DECANI, April 19, 2006 (Tanjug)

Bishop Teodosije - hegumen (abbot) of Visoki Decani Monastery

The decision on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija must not be rushed and any solution should be the result of negotiations and compromises by both sides involved in the negotiations or it will not bring long-term stability to the Serbian province, Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan assessed today.

In a Paschal interview for Tanjug the Bishop pointed out that only when a satisfactory solution for normal living conditions for the Serb people and the protection of their holy shrines is achieved will it be possible to responsibly address the resolution of the future status of Kosovo.

Staying and survival of the Serbs in the province should be a priority in the talks between Belgrade and Pristina, said the Bishop, adding that the solution for future status must enable safety for everyone, regardless of their ethnic origin or religion.

"I sincerely believe that this goal is achievable but it requires a lot of good will from both negotiating parties, as well as the firm position of the international community that resolving the status must not lead to the persecution and suffering of the people," said Teodosije.

The Bishop also believes that no one has the moral right to turn the Serbs into strangers in their own homes and to deny them their name and identity because, he said, this concept of society has been transcended and cannot lead to a European future.

He noted that regardless of the agreement on future status, Serbs should stay in their homes just as for centuries they "stayed and survived" despite wars, border changes and persecutions.

Highlighting the importance of Belgrade's role in negotiations with respect to the return of all those who were forced to leave their homes under various forms of pressure, the Bishop said that the Serbs are a "proud but honorable and tolerant people", who are aware that their place is right here regardless of the political reality.

"Young people need to be given jobs, opportunities, the possibility of starting and supporting their own families in the places where they themselves grew up," said the Bishop.

He said that the restitution of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church and numerous property issues are very complex and therefore must be resolved under strong international control and with the help of international legal experts and the Serbian diaspora.

Bishop Teodosije said that the insistence of the Serbian Orthodox Church on preventing the privatization of real property for which evidence exists were once owned by the Church is in accordance with the effort to thus prevent the immediate sale of church land that is presently socially owned.

Teodosije announced that an inter-faith conference hosted by the Serbian Orthodox Church would be held in the Pec Patriarchate Monastery on May 2-3 on the Church's initiative.

He said that this would be an opportunity for representatives of all religious to send a powerful joint message that "the only real path forward is the path of dialogue and mutual respect of the identity and rights of every community regardless of their differences".

The Bishop's message to Kosovo and Metohija Serbs was that they must remain tolerant despite all difficulties, as well as full of optimism and hope in a better future.

"How much better things will be for us does not depend only on others but also on ourselves and the extent to which we are ready and able to confront the situation in which we are living in accordance with the Gospels, as Christians," he said.

The Bishop expressed his satisfaction with the pace at which Serbian churches and monasteries destroyed and damaged during Albanian violence in March 2004 are being restored.

He also reminded that during the past seven years in Kosovo and Metohija 150 holy shrines have been destroyed or seriously damaged but that despite this the monks and nuns have retained their spiritual strength, thanks primarily to their bishop and spiritual father, Bishop Artemije.

On behalf of the brotherhood of Visoki Decani Monastery and the many who are enduring and surviving in Kosovo and Metohija, Bishop Teodosije wished all the faithful a happy and blessed feast of the Resurrection.

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