Byzantine Blog

These days many Americans complain of being bombarded with stupid propaganda leaflets clogging up their email boxes, from Al Gore (I thought he's saving the planet now, after failing - miserably - to persuade his compatriots to vote him into the White House).

Apart from begging for donations and the support for the Democratic party in the next elections, the messages even provide the email address.

Here is the part of one of pathetic messages a Serbian-American received:

Dear [first name],

Less Than 100 Days to Go!
In less than 100 days, we can put an end to the Republican one-party rule and bring America a new direction. In less than 100 days, history will be made. The 2006 mid-term elections will be upon us and their outcome will determine the future of the Bush presidency and, in many ways, the future of our country.

There is no path to victory in 2008 elections if we do not have success in 2006 - it is just that simple. President Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove will either use their last two years to fulfill their wildest right-wing dreams, hoping to cement a "permanent Republican majority" as they put it, or face accountability and a progressive agenda in Congress for the first time.

And, that is why I am writing you. You have been instrumental in the DCCC's successes this year. Today, I ask that you take one more step and join me and my friends at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in our historic campaign to win back the U.S. House by giving the most generous gift you possibly can to the DCCC today [blah, blah, blah...]

The message is signed by Al Gore, and comes with a PS:

We have an overriding task before us to do everything in our power to ensure that when America wakes up on November 8th, 2006, the Democratic Party is in control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Contribute to the DCCC today and make victory in less than 100 days a reality.

This particular Serbian-American wasn't lazy to respond:

Dear Mr. Gore,

I am originally from Europe and I am not used to people that I've never met call me by my first name.

You were a part of the Administration that bombed the country of my birth, Serbia, for the interests of the narco and prostitution ring leaders, KLA.

My best friend's father, an anti fascist veteran from WWII, was killed in the bombing. I know few others who were killed in your "humanitarian" bombing. Please stop sending me these messages since I can never be supportive of you, your party, and your causes.

Sincerely, [full name]

One would expect the man who invented Internet and his trolls to have a bit higher IQ and go beg from those who have already been paying for their Gore-Kerry-Clark presidential campaigns: KLA terrorists, Bosnian and other Muslim jihadists, Croats... Those are your voters, your crowd.

But I guess it's never enough, so they're starting to knock on Serbian doors too. Tough luck! I would really like to see the Serbian American who would give his vote to Democrats, or throw one yellow cent to the Dogs of Global Jihad and KLA employees, after the Clinton-Albright-Holbrooke-Clark bloody dance over Serbian lands. Keep knocking, though, seeing you defeated again and again does bring some measure of relief.

Posted by Svetlana at 06:17 PM | Permalink

Old Serbian Fairy Tale

Ninth Peacock

Once upon a time there lived a great king who had three sons. Now, before the king's palace grew a tree of solid gold apples, which in one and the same night blossomed, bore fruit, and lost all its fruit, though no one could tell who took the apples. One day the king, speaking to his eldest son, said, “I should like to know who takes the fruit from our apple tree!”

And the eldest son said, “I will keep guard tonight, Your Majesty, and will see who gathers our apples.”

So when the evening came he went and laid under the apple tree, upon the ground to watch. Just, however, as the apples started to ripen, he fell asleep and when he awoke in the morning there was not a single apple left on the tree. Whereupon he went and told his father what had happened.

Then the second son offered to keep watch by the tree, but he had no better success than his eldest brother.

So the turn came to the king's youngest son to keep guard. He made his preparations, brought his bed under the tree, and immediately went to sleep. Before midnight he awoke and looked up at the tree, and saw how the apples ripened, lighting up the whole garden and the majestic palace with their dazzling brightness.

At that moment there was a soft rustle of velvety wings and nine golden peacocks flew towards the tree. Eight of them fell upon the apple tree, but the ninth alighted on the young prince's bed and turned instantly into a beautiful girl -- so beautiful, indeed, that the whole kingdom could not produce one who could in any way compare with her.

She gently smiled and hugged the dazed prince and they kissed and caressed each other till after midnight. As the dawn approached, the girl prepared to leave, thanking the prince for the golden apples. He begged her to leave him at least one apple to take to his father. She gave him two, one for himself and one for the king. Then the girl turned again into a peacock, and flew away with the other eight. In the morning, the king's son took the two apples to his father, and the king was much pleased, and praised his son.

When the evening came, the king's youngest son took his place again under the apple tree to keep guard over it. Again the nine golden peacocks came, the eight of them settling in the branches of the apple tree and the ninth one flew to his bed. They again kissed and hugged each other like the night before, and in the morning brought to his father two apples of solid gold as before.

But, after he had succeeded so well several nights, his two elder brothers grew envious because he had been able to do what they could not. At length they found an old woman, who promised to discover how the youngest brother had succeeded in saving the two apples each night. So, as the evening came, the old woman stole softly under the bed which stood under the apple tree, and hid herself. And after a while, came also the king's youngest son, and laid himself down as usual to sleep. When it was near midnight the nine golden peacocks flew up as before, and eight of them settled on the branches, and the ninth stood on his bed, and turned into a most beautiful girl.

When the young prince and the peacock girl hugged each other, the old woman slowly took hold of one of the girl's braids, and cut it off, and the girl swiftly rose up in fear, changing again into a luminous peacock and flew away without a word, and the other peacocks followed her, and so they all disappeared.

Brokenhearted, the king's son jumped up and cried out, “What is that?” and, looking under the bed, he saw the old evil woman, and drew her out. Next morning he ordered her to be tied to a horse's tail, and so torn to pieces. But the peacocks never came back, so the king's son wallowed in sadness day in and out, and wept at his loss.

Finding no comfort and losing all hope his golden peacock girl will ever come back to him, he decided to go and look after her, resolving never to come back again unless he should find her. When he told the king his father of his intention, the king begged him not do go away, and told him that he would find him another beautiful girl, and that he might choose the bride out of the whole kingdom.

But all the king's persuasions were useless, so the prince went into the world taking only one servant to serve him, to search for his peacock on the sea and on the ground, in the mountains and on the plains throughout the vast world.

Magic Bellows

One day, after many travels, he came to a lake. Now by the lake stood a large and beautiful palace. In the palace lived an old woman as queen, and with the queen lived a girl, her daughter. Tired of the long roads and weary of the places where no one knew about the golden peacocks, the prince pleaded with the old woman, “For heaven's sake, grandmother, do you happen to know anything about nine golden peacocks?”

And the old woman answered, “My dear son, - said the old queen, - I know all about them. They come every midday to bathe in this very lake. But what do you want with them? Let them be. Think nothing about them. Here is my daughter -- such a beautiful girl! And such an heiress! All my wealth will be yours if you marry her.”

But the prince suddenly awash with joy, burning with desire to see the peacocks, would not listen to the old woman any more, nor take a second look at her daughter.

Next morning, when day dawned, the prince prepared to go down to the lake to wait for the peacocks. Then the old queen bribed the servant and gave him a little pair of bellows, saying, “Take these bellows and when you come to the lake you must blow secretly with them behind the prince's neck, so he will fall asleep and will not be able to speak to the peacock-girl.”

The crooked servant did as the old woman told him. When he went with his master down to the lake, he took occasion to blow with the bellows behind his neck, and the poor prince fell asleep just as though he were dead.

Shortly after, the nine golden peacocks came flying, and eight of them alighted by the lake, but the ninth flew towards the prince as he sat on horseback, and caressed him, and tried to awaken him. “Awake my darling! Awake, my heart! Awake, my soul!”

But for all that he knew nothing, just as if he were dead.

After they had bathed, all the peacocks flew away together, and just as they were gone the prince woke up, and said to his servant, “What has happened? Did they not come?”

The servant told him the nine golden peacocks had been at the lake, and that eight of them had bathed, but the ninth sat by him on his horse, and caressed and tried to awaken him. And when the king's son heard all this, he was so angry that he almost killed himself in his rage.

Next morning he went down to the lake shore again to wait for the peacocks, and he rode about a long time till the servant again found an opportunity of blowing with the bellows behind his neck, so that he again fell asleep as though dead. Hardly had he fallen asleep before the nine golden peacocks came flying, and eight of them alighted by the water, but the ninth settled down by the side of his horse and caressed him, and cried out to awaken him, “Arise, my darling! Arise, my heart! Arise my soul!”

But it was of no use. The prince slept on as if he were dead. Then she said to the servant, “Tell your master tomorrow he can see us here again, but nevermore.”

With these words the peacocks flew away. Immediately after, the king's son woke up and asked his servant, “Have they not been here?”

And the man answered, “Yes, they have been, and the one that settled down by the side of your horse trying to wake you up said that you can see them again tomorrow at this place, but after that they will not return again.”

When the sorrowful prince heard that, he knew not what to do with himself, and in his great trouble and misery tore the hair from his head.

The third day he went down again to the shore but, fearing to fall asleep, instead of riding slowly, galloped along the shore. His servant, however, found an opportunity of blowing with the bellows behind his neck, and again the prince fell asleep.

A moment after came the nine golden peacocks, and the eight alighted on the lake and the ninth by him on his horse, and sought to awaken him, caressing him. “Arise, my darling! Arise, my heart! Arise, my soul!”

But it was of no use. The prince slept on as if dead. Then the peacock said to the servant, “When your master awakens tell him he ought to strike off the head of the nail from the lower part, and then he will find me.”

Thereupon all the peacocks fled away. Immediately the king's son awoke and said to his servant, “Have they been here?”

And the servant answered, “They have been, and the one which alighted on your horse ordered me to tell you to strike off the head of the nail from the lower part, and then you will find her.”

When the prince heard that, he drew his sword and cut off his servant's head.

Twelve Cellars

After that he traveled alone about the world, and, after long traveling, came to a mountain where he found an old hermit. The prince remained all night there and asked the hermit if he knew anything about nine golden peacocks.

