On Sunday afternoon Bishop Artemije and Fr. Simeon Vilovski, the abbot of Banjska Monastery, visited the burned remains of Devic Monastery near Srbica with an UNMIK police escort and encouraged Abbess Anastasija and her sisterhood in their first efforts to restore this medieval holy shrine where the relics of St. Joanikije (St. Ionnachius) of Devic are kept.

In the morning Fr. Teodosije, the abbot of Decani Monastery, visited the monastery with an Italian KFOR escort and served Holy Liturgy in the Devic church, giving Holy Communion to the sisters and conveying the encouragement of the Decani brotherhood.

Bishop Artemije visited the burned remains of the monastery and the monastery church, which the sisters have cleared and where the reconstruction of the roof has already begun. Upon their return to the burned holy shrine on April 15, the Devic nuns immediately cleared the desecrated church and chapel with the tomb containing the relics of St. Joanikije. The open tomb has been temporarily covered and decorated with icons until a slate of quality marble can be secured to replace the cover which was destroyed during the looting and burning of the monastery. The sisters also cleared the monastery cemetery where the Albanians have destroyed all the marble crosses of deceased Devic nuns.

Currently seven nuns are living in portable containers and tents provided for the sisterhood by the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija. After the restoration of the church, whose walls are still black with soot and bear the slogans of the UCK (Kosovo Liberation Army), PDK (Hashim Thachi's Democratic Party of Kosovo), AKSh (Ramush Haradinaj's Alliance for the Future of Kosovo) and other Albanian extremist organizations,work will also begin on the restoration of the residence quarters where the sisters are expected to resume residence prior to next winter. The Coordinating Center and the Serbian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments are preparing a detailed plan for the restoration of the monastery. Thanks to the Coordinating Center, as well as the assistance of KFOR, the sisters have been provided with food and hygienic materials.

The monastery is presently under the protection of French KFOR, which on March 17 evacuated the Devic nuns by helicopter with the explanation that the monastery would supposedly remain under military protection. However, no one protected the monastery. The Albanian mob broke into the medieval shrine unhindered and immediately began to loot the monastery, to remove the items inside it, farming machines and everything of any value. Then the monastery was completely burned together with the nearby French military base where the fleeing soldiers left all their equipment except their weapons. Albanians from surrounding villages visited the devastated Devic for days to continue their looting activities. In the meanwhile, they have cut down almost the entire monastery forest and contaminated the water well by dropping a dog they killed into it. The Devic sisters say that even know the Albanians are sending them messages through the KFOR soldiers not the restore the monastery because they will burn it down again; however, firm in their faith the nuns are determined to stay in their holy shrine to the very end and to bear witness with their very lives of their faith in Christ to whom they have dedicated their lives.

Deeply touched by the courage and devotion of the primarily elderly nuns seeking to restore their holy shrine, Bishop Artemije addressed words of encouragement and hope to the Devic sisters, saying that the enemies of Christianity and civilization can never destroy the spirit of Christianity and the greatest Christian values - faith, hope and love - on which the Church rests and which "not even the gates of hell can overcome".

"Our enemies, who are possessed by inhuman hatred, do not know what they are doing, that they are, in fact, destroying their own souls and the future of their descendants for what kind of future and happiness can be built on such barbaric acts of violence and crime against holy shrines and the helpless people? This holy shrine, where many Albanian Muslims have also sought healing, has been devastated for the second time in the last 100 years but it is again rising like a phoenix from the ashes and coming back to life as the symbol of the promise and faith breathed into this holy site by St. Joanikije the Healer of Devic in the 15th century.

"As the enemies of Christ who were possessed by demons believed that by crucifying Christ they could defeat God himself so these unfortunately and deeply deceived perpetrators of violence who have destroyed this monastery and numerous other Orthodox holy shrines believe they can completely erase every trace of Christianity in Kosovo and Metohija. However, after death by crucifixion comes the Resurrection and Christ triumphs the power of death and demonic deception. This hope gives us strength to persist in seeking to resurrect our own holy shrines and to return our own people to this territory where Serbs have lived for centuries and where they have left numerous signs of their European and Christian culture and creativity which those who hate us so strongly desire to erase and build their future on the burned remnants of Christian churches.

"Civilized Europe and the world cannot and must not accept this view of society and those who believe that violence and evil will ensure happiness for themselves are very wrong because by destroying holy shrines and digging up graves, they are destroying the image of God within themselves and bringing shame to themselves before the whole world," said Bishop Artemije, blessing the restoration of the Devic holy shrine. 

During the course of this week, a senior UNESCO delegation is expected to visit Kosovo and Metohija which will conduct an assessment of the damage done to cultural and historical buildings during the March 17-18 pogrom together with the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija. It is the firm position of the Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija, UNMIK and all international institutions (as they have repeated several times) that all damages must be compensated by those who did them. Even though restoration has already begun with funds from the budget of the Coordinating Center, the whole restoration of Devic Monastery and other destroyed holy shrines must be paid by Kosovo institutions, especially the municipalities where the damage was actually done.

In this manner, the perpetrators of these misdeeds will be forced to realize that every similar attack on Serb property and holy shrines will entail the responsibility of paying in full for the damage done to it. Violence and crime must not remain unpunished and in addition to compensation for damages, the Church will strongly insist that KFOR and UNMIK police publicly reveal the names of the organizers and the organizations that spearheaded the violence, which are already very well known to international investigators. As long as those responsible are not brought to justice, the Diocese reiterates, they will continue to carry out the same misdeeds and there will never be peace and stability in Kosovo and Metohija.

Previous ERP KIM Info Service newsletter on the return of the Devic sisters to the burned remains of their monastery at this site: