 1389 movement), who was embittered by the attempt to misuse this movement in Gracanica on February 14, testified that they were personally instructed by hieromonk Ksenofont in Holy Archangels Monastery on how they should free the monastery “from the usurpers Atanasije and Teodosije”.

Bishops Atanasije and Teodosije serve memorial service for victims in Livadice

The administrator of the Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija, His Grace Bishop Atanasije and Vicar Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan, with the concelebration of protosingel Mihajlo from Prizren, served a memorial service today in the church of St. Nicholas in Pristina for the victims of the terrorist attack on the Nis Express bus in the village of Livadice near Podujevo.

Today’s memorial service in Pristina was attended by about fifty family members of those killed, survivors from the bus and the faithful.

"I pray to God to grant the victims of Livadice a place in the kingdom of heaven together with all of God's people in the embrace of Abraham. The embrace of Abraham is the hand of the Lord, which holds the righteous as it is beautifully shown on the frescos in our monasteries. We commemorate them and sing their eternal remembrance. Children, brothers and fathers, it is important that God mentions and remembers us,” said Bishop Atanasije.

He reminded those present that no one has answered for the crime, as well as the fact of attempts to cover up the crime in Livadice and manipulate the numbers of passengers killed and maimed. "For days KFOR and UNMIK did not want to give the number of victims; they hid this because if the number of dead over ten, then it is an act of terrorism, while they wanted to describe this attack as an act of common crime. When doctors from Serbia performed the autopsy, they too were forbidden from disclosing the exact number; we were told that there were seven dead. Serbian pathologist Dr. Sasa Dobricanin, who participated in the identification of bodies, said at that time that he was not allowed to say exactly how many victims there were in Livadice because German pathologists stated that if he said that there were more than ten dead, he would not be able to participate in further autopsy," said Bishop Atanasije.

Bishop Atanasije conducted the requiem service for those killed in Livadice in 2001 in Gracanica Monastery in the absence of Bishop Artemije, who was then traveling in the United States.

Nis Express bus after the terrorist attack, February 2001

From Radio KIM news:

The only suspect for this crime, Florim Ejupi, was acquitted by the decision of the Supreme Court upon appeal due to the lack of evidence. EULEX then initiated a new investigation, and the head of the team of EULEX prosecutors Theo Jacobs (sp?) stated in June last year that the case was being handled by people from the office of the special prosecutor who are responsible for war crimes cases, while Florim Ejupi is still at large.

The victims of the attack on the bus are hurt the most that after nine years no one has been punished for the crime. "I’m most hurt that the investigation has not yielded any results. Florim Ejupi was released last year, two months after of the start of the EULEX mission. After UNMIK conducted an investigation for 5-6 years everything was tossed in a drawer, the only suspect was acquitted and no others were found. We would like to know how EULEX is conducting the investigation; they should notify the victims of this, as UNMIK used to do, so we know how the investigation is progressing," Gorica Scepanovic, one of the surviving passengers of the Nis Express, told KIM Radio.

Gordana Djoric, who was also in the bus that day, thought the same: "It hurts me that we still do not know who did this or why he did it. It hurts me that whoever is responsible for this attack has not yet been punished. It hurts me that no one considers it important or asks the families of the victims how they have fared these nine years without their loved ones. It hurts me that I still live in a time of lawlessness and without the rule of law. I live in a region where there is only a display of force. I remember everything that happened that day, the little child that played with all of us in the bus and the young married couple; I remember Mirjana and everyone who was around me. I remember the mangled bodies on the road; I remember everything and I will never forget it," said Gordana.

The Association of Culture and Education of Kosovo and Metohija organized a gathering in Laplje Selo today of poets, students, teachers, relatives and friends to commemorate the nine year anniversary of death and maiming of the passengers of the Nis Express bus in a planted explosion near Podujevo. The explosion of the mine, which was planted under a bridge on the main road from Nis to Pristina, blew up the first of six buses carrying displaced Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija for Memorial Saturday services in Gracanica and was escorted by KFOR troops. Twelve Serbs were killed and 43 were wounded.

Bishop Artemije’s associates investigated

16 February 2010 | 09:37 | Source: Blic daily, Belgrade
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BELGRADE -- Bishop Artemije’s closest associates and advisors are being investigated, according to Belgrade daily Blic.

The daily writes that the bishop’s chief advisor took RSD 700,000 for a humanitarian campaign for the hungry in Kosovo to tie together his employment years. The Interior Ministry (MUP) is expected to begin an investigation into the financial abuses on Tuesday, according to this. 