The hermit said, "Eh, my son, you are lucky! God has led you to the right path. From this place it is only a half a day's walk. But you must go straight on, then you will come to a large gate, which you must pass through. And, after that, you must keep always to the right hand, and so you will come to the golden peacocks' city, and you will find their palace there."

So next morning the king's son arose, and prepared to go. He thanked the hermit, and went as the old man instructed him. After a while he came to the great gate and, having passed it, turned to the right, so that at midday he saw the city, and beholding how white it shone, rejoiced very much.

When he came into the city he found the palace where lived the nine golden peacocks. At the gate the prince was stopped by the guard who demanded to know who he was and whence he came. After he had answered these questions, the guards went to announce him to the queen.

When the queen heard who he was, she came running to the gate and took him by the hand to lead him into the palace. This was his young and beautiful maiden, and so there was a great rejoicing when, after a few days, he married her and remained to live there with her.

One day, some time after their marriage, the queen went out to walk, and her young husband remained in the palace. Before going out, however, the queen gave him the keys of twelve cellars, telling him, “You may go down into all the cellars except the twelfth -- that must on no account be open, or it will cost you your head.”

As he stayed by himself in the palace, the king's son began to wonder what could there be in the twelfth cellar, and soon commenced opening one cellar after the other.

When he came to the twelfth he would not open it at first, heeding his wife's warning, but again began to wonder very much why would he be forbidden to go in. “What could possibly be in this cellar?!” he exclaimed.

At last, he couldn't bear the bewilderment and opened the last cellar too. In the middle of the dark and damp cellar lay a big barrel with an open bung-hole, but bound fast round with three iron hoops. Just when the prince thought there really wasn't anything here worth the time or fear, a deep strong voice called on to him from the barrel, saying, “For God's sake, my brother, I am dying with thirst. Do a good deed and give me a cup of water!”

The king's son took a cup and filled it with water from a drum nearby, and emptied it into the barrel. While the last drops of water still hung upon the cup's rim, one of the iron hoops on the barrel burst asunder with the loud crack.

Again came the deep voice from the barrel, “For God's sake, my brother, I am dying of thirst. Do a good deed and give me a cup of water!”

The king's son filled the cup again and emptied it into the barrel. Instantly there was another loud crack and another iron hoop burst asunder.

The third time the deep, strong voice came out of the barrel, “For God's sake, my brother, I am dying of thirst. Do a good deed and give me a cup of water!”

The king's son again took the cup and filled it, and poured the water into the barrel, and the third iron hoop loudly burst. The barrel fell to pieces like it was built out of matchsticks, and a mighty dragon filled the cellar with his wings and flew out, catching the young queen on the road and carrying her away.

Fish, Fox and Wolf

The queen's servant who followed the queen on her walk, ran back breathlessly, telling the king's son what had happened. And the poor prince was grief stricken and knew not what to do with himself, so desperate was he, and full of self reproaches. He resolved to set out and travel through the world in search of his queen.

After long journeying, one day he came to a lake, and near it, in a little hole, he saw a little fish jumping about. When the fish saw the king's son, she began to beg pitifully, “For the love of God, be my brother, and throw me into the water. Some day I may be of use to you, so take a little scale from me and rub it gently when you need me.”

And the king's son lifted the little fish from the hole and threw her into the water, after he had taken one small scale, which he wrapped up carefully in a handkerchief.

Some time afterwards, as he traveled about the world, he came upon a fiery fox caught in an iron trap. When the fox saw the prince, she spoke, “For the love of God, be a brother to me, and help me get out of this trap. One day you will need me, so take a single hair from my tail, and rub it gently when you need me.”

And the king's son took a hair from the tail of the fox, and set her free.

As he crossed a mountain, the prince found a wolf fast in a trap, and when the wolf saw him, he spoke, “Be a brother to me! For the love of God, set me free, and one day I will help you. Only take a hair from me, and when you need me, rub it gently.”

So he took the hair, and set the wolf free.

After that, the king's son traveled about a very long time, till one day he met a man, to whom he said, “For God's sake, brother, have you ever heard where is the palace of the dragon king?”

The man knew about the dragon king's palace and gave him directions which way to take, and in what length of time he could get there. Then the king's son thanked him and continued his journey until he came to the city where the dragon king lived.

Once he arrived to the city, the prince went into the palace and found therein his wife, and both of them were exceedingly pleased to meet each other, and began to take counsel how to escape. They resolved to run away, and prepared hastily for the journey. When all was ready they mounted on horseback and galloped away.

As soon as they were gone, the dragon came home, also on horseback and, entering his palace, found that the queen had gone away. Then he said to his horse, “What shall we do now? Shall we eat and drink, or go at once after them?”

The horse answered, “Let us eat and drink first. We shall catch them anyway. Do not worry, master.”

After the dragon king had dined, he mounted his wind-fast horse, and in a few moments caught up with the runaways. He took the queen from the king's son and said to him, “Go in God's name! This time I forgive you, because you gave me water in the cellar. But if you value your life, do not come back here any more!”

