FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING THE INTER-FAITH CONFERENCE IN PEC

Inter-religious cooperation in Kosovo

Office of the Kosovo and Metohija Committee
of the Serbian Orthodox Church's Holy Assembly of Bishops http://www.kosovo-office.org/ 

http://www.kosovo-office.org/index.php?categoryid=10&p2_articleid=114

More direct inter-religious cooperation between religious representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Islamic Community, the largest religious communities in Kosovo, began with the Conference of Religious Leaders in Vienna on March 18, 1999, immediately prior to the NATO bombing and the armed conflict in Kosovo. It was an eleventh hour attempt by religious leaders to prevent bloodshed and the horrors of war looming over the entire region. At the conference in Vienna, Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren, on behalf of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Mufti Cemajl Morina (Islamic Community of Kosovo) and the late Roman Catholic Bishop Marko Sopi sent a powerful appeal for respect for the rights of all communities in Kosovo, condemning violence, interethnic hatred and the destruction of religious sites. This conference was organized by Rabbi Arthur Schneier from the United States of America and his organization Appeal of Consciousness with the sponsorship of the Government of the Republic of Austria.

From the Inter-religious conference in Vienna, March 16-18, 1999
(from left to right: Mufti Camajl Morina, Bishop Artemije, late Bishop Marko Sopi)

After the armed conflict in Kosovo, which ended on June 1999 with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the arrival of NATO peacekeeping forces, cooperation among the religious representatives continued. On April 13, 2000, on the occasion of a visit by representatives of the Inter-religious Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina to Kosovo, the Inter-religious Council of Kosovo was officially formed. The founding of the Council was marked by the signing of a declaration on tolerance by Bishop Artemije, Mufti Rexhep Boja and Roman Catholic Bishop Marko Sopi. The ceremonial signing took place in the presence of then UNMIK chief Dr. Bernard Kouchner. The restoration of inter-religious dialogue and forming of this Council was especially contributed to by the organization World Conference of Religions for Peace headed by Mr. William Wendley, who had been working on establishing communications among the religious representatives in Kosovo and Metohija prior to the war. In the joint declaration all three sides most sharply condemned violence against innocent civilians during and after the war, committing themselves to work together on the building of a democratic society and respect for the rights of all citizens. They also expressed the desire to work together on the restoration and protection of all religious sites in Kosovo and Metohija.

After the forming of the Inter-religious Council of Kosovo several meetings of religious representatives from Kosovo and Metohija took place with the aim of furthering cooperation and support for interethnic reconciliation and tolerance. Gatherings were held in Amman, Jordan (May 2000) and Oslo, Norway (September 2001). At the same time meetings continued at the local level between representatives of the working groups of the Inter-religious Council until 2003. Meetings of the Council have not taken place in the last two years due to inadequate progress and results in the work of the Council, especially after the tragic events of the March pogrom in March 2004.

Wishing to stimulate further inter-religious cooperation, the Serbian Orthodox Church gave the initiative for the restoration and furthering of the work of the Inter-religious Council of Kosovo, and hence the idea was developed of organizing an inter-faith conference in the Pec Patriarchate in May 2006 to find opportunities for the furthering of peace, mutual respect, co-existence and cooperation through institutional forms of dialogue and concrete projects. The wish of the host and the organizers of the Conference is to encourage the spirit of ethnic and religious reconcilliation and facilitate the return of all displaced persons to Kosovo regardles of their origin.

Organization of the Conference in the name of the Serbian Orthodox Church

The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church has appointed H.G. Bishop Irinej of Backa and H.G. Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan (the Abbot of Decani Monastery) to organize the Conference in cooperation with the Norwegian Church Aid (Mr. Francois Perez). In the name of His Holiness Patriarch Pavle the Conference will be hosted by His Eminence Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral who also bears the title "The Guardian of the Pec Throne". The Monastery of Pec Patriarchate is a stauropegial Monastery which jurisdictionally belongs to the Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch.

Reference material:

Declaration of the Inter-religious Council in Vienna, March 1999 (in English)
http://www.kosovo.net/decl2.html

Declaration of the Inter-religious Council of Kosovo, Pristina, April 2000 (in English)
http://www.kosovo.net/interrel.html 

Participants invited to participate in the Inter-faith Conference in Pec on May 2-3, 2006

Islamic Community of Kosovo:
http://www.bashkesiaislame.net/

1) Naim Trnava, Mufti of Kosovo 
2) Cemajl Morina, imam, media advisor 
3) Ejup Ramadani, chief of cabinet to the Mufti of Kosovo 
4)Sabri Bajgora, imam from Pristina 
5) Nexhmedin Hoxha, imam from Pec 