The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) forwarded all documentation to the police on Sunday. The bishop, who heads the Raško-Prizren Eparch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, was temporarily dismissed from his duties on Sunday.

According to the suspicions of the police, the money that was being sent to the Eparchy for the soup kitchens in Kosovo was going straight to private riches and luxurious lifestyles for several of Artemije’s closest colleagues, including Monk Simeon Vilovski, his brother Vladimir Vilovski, his godson Predrag Subotički and Gordana Markovic, who was the director of the State Bureau for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in 2007. 

Much of the money as given to the so-called office for heritage of the Rska-Prizren Eparchy, which has done little other than creating several pamphlets, writes Blic. 

At first Eparchy money funded the office, but once it ran dry, Vilovski started using money that was donated to the soup kitchens in Kosovo, the daily writes, adding that the money was meant to help feed 1,200 hungry Serbs in four such soup kitchens in the province.

Reply from Gracanica on lies and ignorance of journalist E.V.N.

Bishop Atanasije, Administrator of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren responded yesterday with a letter to the editors of Vecernje Novosti to an article published by a journalist of this paper under the pseudonym E.V.N. Bishop Atanasije’s letter follows:

First ignorance/lie: ''Bishop Atanasije served the new Liturgy'' and slightly below that, using different words: ''not according to the established church order, but with some new elements''. – Response: Bishop Atanasije served according to the official Sluzhebnik of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The story of ignorant persons about “the established order” deserves the response: Which and whose “established order” do you mean? The one from the former Austro-Hungary? – No, the one from printed Serbian Sluzhebniks, which was transmitted in the modern Serbian language in the Synod Sluzhebnik. Unfortunately, what we have happening, especially in the newspapers, is ignorant people preaching to the Synod and the Bishops. And bishops serve the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy, which is eternally old and eternally new (Mat 13:52).

Another lie: ''A large number of those present (at the Liturgy in Gracanica) demonstrated their indignation by not waiting for the end of the service.’ The news is false and malicious (unless you take into account that a small number of Serbs more or less always leaves Church before the final dismissal). Here, on the contrary, most faithful stayed to the end of the Divine Service; all the children and many of the elderly took communion, then attended the cutting of the slava cake cutting by the Mother Abbess of Gracanica and the baptism of two children. After that most people moved into the monastery dining room to refresh themselves and to remain in prolonged conversation with the new Bishop.

Third lie: The abbess of Gorioc Monastery has supposedly been “dismissed”! – She has not been dismissed. It is erroneous news such as this that “creates further division” among the people, among the naive.

Fourth: The comments of self-proclaimed “experts on canonical law” (such as the unfortunate case of the renowned poor fellow Zeljko Kotor, who probably studied canonical law in one of Suvar’s schools* but does not know the Holy Canons; he can be considered an “expert” only by the ignorant E.V.N. and others like him). – Such a pretentious comment wants to say that the Holy Synod of Bishops theologians do not know the Canons of the Church! The Holy Synod, however, duly called Bishop Artemije three times (each time by a different delegation) to come to a meeting of the Synod, but he either refused or tricked it; he then tried “a private conversation'' with the Patriarch, to which His Beatitude, having learned a lesson from the previous “beating around the bush”, answered: ''Come to the meeting of the Synod; I do not make decisions alone but communally,” and Bishop Artemije left the Patriarchate. He arrived only on the last day and hour in the Holy Synod to tell his brothers, the members of the Synod that they were “in too much of a hurry”. Whoever understands – let him understand!

The rest will be said by the Holy Synod and the Holy Assembly in due course.

 

"Let the children come to me,

for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven"

Bishops Atanasije and Grigorije of Herzegovina with "a little deacon" 

* Trans. note: Stipe Suvar, former Croatian education minister, leading Communist of the 1970s and 1980s

Bishop Atanasije on the Break into Gracanica Monastery

Yesterday, February 14, 2010, a group of about twenty monks of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren which opposes the decision of the Patriarch and the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, led by the hegumen of Crna Reka Monastery Fr. Nikolaj and a number of civilians from the north of Kosovo, forcibly broke into the courtyard of Gracanica Monastery with the intent of “protecting the dismissed Bishop Artemije”. After unsuccessful attempts to enter through the main gate, the group of perpetrators led by the monks of Crna Reka physically assaulted the monks who are helping Bishop Atanasije in performing his duties. After a clash the group broke into the monastery using a side entrance. Shouting, they broke the entrance door of the bishop’s residence and one civilian even snatched a rifle from a Swedish soldier. (Swedish KFOR has been providing security for Bishop Artemije and the monastery for years.) The incident concluded after the group reemerged from the bishop’s residence, having convinced itself that Bishop Artemije “is not being held prisoner”.