The unhappy young prince went on his way a little, but could not long resist, so he came back the next day to the dragon king's palace, and found the queen sitting alone and weeping.

Then they began again to consult how to get away. And the prince said, “When the dragon comes, ask him where he got that horse, and then you will tell me so that I can look for such a horse too; perhaps in this way we can escape.”

He then went away, lest the dragon should come and find him with the queen.

By and by the dragon came home, and the queen began to pet him, and speak sweetly to him about many things, till at last she said, “Ah! what a fine horse you have! Where did you get such a splendid horse?”

And the dragon king answered, “Eh! The place I got it not everyone can get one! In such and such a mountain lives an old witch who has twelve horses in her stable, and no one can say which is the finest, they are all so strong and healthy and beautiful. But in the farthest corner of the stable stands a horse which looks as if he has leprosy but, in truth, he is the very best horse in the whole world. He is the brother of my horse, and whoever gets him may ride into the clouds and over the sky. But whoever wishes to get a horse from that old witch, must serve her for three days and three nights. She has a mare with a foal, and whoever during three nights keeps this mare and the foal for her, has a right to claim the best horse from the old hag's stable. But whoever promises to keep watch over the mare with the foal and fails will lose his head!”

A Kingdom for a Horse

Next day, when the dragon went out, the king's son came, and the queen told him all she had learned from the dragon. The prince went straight away to the mountain and found the old witch, and entered her house. “God help you too, my son!, - brayed the old woman. - What do you wish?”

“I would like to serve you,” said the king's son. Then the old woman said, “Weeeehll, my son, if you can keep my mare safe for three days and three nights, I will give you the best horse that you can choose for yourself. But if you do not keep the mare safe, you shall lose your head.”

Scuffing and limping, the old woman led the prince into the courtyard, where all around stakes were ranged. Each of them had a man's head on it, except for one stake which had no head on it, and wailed incessantly, "Oh, grandmother, give me a skull!"

The old woman showed all this to the prince, and said, “Look here! All these were heads of those who tried to keep my mare, and they have lost their heads for their pains!”

But the prince was not a bit afraid, so he stayed to serve the old woman. When the evening came he mounted the mare and rode her into the field, and the foal followed behind. He sat still on her back, having made his mind up not to dismount, so that he would never lose the sight of her. But before midnight he slumbered a little, and when he awoke he found himself sitting on a rail and holding the limp empty bridle in his hand.

Then he was greatly alarmed, and went instantly to look about to find the mare, and whilst looking for her, he came to a small pond. When he saw the water he remembered the little fish, and took the scale from the handkerchief and rubbed it a little. And immediately the little fish appeared, singing in its small voice, “What is the matter, my brother?”

And the prince replied, “The old woman's mare ran away with a foal whilst under my charge, and now I don't know where she is!”

And the fish answered, “She is here, turned to a fish, and the foal to a smaller one. But strike once upon the water with the bridle and shout, ‘Hey! mare of the old woman, here!’”

The prince did as he was told, and immediately the mare came with the foal, out of the water to the shore. Then he put the bridle back on her, mounted and rode away to the old woman's house, and the foal followed. When he got there the old woman said nothing and gave him his breakfast. But she took the mare into the stable and beat her with a poker, hissing, “Why didn't you go into the fishes, you damned mare?!”

And the mare answered, “I went into the fishes, but the fish are his friends, and they gave me away.”

Then the witch jeered, “Then go among the foxes!”

When the evening came, the king's son mounted the mare and rode to the field, and the foal followed behind. Again he sat on the mare's back until near midnight, when he fell asleep as before. When he awoke, he found himself riding on the rail and holding the limp empty bridle in his hand.

So he was much frightened, and went to look after the mare. As he went, he remembered the words the old woman had said to the mare, and took the fiery fox's hair our of his handkerchief, rubbing it gently between his fingers. All at once the fox stood before him, and asked crisply, “What is the matter, brother?”

And the prince said, “The old woman's mare has run away with the foal, and I don't know where to look for her.”

Then the fox answered, “She is here, with us! She has turned into a fox, and the foal into a cub. But strike once with the bridle on the ground and shout, ‘Hey! old woman's mare, here!’”

So the king's son struck with the bridle on the ground and cried out, “Hey! old woman's mare, here!” and the mare obeyed and came and stood with her foal near him.

He put the bridle on her, and mounted and rode off home, and the foal followed the mare. When he arrived the old woman gave him his breakfast, but took the mare into the stable and beat her with the poker, crying, “To the foxes, damned one! To the foxes!”

And the mare answered, “I have been with the foxes, but they are his friends, and told him I was there!”

Then the old woman screeched, “If that is so, you must go among the wolves!”

When it grew dark again, the king's son mounted the mare and rode out to the field, and the foal galloped by the side of the mare. Again he sat still on the mare's back till about midnight, when he grew very sleepy and fell into a slumber, as on the former evenings, and when he awoke he found himself riding on the rail, holding the limp empty bridle in his hand, just as before.