*"xh" in Albanian is read as "j" in English

Serbian Orthodox Church:
http://www.spc.rs ; http://www.kosovo.net/socheng.html

1) Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral
http://www.mitropolija.cg.yu/aktuelno/saopstenja/cv-amfilohije.html
2) Bishop Irinej of Backa, member of the Holy Synod of Bishops
http://www.eparhija-backa.org.yu/index_strane/eparhijski_arhijerej.htm
3) Bishop Jovan of Sumadija, member of the Holy Synod of Bishops*
http://www.eparhija-sumadijska.org.yu/Episkop/biograf.html
4) Vicar Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan, the Abbot of Decani MOnastery
http://www.kosovo.net/main.html 
5) Hieromonk Irinej Dobrijevic, Chief of the Kosovo office, Belgrade
http://www.kosovo-office.org 
6) Protosingel Petar Ulemek, abbot of Zociste Monastery
7) Protosingel Nektarije Vorgucic, Decani Monastery
8) Presbyter Aleksandar Krstic, Pec-Gorazdevac

(on his particular request Bishop Artemije would not participate the Conference. The Holy Synod of Bishops has appointed His Grace Bishop Jovan of Sumadija instead. Bishop Jovan was the leader of the recent SOC delegation to the U.S)

Roman Catholic Church:

1) Don Lush Gjergji, vicar of Prizren 
2) Don Shan Zefi, secretary of the Bishopric in Prizren
3) Don Lorenc Sopi, parish priest of Pec
4) Don Robert Jakaj, assistant parish priest

In addition to the aforementioned invitees it is expected that the following representatives will be present at the opening ceremony of the conference: Rabbi Isak Asijel from Belgrade, representing the Jewish Community, and evangelical pastor Arthur Krasniqi from Pristina. These religious representatives would also address the audience at the opening ceremony.

Moderators of conference in Pec Patriarchate:

1) Norwegian Bishop Gunnar Stĺlsett from Oslo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Stĺlsett
2) Protopresbyter Leonid Kishkovsky, Orthodox Church in America (OCA) http://www.oca.org/DOCindex-kishkovsky.asp?SID=12
3) President of the Islamic Community of FYR Macedonia, Mufti Jakub Selimovski

The program of the Conference:

Tuesday, 2 May 2006

12.00 - 12.30 Opening ceremony at the Patriarchate of Pec Monastery with short statements by religious leaders and international representatives, photo opportunity. The opening ceremony will be attended by representatives of UNMIK, KFOR, OSCE, EU, NGO's, diplomatic offices in Pristina, directors of Institutes for protection of cultural monuments from Belgrade (Mrs. Gordana Markovic) and from Pristina (Mr. Baki Svirka) and others.

- 1) Metropolitan Amfilohije - Serbian Orthodox Church
- 2) General Vicar Gjergji Lush  - Catholic Church
- 3) Mufti Naim Ternava - Islamic community
- 4) Pastor Artur Krasniqi - Evangelical Church
- 5) Rabbi Yitshak Asiel - Federation of Jewish Communities
- 6) Patricia Waring, SRSG representative, UNMIK
- 7) Lt.General Giuseppe Valotto, COMKFOR
- 8) Anne-Lise Fosssland – Norwegian Church Aid

13.00-13.15 Press Conference

13.15- 14.15 Reception in the Patriarchate monastery garden

14.15 End of opening ceremony
In the afternoon: The beginning of the working part of the Conference (only participants)

20.00 - dinner at the monastery refectory hosted by Abbes Fevronia

Wednesday, 3 May, 2006

In the morning the official sessions of the Conference will be resumed in the Monastery Conference room.

After the official closing of the Conference and the reading of the Joint Statement the participants and invited guests with the media would visit three religious sites in the town: a Roman Cahtolic church, a Mosque and an Orthodox church accompanied by Pec Mayor Ali Lajci.

After the lunch which will be hosted by the Mayor of Pec and the Islamic Community the participants of the Conference would procede to Decani. They would be met by the Mayor of Decani Mr. Nazmi Selmanaj and would walk together to the town mosque. Afterwards, the participants and other guests would visit Visoki Decani Monastery.

Pec and Decani are towns in which no Serbs live now because they all were forced to leave after the end of the war in 1999. Serbian Orthodox Church hopes that the example of religious leaders would strengthen the inter-ethnic confidence and encourage local Albanian population to allow normal return of Serb citizens of these two cities who have been living as refugees in Serbia and Montenegro.

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Special Assistance by Italian KFOR

Serbian Orthodox Church and the Norwegian Church Aid would particularly like to thank to Italian KFOR for its important contribution in preparation of the Conference. COMKFOR Gen. Giuseppe Valotto and Brigadier General MNB SW Claudio Mora with their officers and soldiers have been offering full assistance to the Sisterhood of Pec Patriarchate providing not only security but also assistance for the entire organization of this important event.