Comments of Bishop Atanasije, the administrator of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren regarding this unfortunate event:

„One cannot “defend” Bishop Artemije by creating small para-church groups, “para-synagogues” (the first canon of St. Basil the Great), which threaten not only the unity of the Diocese but the entire Serbian Orthodox Church. One cannot build a personality cult around one man, while at the same time trampling the authority of His Holiness the Patriarch, the Holy Synod and the Holy Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Likewise, Kosovo cannot be defended using an anti-Kosovo ethic, i.e. with violence, just as good cannot be created in an evil manner for in the words of the Holy Fathers “good done in a way that is not good – is not good!”

Without a trace of human and Christian conscience, heinous lies have been spread about an alleged “assassination attempt”, the “expulsion” of the sisterhoods of Gorioc and Gracanica and the use of NATO troops (which have provided security this monastery during all the years Bishop Artemije has stayed here). Quotes were made up that yesterday’s Liturgy on the feast of the Meeting of Our Lord was “attended only by the followers of Hashim Thaci, even though there were about 200 faithful in the Gracanica church, including a substantial number of children, two of whom were baptized yesterday, and all the children and many others took communion.

Such a dishonorable campaign carried out by the followers of Simeon Vilovski only confirms that there has been a spiritually ailing and canonically out of step situation in this Diocese for years. However, in the Church of the Meek Christ not only can there not be brigandage (Jhn 2:16) but there is order and good acts, respect for the traditional and liturgical order of the Church, so that “all things should be done decently and in order” (1Cr 14:40).

Comments of Bishop Atanasije on the present status of replaced Bishop Artemije in Gracancica Monastery (until the next meeting of the Holy Assembly of Bishops):

"By the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops of February 13, 2010, Bishop Artemije has retained his episcopal title and dignity, with the exception of the right of administering the Diocese. Bishop Artemije’s return to his earlier duty depends only on him and his attitude toward the structure and order of the Church of God. If he supports mobs like these it will be to his own disadvantage. The behavior of people calling themselves his “spiritual children” does not serve that purpose and is causing further damage to his spiritual authority and person, and the proper solution of his status. I stress that Bishop Artemije in his chambers in the bishop’s residence in Gracanica enjoys full personal freedom and can serve liturgy with the knowledge and consent of the competent Bishop Administrator and the Holy Synod of Bishops (due to possible abuse by irresponsible persons). Spiritual leadership plays a significant role in church life but it cannot be above a bishop’s authority and the canonical order of the Church. Insinuations that Bishop Artemije is supposedly “imprisoned and should be freed” are completely untrue, as Bishop Artemije himself testified yesterday before yesterday’s perpetrators whom he told to go home and honor the decisions of the Holy Synod of Bishops, which he personally signed on Saturday in the Patriarchate in Belgrade.

The bishop also has at his disposal four monks whom he wished to remain with him and every claim of his “captivity” is nothing more than common defamation which inflicts the most damage to Bishop Artemije himself, in whose name violence is being carried out and calls broadcast with alarming content for “the release of the imprisoned bishop”.

Due to abuses of the former official site of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren, it was decided to bring the site under the control of the new administration. With respect to this, Bishop Atanasije said:

Due to ongoing efforts against the church on the former website of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren, we were forced to temporarily shut down the site until a new presentation is prepared. The articles are full of passionate hatred, lies and slander that have no place on a site that bears the St. Sava seal of our Church and the title of this martyred Diocese. Any activity on behalf of the Diocese without the blessing of the Administrator of the Diocese will be considered an abuse. The website of the Diocese has been used for years for the publication of various petty political and subversive news items that undermined the reputation of the Diocese and the Serbian Orthodox Church throughout the whole world. This site was used to reflect a false situation that protected everything that was done in the name of Bishop Artemije, whose devastating effects were best seen yesterday in the unmonastic and unchristian behavior of some of his “spiritual children”. Unfortunately, a few hothead pseudo-zealots and pseudo-monks create the impression that this Diocese is ruled by a “monkocracy”, not a “Christocracy” and because of such persons the honorable clergy, which is already humiliated, and the faithful are repressed and practically pushed out from serving God and building a God-manly Body of Christ.

