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March 23, 2004 ERP KIM Newsletter 23-03-04 Report from burned and desecrated Devic Monastery Entering through the broken gates, we immediately saw hat everything in Devic Monastery was burned. It looked like a wasteland, as if the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija had experienced September 11 in New York! That is the extent of the terrorism and vandalism and pogrom committed against this much-suffering great-martyred Orthodox Serbian Holy Shrine from the 14th century, where St. Joanikije of Devic the Miracle-worker lived, worked to honor and please God, and was beatified. His Monastery was destroyed many times during the Turkish occupation and during the wars for the liberation of Serbia and Kosovo. The Monastery's greatest suffering occurred in 1941 when it was burned and horribly devastated (a moving picture of the destruction was in the Monastery), and priest-monk Damaskin Boskovic of Devic was also killed, and his Albanian murderer identified.
Click on any photograph for larger format. More on the history of Devic Monastery at Gracanica, March 22, 2004 The holy and
much-suffering Monastery of DEVIC was looted and burned by Albanian
extremists in the course of these days of comprehensive terror against
the Serbs and their holy shrines in Kosovo and Metohija, starting on
Wednesday, March 17, in the afternoon to Sunday, March 21, 2004 when we
visited the Monastery in the early evening hours from about 17,30 to
18,15. The Mother Abbess and Sister Efimija left
for Kosovska Mitrovica on official business on Sunday, March 14, while
the other six sisters remained in the Monastery. The afternoon of
Wednesday, March 17, Albanian extremists began to attack Serbs and
Serbian Holy Shrines throughout Kosovo and Metohija. Abbess Anastasija
immediately asked the French to bring her back to the Monastery but they
refused despite her protest; they kept repeating that there was great
danger on the road, etc. On the way to the Monastery farm, the sisters observed a crowd of Albanians rioting and shooting, and they also heard some shooting by the French soldiers. This was obviously the crowd that had headed to loot and burn the Monastery, which followed soon thereafter. However, it was our impression when we visited the Monastery on Sunday afternoon that the looting and burning of the Monastery had lasted several days because we found two fires still burning in the Monastery: one in the Chapel of St. Joanikije itself, next to his tomb, which was razed and all plates on it broken, and another in the main residence hall on the second floor under the cupola of the Chapel.
The smoke was still rising from
several other piles of ashes in some of the buildings, especially in the
barn and the garage. This extended looting and burning of the Monastery
was probably the reason why the French refused to grant permission or
provide an escort for us or the Abbess to visit the Monastery. On the
contrary, the French military chaplain Kristo Kovalcik, a Pole by
origin, directly deceived us by attempting to convince us that Devic
Monastery was fine and not destroyed. It must be admitted that after
being sent by French KFOR to Sokolica Monastery to evacuate the
sisterhood there, too, on Friday, March 19, 2004 at about 15,00
hours, he also helped us after the Sisters were dislodged to the French
military camp in Northern Mitrovica to secure the French general's order
that the sisters be immediately returned to Sokolica and with them the
sisters from Devic (maybe because they wanted to get rid of the sisters
from their canteen, where they were housed, or more likely because they
noted and took seriously Bishop Artemije's and my own sharp reaction due
to the displacement of the sisters from Sokolica since this created an
opportunity for the Albanians to burn this monastery, too, as they had
done in Holy Archangels near Prizren and in Devic, where they did not
even attempt to defend the Monasteries but simply evacuated the monks
and nuns, thus giving the Shiptars the green light to go ahead and
burn).
Our arrival on Sunday afternoon in one
police jeep accompanied by another encountered Albanian tractors at the
intersection with the road leading to the farm already pulling full
trailers of wood cut from the forest around the Monastery, and we saw
the same near the Monastery, in the woods both above and below it. We
also saw a vehicle, a jeep with smoked glass windows, ahead of us on its
way to the Monastery which later turned out to be some Albanians
officials. When ordered by the police from our escort to stop and pull
over, they replied that they were sent - by the President of Kosovo!
This did not help them much because the police from our escort nevertheless ordered them off the road. (Later they went behind the Monastery and observed it during the time of our visit for about half an hour; then they came in front of the entrance again as we were leaving but the police again pulled them over until we left. We are noting this because the Albanians and their government in Pristina have the intent to visit our churches and monasteries and inspect them, something Bishop Artemije energetically rejected and even forbade, saying he would consider it a new attack on the Serbian Church, especially since none of them, neither Holkeri nor KFOR, want to provide the Bishop or those of us near him with an escort to Prizren, the location of the greatest catastrophe of our holy shrines.)
In front of the Monastery we found two Albanian passenger vehicles and photographed them and their license plates. One of them left soon afterwards while the other was still there upon our return. Above and below the Monastery in the courtyard itself there were several Albanians, obviously looters, since there had been looters here for several days because two reporters tried to visit Devic on Saturday taking an indirect route but they were afraid to approach because of the number of Albanians in the crowd in front of the Monastery. We took pictures of these Albanians in passing and the police ordered them to leave. We wonder what they were looting anyway since everything has already been taken away and burned. Entering through the broken gates, we immediately
saw hat everything in Devic Monastery was burned. It looked like a
wasteland, as if the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija had experienced
September 11 in New York! That is the extent of the terrorism and
vandalism and pogrom committed against this much-suffering
great-martyred Orthodox Serbian Holy Shrine from the 14th century, where
St. Joanikije of Devic the Miracle-worker lived, worked to honor and
please God, and was beatified. His Monastery was destroyed many times
during the Turkish occupation and during the wars for the liberation of
Serbia and Kosovo. The Monastery's greatest suffering occurred in 1941
when it was burned and horribly devastated (a moving picture of the
destruction was in the Monastery), and priest-monk Damaskin Boskovic of
Devic was also killed, and his Albanian murderer identified. (Photo of
the murder of Fr. Damaskin at /damaskin.jpg ; photo of burned Devic Monastery in 1941 at http://www.kosovo.net/terror6.jpg
) 3) Also burned is the residence hall called People's
Hall on the northern plateau above the monastery courtyard. Report prepared for the ERP KIM Info Service by Bishop Atanasije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina (retired) who personally visited Devic and took photographs
Devic Monastery (Srbica, 14th
century) - see before /edevic.html
The photos also show the
opened and desecrated tomb of St. Ioanichius of Devic, a saint from 15th
century
The scenes of destruction of
the church and residental quarters of the Devic nuns (photos from March
22)
/devicc15v.jpg tomb of St. Ioanichius /devicc16v.jpg tomb of St. Ioanichius /devicoltarv.jpg (broken holy
table in the sanctuary) /devic_pljackasiv.jpg (Kosovo Albanian car taking stolen things from Devic) /devicz_v.jpg (international policeman in front one of the Devic buildings) ERP KIM Info-Service is the official Information Service of the
Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren and works with the
blessing of His Grace Bishop Artemije. Additional information on our Diocese and the life of the
Kosovo Serb Community may be found at: http://www.kosovo.net |
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