Stricken with fear, he went in a hurry to look after the mare. As he went, he remembered the words the old woman had said to the mare, and took the wolf's hair from the handkerchief and rubbed it gently. Then the wolf came up to him and asked, “What is the matter, brother?”

And the prince answered, “The old woman's mare has run away with her foal, and I cannot tell where she is.”

The wolf said, “She is here, with us. She has turned herself into a wolf, and the foal into a wolf's cub. Strike once with the bridle on the ground and cry out, ‘Hey! old woman's mare, here!’”

And the king's son did so, and instantly the mare came again and stood with the foal beside him. So he bridled her, and galloped home, and the foal followed. When he arrived the old woman gave him his breakfast, but she led the mare into the stable and beat her with the poker, crying, “To the wolves, I said, miserable one!”

And the mare answered, “I have been to the wolves, but they are his friends, and they told him all about me!”

Then the old woman came out of the stable, and the king's son said to her, “Well, grandmother, I have served you honestly. Now give me what you promised.”

And the old woman answered reluctantly, “My son, what is promised must be fulfilled. So look here! Here are the twelve horses. Choose the one you like!”

And the prince said, “Why should I be picky? Just give me that leprous horse in the corner! Fine horses are not fitting for me!”

But the old woman pressed hard to persuade him to choose another horse, saying, “How can you be so foolish as to choose that pitiable leprous thing whilst there are such excellent horses here?”

The prince remained firm in his choice, and said to the old woman, “You ought to give me which I choose, for so you promised.”

So, when the old woman found she could not make him change his mind, she gave him the scabby horse, and he took leave of her, and went away, leading the horse by the halter.

When he came to a forest he curried and rubbed down the horse, and soon all the muck and dirt and mud fell off the horse and it shone as bright as the sun. The prince then mounted, and the horse flew like an eagle and in a few seconds brought the king's son to the dragon king's palace.

Rescue

The prince went in and said to the queen, “Get ready right away!” She was soon ready, when they both mounted the horse, and began their journey home. Soon after, the dragon came home, and when he saw the queen had disappeared, said to his horse, “What shall we do? Shall we eat and drink first, or shall we pursue them at once?”

The horse answered, “Whether we eat and drink or not, it is all the same. We shall never reach them.”

When the dragon heard that, he got quickly on his horse and galloped after them. When they saw the dragon following them, they pushed on quicker, but their horse said, “Do not be afraid! There is no need to run away.”

In a very few moments the dragon came very near to them, and his horse said to the prince's horse, “For God's sake, my brother, wait a moment! I shall kill myself running after you!”

The prince's horse answered, “Why are you so stupid as to carry that monster on your back? Fling your heels up and throw him off, and come along with me!”

When the dragon's horse heard that, he shook his head angrily and flung his feet high in the air, so that the dragon fell off and broke in pieces, and his horse came up to them.

Then the queen mounted the dragon king's horse and returned with her beloved husband happily to her kingdom, where they reigned together in great joy and prosperity until the end of time.

Illustrated by Jelena Obradović, a winner of the Golden Pen Plaque at the 8th International Biennal of Illustration and by Dobrosav Živković, for Serbian Fairy Tales book by Creative Centre, Belgrade, Serbia.

Posted by Svetlana at 03:36 PM | Permalink

By the Holy Father Justin (Popovich)

The attributes of the Church are innumerable because her attributes are actually the attributes of the Lord Christ, the God-man, and, through Him, those of the Triune Godhead.

However, the holy and divinely wise fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council, guided and instructed by the Holy Spirit, reduced them in the ninth article of the Symbol of Faith to four—I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. These attributes of the Church—unity, holiness, catholicity (Serb. sabornost, Rus. sobornost), and apostolicity—are derived from the very nature of the Church and of her purpose. They clearly and accurately define the character of the Orthodox Church of Christ whereby, as a theanthropic institution and community, she is distinguishable from any institution or community of the human sort.

The Unity and Uniqueness of the Church

Just as the Person of Christ the God-man is one and unique, so is the Church founded by Him, in Him, and upon Him. The unity of the Church follows necessarily from the unity of the Person of the Lord Christ, the God-man. Being an organically integral and theanthropic organism unique in all the worlds, the Church, according to all the laws of Heaven and earth, is indivisible. Any division would signify her death. Immersed in the God-man, she is first and foremost a theanthropic organism, and only then a theanthropic organization. In her, everything is theanthropic: nature, faith, love, baptism, the Eucharist, all the holy mysteries and all the holy virtues, her teaching, her entire life, her immortality, her eternity, and her structure. Yes, yes, yes; in her, everything is theanthropically integral and indivisible Christification, sanctification, deification, Trinitarianism, salvation. In her everything is fused organically and by grace into a single theanthropic body, under a single Head—the God-man, the Lord Christ. All her members, though as persons always whole and inviolate, yet united by the same grace of the Holy Spirit through the holy mysteries and the holy virtues into an organic unity, comprise one body and confess the one faith, which unites them to each other and to the Lord Christ.