Bishop Atanasije explained new details about the case of Simeon Vilovski and his canonical crimes and financial frauds:

The Holy Assembly of Bishops explicitly warned Bishop Artemije twice, in 2006 and 2009, of the devastating activities of his secretary, Simeon Vilovski, and of the spiritually unhealthy situation in the Diocese he has headed and passed decisions to that effect which, unfortunately, were not implemented. Once it was established that the lawlessness exceeded all measures, the Holy Synod of Bishops was forced to take this measure and to send an administrator for the Diocese who could, with the help of the clergy and the faithful, repair the situation and return the Diocese to the full order of the church.

While reviewing diocesan documents it was established that Simeon Vilovski arbitrarily took money from the NGO “Majka Jugovica” which was intended for four soup kitchens that feed 1200 most vulnerable Serbs for which donations are collected by SMS. He used this money for personal luxuries, purchases, equipping an office in Belgrade and other purposes against the will of the authorized priest’s wife, Svetlana Stevic, who heads the NGO and who has made great efforts to prevent the siphoning of funds for the hungry. It is these very facts for which there is detailed documentation that show how grave was the moral fall of Vilovski, whom Bishop Artemije gave full authority and control over finances and even personnel matters within the Diocese, even though the Holy Synod and Assembly ordered him several times that this man be dismissed from all church duties for earlier canonical transgressions and financial frauds.

We also wish to point out the inverted logic of the aforementioned rebellious monks: "We do not recognize the Synod, but only Assembly!" If they were thinking clearly at all, these people could have concluded: that the Assembly elected this Patriarch, that two other members of the Synods were candidates for Patriarch, and that the same Patriarch presides over both the Assembly and the Synod. What happens when some members of an Assembly, whether this one or any other one, whether existing today or in the past, do not agree was resolved long ago by the sixth canon of the First Ecumenical Council: “If two or three object due to their argumentative nature, may the voice of the majority prevail.”

Bishop Atanasije serves Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in Gracanica Monastery on the feast of the Meeting of Our Lord (Sunday, February 14 /1, 2010)

The newly appointed Administrator of the Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija His Grace Bishop Atanasije (Jevtic) served Holy Hierarchal Liturgy today on the feast of the Meeting of Our Lord in Gracanica Monastery with the concelebration of Vicar Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan and the clergy, monks and nuns of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren. Liturgy was sung by the nuns of Gracanica together with Abbess Mother Efronija, and attended by some 200 faithful from Gracanica with their children, two of whom were baptized after Liturgy.

 

Gracanica nuns with children at the Liturgy

In his homily Bishop Atanasije informed the faithful that by the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church he had been appointed administrator of the Diocese. He explained that he had come to repair the situation in the Diocese where a group of monks led by Simeon Vilovski had sullied the reputation of the Bishop and the Diocese with their anti-canonical actions and financial frauds, as well as by creating discord and division within the Diocese as well as outside the borders of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren. The Holy Synod of Bishops, said Bishop Atanasije, was forced to take emergency measures to protect order and unity of the SOC, especially on the territory of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren. In the continuation of his homily, Bishop Atanasije spoke about the significance of the feast of the Meeting of Our Lord and preparations for the forthcoming Great Fast as a period of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation and participation in the joy of the Resurrection of Christ the God-man.

After the Divine Liturgy, Bishops Atanasije and Teodosije invited the faithful, led by the head of the district of Pristina (of the Republic of Serbia) Mr. Goran Arsic, as well as clergy, monks and nuns to refresh themselves with food and drink and to talk in the monastery’s guest dining room.

Bishop Athanasius is already known to the faithful in Kosovo and Metohija. He personally spent the most difficult years of the war and post-war suffering in the region, helping first former Bishop (later Patriarch) Pavle and then Bishop Artemije, and visiting every part of the Province. There is hardly a village, monastery or cemetery that Bishop Atanasije has not visited, and he has especially close ties with the much suffering village of Cernica in the Gnjilansko Pomoravlje area. He personally took many photographs of destroyed churches that were later included in the book Crucified Kosovo. Bishop Atanasije is also the author of the book Od Kosova do Jadovna (From Kosovo to Jadovno) and a coauthor of the large momentous monograph The Holy Shrines of Kosovo and Metohija. He is one of the top experts on the situation in this region. Bishop Atanasije enjoys great respect among the clergy, the faithful and the monks and nuns on the territory of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren and his appointment as Administrator of the Diocese has resulted in open satisfaction on the part of many familiar with his tireless effort and love.