A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 13 - Tuesday, March 30th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Centuries of Culture Vanish in Kosovo CityBy DANICA KIRKA PRIZREN, Serbia-Montenegro - Bishop Atanasije Jevtic dusted ashes away from the base of the fresco in the 14th-century cathedral gutted during recent mob violence in Kosovo. He then softly placed two fingers on the image of Virgin Mary in the soot-covered fresco. But his visit to the cathedral to assess the damage would last but four minutes: a U.N. police officer acting as his bodyguard, a semiautomatic shotgun at the ready, hustled him away, shouting, "It's not safe! It's not safe!" Orthodox Christian Serbs and symbols of their culture and history were targeted throughout Kosovo in violence last week, exposing the underlying tensions with the mostly Muslim ethnic Albanian majority that led to a war that ended in 1999. Days after the rioting began, the extent of the material damage is only now becoming clear. In all, 366 homes were destroyed and 41 churches burned. In this southern Kosovo city, centuries of culture vanished in seconds when mobs blamed Serbs for the deaths of two ethnic Albanian children and rampaged through the city. Eight churches here were set on fire and at least a dozen homes. The devastation scarred the heart of this Ottoman-era community, with a hillside overlooking the Bistrica River now scarred by abandoned and blackened hulks of buildings set alight by the melee. The mobs specifically targeted churches, the very symbols of Orthodox Christian Serbs, who want the U.N.-run province to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro. Kosovo's mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians want independence. For the last five years, NATO has stepped between the two. The alliance moved into Kosovo after a 78-day air war aimed at stopping former President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian seeking independence. The conflict killed an estimated 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians. In the early years of the mission, the alliance set up elaborate protection for the churches of Kosovo, the province which is considered hallowed ground and the birthplace of Serbian identity. Kosovo was the site of an epic battle between Serbs and Turks in 1389. Among the province's many treasures was the Holy Virgin of Ljevis Cathedral, which is located just down the street from the U.N. administration's offices. Mobs transformed the brick structure into a gutted hulk. Of particular note was a fresco of Jesus Christ, said Father Sava, a spokesman for the Orthodox Church in Kosovo, who wept upon learning that flames, smoke and soot left only a vague image on the wall. "The church meant so very much," he said. "In France there is Notre Dame ... but for us that was the Holy Virgin of Ljevis Cathedral." Father Sava said that Serbs who remained in Prizren after the war have left for good now, and the only people visiting the wrecked structures this week were ethnic Albanians curious about what damage had been done. Among them was Bashkim Dauti, 37, a construction worker, who wandered into the cathedral of St. George and gaped at the toppled tower in the center of the rubble. "I don't like what I'm seeing," he said, noting that the riots would damage the hopes of ethnic Albanians to win independence. "It's my feeling that we went back in time," he said. "(Independence) will take as much time as we will need to repair the churches and the houses that were burned." Others suggested the destruction as revenge for the war. At the Holy Virgin of Ljevis Cathedral, Ruzhdi Krasniqi, 23, smoked a cigarette as he assessed the damaged and said he felt "OK" about its destruction. "I don't want the Serbs to return here," he said. "They've got no place here." Atanasije didn't stop to offer his views, intent on getting in and out of the church with his life intact. But as he saw the damaged fresco of the Virgin Mary, he paused even though his security detail frantically screamed for him to go. "This is the mother of God," he said, describing the fresco.
Then he crossed himself and ran for the door. |
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