The Christ-bearing apostles are divinely inspired as they announce the unity and the uniqueness of the Church, based upon the unity and uniqueness of her Founder—the God-man, the Lord Christ, and His theanthropic personality: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 3:11).

Like the holy apostles, the holy fathers and the teachers of the Church confess the unity and uniqueness of the Orthodox Church with the divine wisdom of the cherubim and the zeal of the seraphim. Understandable, therefore, is the fiery zeal which animated the holy fathers of the Church in all cases of division and falling away and the stern attitude toward heresies and schisms. In that regard, the holy ecumenical and holy local councils are preeminently important. According to their spirit and attitude, wise in those things pertaining to Christ, the Church is not only one but also unique. Just as the Lord Christ cannot have several bodies, so He cannot have several Churches. According to her theanthropic nature, the Church is one and unique, just as Christ the God-man is one and unique.

Hence, a division, a splitting up of the Church is ontologically and essentially impossible. A division within the Church has never occurred, nor indeed can one take place, while apostasy from the Church has and will continue to occur after the manner of those voluntarily fruitless branches which, having withered, fall away from the eternally living theanthropic Vine—the Lord Christ (John 15:1-6). From time to time, heretics and schismatics have cut themselves off and have fallen away from the one and indivisible Church of Christ, whereby they ceased to be members of the Church and parts of her theanthropic body. The first to fall away thus were the gnostics, then the Arians, then the Macedonians, then the Monophysites, then the Iconoclasts, then the Roman Catholics, then the Protestants, then the Uniates, and so on—all the other members of the legion of heretics and schismatics.

The Holiness of the Church

By her theanthropic nature, the Church is undoubtedly a unique organization in the world. All her holiness resides in her nature. Actually, she is the theanthropic workshop of human sanctification and, through men, of the sanctification of the rest of creation. She is holy as the theanthropic Body of Christ, whose eternal head is the Lord Christ Himself; and Whose immortal soul is the Holy Spirit. Wherefore everything in her is holy: her teaching, her grace, her mysteries, her virtues, all her powers, and all her instruments have been deposited in her for the sanctification of men and of all created things. Having become the Church by His incarnation out of an unparalleled love for man, our God and Lord Jesus Christ sanctified the Church by His sufferings, Resurrection, Ascension, teaching, wonder-working, prayer, fasting, mysteries, and virtues; in a word, by His entire theanthropic life. Wherefore the divinely inspired pronouncement has been rendered: “…Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27).

The flow of history confirms the reality of the Gospel: the Church is filled to overflowing with sinners. Does their presence in the Church reduce, violate, or destroy her sanctity? Not in the least! For her Head—the Lord Christ, and her Soul—the Holy Spirit, and her divine teaching, her mysteries, and her virtues, are indissolubly and immutably holy. The Church tolerates sinners, shelters them, and instructs them, that they may be awakened and roused to repentance and spiritual recovery and transfiguration; but they do not hinder the Church from being holy. Only unrepentant sinners, persistent in evil and godless malice, are cut off from the Church either by the visible action of the theanthropic authority of the Church or by the invisible action of divine judgment, so that thus also the holiness of the Church may be preserved. “Put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (I Cor. 5:13).

In their writings and at the Councils, the holy fathers confessed the holiness of the church as her essential and immutable quality. The fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council defined it dogmatically in the ninth article of the Symbol of Faith. And the succeeding ecumenical councils confirmed it by the seal of their assent.

The Catholicity (Rus. Sobornost, Serb. Sabornost) of the Church

The theanthropic nature of the Church is inherently and all-encompassingly universal and catholic: it is theanthropically universal and theanthropically catholic. The Lord Christ, the God-man, has by Himself and in Himself most perfectly and integrally united God and Man and, through man, all the worlds and all created things to God. The fate of creation is essentially linked to that of man (cf. Romans 8:19-24). In her theanthropic organism, the Church encompasses: “all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers” (Col. 1:16). Everything is in the God-man; He is the Head of the Body of the Church (Col. 1:17-18).

In the theanthropic organism of the Church everyone lives in the fullness of his personality as a living, godlike cell. The law of theanthropic catholicity encompasses all and acts through all. All the while, the theanthropic equilibrium between the divine and the human is always duly preserved. Being members of her body, we in the Church experience the fullness of our being in all its godlike dimensions. Furthermore: in the Church of the God-man, man experiences his own being as all-encompassing, as theanthropically all-encompassing; he experiences himself not only as complete, but also as the totality of creation. In a word: he experiences himself as a god-man by grace.

