Gathered today in Visoki Decani at this all-blessed event during the Holy Trinity of the consecration of the newly elected Bishop of Lipljan, Abbot Teodosije of Visoki Decani, we the twenty Bishops of the Pec Patriarchate and the Ohrid Archdiocese, headed by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle with concelebration of our brother Archpriests from the Hellenic Church,

- give our thanks to the Living and True God celebrated in Three Persons, the Holy Great Martyrs Stefan of Decani and Lazarus of Kosovo and other Holy Saints and Martyrs of the Lord in this suffering but gloried land of Kosovo and Metohija; and offer our gratitude for this spiritual joy of togetherness with the Divine Heavenly Church, present through all the Saints and Martyrs and with the earthly Church of Christ personified in God's people in attendance.

We thank God, the Savior of all people, for His gift - for our new Bishop, consecrated and marked today for beautiful and fertile Metohija, which has for many centuries been filled with holy monasteries and churches and the faithful people of God around them and in them but also the graves of martyrs and the ruins of the houses of God and people. Today, unfortunately, Metohija is largely empty of its Orthodox [Christian] population and in it there are far more than ever before destroyed holy shrines, devastated homes and desecrated graves, looted and illegally usurped property, injustice and lack of freedom crying out to God and the conscience of humanity, spilled innocent blood that, like that of Abel, weeps to the Heavens.

It is our own sorrow and that of every human being of goodwill and an honest heart that before the eyes of the Serbian and international communities and in the presence of the military forces and civil authorities of the international community over one hundred thirty churches and monasteries have been destroyed and hundreds of Serb villages and settlements emptied from neighboring Pec to Djakovica, Prizren and Holy Archangels in Metohija and onward to Devic and most cities and villages throughout Kosovo. Though more than five years of the United Nations and NATO protectorate have passed, hardly any of the expelled Serbs have returned - returned with great difficulty and in constant danger for their very lives, and especially for the lives and future of their children. It is with pain that we recall last year's murder during this same season of two innocent Serbian children (and two others who were seriously wounded in nearby Gorazdevac, as well as last week's heinous slaying of a Serbian youth, Dimitrije Popovic, in downtown Gracanica. Only two months ago, a horrible pogrom was carried out against the Serbs and their Holy Shrines from March 17-19 of this year, 2004.

Despite all, these tragic events have not drowned our Christian hope and just expectations that better days and a brighter future for all residents of this district lie in the near future; that the full freedom to live, move around, work and learn will finally come for the Serbs and their children, like for all people and all peoples' children who have lived here together for centuries. With faith but also with every right, we expect freedom and safety for all from the Serbian state and especially from the powerful international community whose presence here loses every justification if it cannot or will not bring freedom, peace and tranquility for all and each. That is why we beseech and demand that freedom and peace, justice and compassion, a safe life and prosperity, the guarantee of all human and national rights be ensured without delay for all residents of Kosovo and Metohija, especially for the still persecuted Serbian people and its Holy Shrines. We beg and we ask that real and safe returns for expelled Serbs from Metohija and Kosovo be made possible right away, that protection be provided for those who stayed and survived despite intolerable conditions and meager returns, that restoration of torched shrines, first and foremost, the monasteries of Devic in Drenica and Holy Archangels near Prizren, begin immediately, as well as that of Serb homes in Lipljan, Obilic, Svinjare, Belo Polje and so many other settlements.

We appeal also to our Serbian Orthodox people to remain steadfast in its faith and its human honor, not to stumble before the dangers and attacks of irrationality but to remain persistent and determined in the land of its forefathers and among its God-given holy shrines.

From this medieval Holy Shrine in Kosovo and Metohija, we appeal also to our cohabitants, the Albanians, wishing them God's peace and all progress in the same measure as to ourselves and our people, as well as to all others who live here together with us. We wish to remind both them and ourselves of an obvious truth: historically and fatefully, God and His Providence brought us together. There is enough bread, sun, water and God's love in Kosovo and Metohija for all. It has been and is being shown to everyone with a soul and reason that violence and pogroms, division, hatred and crime, no matter whence they come, have never brought nor will bring happiness to anyone. Evil cannot bring good. One's future cannot be build on tragedy and the innocently spilled tears and blood of others, especially innocent children. It is good that that expelled Albanians returned to their centuries-old homes and restored them. Is it not equally good that expelled Serbs and other residents of Kosovo and Metohija return as soon as possible to live in peace and freedom in their centuries-old homes? God's justice requires it, as does fundamental human compassion and general human and European standards of democracy and compassion. Every trampling of eternal moral laws and general human justice will sooner or later return to individuals and peoples in God's measure and justice.

We wish to thank Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren for his fraternal love. We also wish to thank the command and soldiers of the Italian KFOR contingent for their dedicated efforts to ensure security for all participants at today's event, which we shared with all those present in Holy Decani. Finally, we wish to thank the new Bishop Teodosije and his Decani Brotherhood for the love and hospitality shown to us and all visitors and pilgrims to this medieval shrine of its Holy Patron, St. Stefan of Decani, King and Martyr. We wish the Bishop, the Brotherhood and the people in this Holy Shrine and in every other Holy Shrine of God and the people in Kosovo and Metohija, God's peace, human peace, blessings, justice and freedom in the Holy Spirit.

In Visoki Decani on June 20, 2004.

+ Archbishop of Pec and Serbian Patriarch Pavle
Bishop Artemije of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija 
Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan
Metropolitan Ambrosios of Kozani (retired)
Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral
Metropolitan Jovan of Veles, Exarch of Ohrid
Bishop Irinej of Nis
Bishop Vasilije of Zvornik and Tuzla
Bishop Lukijan of Budim
Bishop Georgije of Canada
Bishop Irinej of Backa
Bishop Konstantine of Central Europe
Bishop Pahomije of Vranje
Bishop Jovan of Sumadija
Bishop Joanikije of Budimlje and Polimlje
Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina
Bishop Porfirije of Jegar
Bishop Joakim of Velicka
Bishop Atanasije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina (retired)
Archimandrite Jovan, the newly elected Bishop of Dioklija
Archimandrite Maksim, the newly elected Bishop of Hum