Destruction of churches and church property on Kosovo in days of March Pogrom (March 17-19, 2004)

In the monastery we did not believe that the Germans would allow the mob to head toward us. The road to the monastery passes through the Bistrica River gorge. On one side the cliffs rise almost vertically and other is the river itself, so the road could have been blocked very easily. The Germans could have placed a blockade and barricades. However, it appears that KFOR had no intention of stopping the mob which, having finished its revelry in Prizren, slowly moved in the direction of the monastery. Screams of fury and hate could be heard echoing through the gorge.

At about 20:45 one of our brother monks went to the German guard post to ask about the security situation. The commander of the German guard, visibly frightened, told him demonstrations were in progress. Upon returning to the residence hall, the brother monk heard the large mob of Albanians approaching the monastery itself and chanting KLA, KLA. In the blink of an eye, the Germans flew into the monastery and ordered us to immediately evacuate. The brothers quickly collected relics, vestments and two valuable icons, and ran into the courtyard to enter a German armored vehicle. We did not have time to take even the most basic personal belongings.

What remains of the former residence hall of Holy Archangels Monastery. Chapel of Holy Bishop Nikolai of Zica with its iconostasis made by Decani monks and valuable icons by the sisterhood of Sokolica Monastery all perished in the fire. Although only a week ago Col. Hintelmann promised monks that they will be protected he did not keep his officer's word and left the monastery to complete destruction of the Albanian mob.

The Albanian mob was already in front of the monastery; it seemed to stop for a moment, gauging the 15-odd soldiers, waiting for their reaction. Having become convinced that the Germans were not ready to use their weapons to defend the monastery, the Albanians crossed the river and forced their way into the monastery courtyard. The German armored vehicle with us inside it sped out of the monastery courtyard as we watched the first Molotov cocktails falling on the roof of our monastery residence hall. Other Albanians were entering and removing valuable items from the monastery itself. None of the German soldiers reacted by so much as moving a finger. They did not even fire warning shots into the air; no one even attempted to step in front of the mob. We were horrified because for years we have been told that they were here to protect us and secure the monastery. It became clear that the monastery was purposely left to be destroyed and that all that the Germans were prepared to save was our very lives.

The devastation of the monastery continued at full speed. When Fr. Benedict visited the burned monastery two days later, the German soldier told him that the remaining members of the German guard remained in the monastery and calmly watched the Albanians destroying church property, breaking icons, burning buildings, celebrating that night on the ruins of the monastery. Finally, using pickaxes they began to dig up the tomb of Holy King Dusan in the foundation of the medieval church, even though the relics of the Serbian ruler were long ago transferred to Belgrade and rest in the church of St. Mark. Some soldiers were taking pictures of the destruction in progress, like tourists; once the Albanians had determined that they had no intention of stopping them in what they were doing, they completely ignored the troop that were present. It was a repeat of scenes from 1999 when German soldiers calmly watched the ethnic cleansing of Prizren, and the destruction of dozens of churches blown up by the Albanians during the first months of the "international protectorate".

The brotherhood was evacuated to the German base in Sredska, a few kilometers south of the monastery. As we were driving away we saw the monastery in flames rising high and casting their light on the entire gorge in the crystal clear night. Deeply shaken by these events and saddened by the burning of our shrine, especially our chapel of St. Nikolai of Zica, we hoped that in Sredska we would at least find a humane word and assistance from the soldiers. However, we were lodged in exceptionally poor conditions. The soldiers' attitude toward the monks was cold, indifferent even condescending. One soldier was constantly in the room with us to ensure that we did not go anywhere. We felt like prisoners.

One of the brothers asked for an aspirin. A German soldier opened a cupboard and took out a box of aspirin. He then reconsidered and finally removed one sheet from the box of aspirin. He again reconsidered and decided that even that was too much and decided to give him a tablet. As he was removing the tablet from the packaging, the tablet fell on the ground. The German soldier started to press out another tablet, thought about it and in the end decided to give the monk the tablet that had fallen on the ground. The horrified monk calmly took the tablet while the soldiers resumed watching a movie on their video apparatus. The monks spent the rest of the evening in prayer.

After visiting Prizren Bishop Artemije also stopped to see the burned monastery of Holy Archangels and then visited the Archangels monks in the village of Sredska. The Bishop consoled the monks, who are firmly determined to return to their holy shrine and to live in a prefabricated house until the monastery is restored. "Today I sent an official letter to the German commander in Prizren requesting that the monks be returned to the monastery as soon as possible with KFOR protection. "All delays in their return, as well as of the return of the sisterhood of Devic, on which we will also insist, will be interpreted as a sign of support for the policy of ethnic cleansing which has been carried out to forever destroy Christian holy shrines and prevent the return of expelled Serbs," said the Bishop, emphasizing that the destroyed homes of all tragedy-stricken Serbs must be repaired, and that all displaced people must be enabled to return to their centuries-old homes. "The organizers of last week's pogrom must be made to understand that the policy of terrorism and violence will not get them what they want because the civilized world will not tolerate such arguments by barbarian hordes."

"As well, in my letter to the German commander I expressed my sharp protest against the violence against the religious freedoms and dignity against our Serbs, residents of Prizren, who are temporarily lodged in the German military camp and who were subjected to Roman Catholic mass and communion yesterday without my knowledge and against their will. Taking advantage of the tragic experience of these people for purposes of religious proselytism is absolutely unacceptable and I will soon also discuss this issue with the Holy Synod of Bishops (of the Serbian Orthodox Church)," concluded Bishop Artemije in an exclusive interview with the ERP KIM Info Service.