The theanthropic catholicity of the Church is actually an unceasing christification of many by grace and virtue: all is gathered in Christ the God-man, and everything is experienced through Him as one's own, as a single indivisible theanthropic organism. For life in the Church is a theanthropic catholicization, the struggle of acquiring by grace and virtue the likeness of the God-man, christification, theosis, life in the Trinity, sanctification, transfiguration, salvation, immortality, and churchliness. Theanthropic catholicity in the Church is reflected in and achieved by the eternally living Person of Christ, the God-man Who in the most perfect way has united God to man and to all creation, which has been cleansed of sin, evil, and death by the Savior's precious Blood (cf. Col. 1:19-22). The theanthropic Person of the Lord Christ is the very soul of the Church's catholicity. It is the God-man Who always preserves the theanthropic balance between the divine and the human in the catholic life of the Church. The Church is filled to overflowing with the Lord Christ, for she is “the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:23). Wherefore, she is universal in every person that is found within her, in each of her tiny cells. That universality, that catholicity resounds like thunder particularly through the holy apostles, through the holy fathers, through the holy ecumenical and local councils.

The Apostolicity of the Church

The holy apostles were the first god-men by grace. Like the Apostle Paul each of them, by his integral life, could have said of himself: “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). Each of them is a Christ repeated; or, to be more exact, a continuation of Christ. Everything in them is theanthropic because everything was recieved from the God-man. Apostolicity is nothing other than the God-manhood of the Lord Christ, freely assimilated through the holy struggles of the holy virtues: faith, love, hope, prayer, fasting, etc. This means that everything that is of man lives in them freely through the God-man, thinks through the God-man, feels through the God-man, acts through the God-man and wills through the God-man. For them, the historical God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the supreme value and the supreme criterion. Everything in them is of the God-man, for the sake of the God-man, and in the God-man. And it is always and everywhere thus. That for them is immortality in the time and space of this world. Thereby are they even on this earth partakers of the theanthropic eternity of Christ.

This theanthropic apostolicity is integrally continued in the earthly successors of the Christ-bearing apostles: in the holy fathers. Among them, in essence, there is no difference: the same God-man Christ lives, acts, enlivens and makes them all eternal in equal measure, He Who is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). Through the holy fathers, the holy apostles live on with all their theanthropic riches, theanthropic worlds, theanthropic holy things, theanthropic mysteries, and theanthropic virtues. The holy fathers in fact are continuously apostolizing, whether as distinct godlike personalities, or as bishops of the local churches, or as members of the holy ecumenical and holy local councils. For all of them there is but one Truth, one Transcendent Truth: the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, the holy ecumenical councils, from the first to the last, confess, defend, believe, announce, and vigilantly preserve but a single supreme value: the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The principal Tradition, the transcendent Tradition, of the Orthodox Church is the living God-man Christ, entire in the theanthropic Body of the Church of which He is the immortal, eternal Head. This is not merely the message, but the transcendent message of the holy apostles and the holy fathers. They know Christ crucified, Christ resurrected, Christ ascended. They all, by their integral lives and teachings, with a single soul and a single voice, confess that Christ the God-man is wholly in His Church, as in His Body. Each of the holy fathers could rightly repeat with St. Maximus the Confessor: “In no wise am I expounding my own opinion, but that which I have been taught by the fathers, without changing aught in their teaching.”

And from the immortal proclamation of St. John of Damascus there resounds the universal confession of all the holy fathers who were glorified by God: “Whatever has been transmitted to us through the Law, and the prophets, and the apostles, and the evangelists, we receive and know and esteem highly, and beyond that we ask nothing more… Let us be fully satisfied with it, and rest therein, removing not the ancient landmarks (Prov. 22:28), nor violating the divine Tradition.” And then, the touching, fatherly admonition of the holy Damascene, directed to all Orthodox Christians: “Wherefore, brethren, let us plant ourselves upon the rock of faith and the Tradition of the Church, removing not the landmarks set by our holy fathers, nor giving room to those who are anxious to introduce novelties and to undermine the structure of God's holy ecumenical and apostolic Church. For if everyone were allowed a free hand, little by little the entire Body of the Church would be destroyed.”

The holy Tradition is wholly of the God-man, wholly of the holy apostles, wholly of the holy fathers, wholly of the Church, in the Church, and by the Church. The holy fathers are nothing other than the “guardians of the apostolic tradition.” All of them, like the holy apostles themselves, are but “witnesses” of a single and unique Truth: the transcendent Truth of Christ, the God-man. They preach and confess it without rest, they, the “golden mouths of the Word.” The God-man, the Lord Christ is one, unique, and indivisible. So also is the Church unique and indivisible, for she is the incarnation of the Theanthropos Christ, continuing through the ages and through all eternity. Being such by her nature and in her earthly history, the Church may not be divided. It is only possible to fall away from her. That unity and uniqueness of the Church is theanthropic from the very beginning and through all the ages and all eternity.

Apostolic succession, the apostolic heritage, is theanthropic from first to last. What is it that the holy apostles are transmitting to their successors as their heritage? The Lord Christ, the God-man Himself, with all the imperishable riches of His wondrous theanthropic Personality, Christ—the Head of the Church, her sole Head. If it does not transmit that, apostolic succession ceases to be apostolic, and the apostolic Tradition is lost, for there is no longer an apostolic hierarchy and an apostolic Church.

The holy Tradition is the Gospel of the Lord Christ, and the Lord Christ Himself, Whom the Holy Spirit instills in each and every believing soul, in the entire Church. Whatever is Christ's, by the power of the Holy Spirit becomes ours, human; but only within the body of the Church. The Holy Spirit—the soul of the Church, incorporates each believer, as a tiny cell, into the body of the Church and makes him a "co-heir" of the God-man (Eph. 3:6). In reality the Holy Spirit makes every believer into a God-man by grace. For what is life in the Church? Nothing other than the transfiguration of each believer into a God-man by grace through his personal, evangelical virtues; it is his growth in Christ, the putting on of Christ by growing in the Church and being a member of the Church. A Christian's life is a ceaseless, Christ-centered theophany: the Holy Spirit, through the holy mysteries and the holy virtues, transmits Christ the Savior to each believer, renders him a living tradition, a living life: “Christ who is our life” (Col. 3:4). Everything Christ's thereby becomes ours, ours for all eternity: His truth, His righteousness, His love, His life, and His entire divine Hypostasis.

Holy Tradition? It is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man Himself, with all the riches of his divine Hypostasis and, through Him and for His sake, those of the Holy Trinity. That is most fully given and articulated in the Holy Eucharist, wherein, for our sake and for our salvation, the Savior's entire theanthropic economy of salvation is performed and repeated. Therein wholly resides the God-man with all His wondrous and miraculous gifts; He is there, and in the Church's life of prayer and liturgy. Through all this, the Savior's philanthropic proclamation ceaselessly resounds: “And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Mt. 28 20): He is with the apostles and, through the apostles, with all the faithful, world without end. This is the whole of the holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church of the apostles: life in Christ equals life in the Holy Trinity; growth in Christ equals growth in the Trinity (cf. Mt. 28: 19-20).

Of extraordinary importance is the following: in Christ's Orthodox Church, the Holy Tradition, ever living and life-giving, comprises: the holy liturgy, all the divine services, all the holy mysteries, all the holy virtues, the totality of eternal truth and eternal righteousness, all love, all eternal life, the whole of the God-man, the Lord Christ, the entire Holy Trinity, and the entire theanthropic life of the Church in its theanthropic fullness, with the All-holy Theotokos and all the saints.

The personality of the Lord Christ the God-man, transfigured within the Church, immersed in the prayerful, liturgical, and boundless sea of grace, wholly contained in the Eucharist, and wholly in the Church—this is holy Tradition. This authentic good news is confessed by the holy fathers and the holy ecumenical councils. By prayer and piety holy Tradition is preserved from all human demonism and devilish humanism, and in it is preserved the entire Lord Christ, He Who is the eternal Tradition of the Church. “Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh” (I Tim. 3 16): He was manifest as a man, as a God-man, as the Church, and by His philanthropic act of salvation and deification of humanity He magnified and exalted man above the holy cherubim and the most holy seraphim.

English translation of St. Justin's lecture on Atributes of the Church was originally published in Orthodox Life, vol. 31, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb., 1981), pp. 28-33.

Posted by Svetlana at 07:44 AM | Permalink

Capturing Tesla's Spirituality

Recently, the Belgrade Inventors' Association awarded Serbian artist Ivanka Jevtovic for the best poster commemorating 150th anniversary of Nikola Tesla's birth.

The poster entitled Orthodox Synthesis Tesla 150 was created using computer graphics to superimpose architectural ornaments and details of frescoes from Visoki Decani Monastery and Pec Patriarchate in Kosovo and Metohija on the great inventor's photos. Ivanka's Tesla posters will also be exhibited on the web site of the International Federation of Inventors' Associations, whose president, Dr. András Vedres, praised the artist's work for capturing Tesla's spirituality.

On June 1 this year, Serbian daily Politika published the article The Day Nikola Tesla Visited Belgrade, which Boba Borojevic translated. Upon the arrival to the land of his ancestors, Tesla said:

All the glory I have experienced lately in London and Paris means little or nothing to me compared to the honor I have received from you, gentlemen. The cradle of my forefathers, the Kingdom of Serbia and the city of Belgrade, invite me to visit them… It is a great reward for me. Great, indeed. Nothing in the world, or in my life will be dearer to me than your invitation. I am happy that I am a Serb and shall pride myself with this forever.

Another newspaper revealed a little known fact Nikola Tesla translated into English a book of poems by the beloved Serbian poet Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj, while living in States. When Tesla's compatriot from Lika (Serbian Krajina in present-day Croatia) who visited him in Chicago asked about this, Tesla smiled and said:

Many of us Serbs sing graceful verses, but very few in the world show a desire to hear them.

Twelve Hundred Years Old State Seal

On July 11, 2006, Serbian Ministry of Culture rescued part of its missing treasure by purchasing the 9th century Serbian State Seal at the Munich auction for 20,000 Euros.

The Seal that was kept in a private collection belonged to Serbian Duke Stojimir, one of three sons of Duke Vlastimir who ruled Serbia, and was used to approve the state documents. The starting price of the Seal was 6,500 Euros, but collectors who were also eager to get the treasure have quickly brought it up to 15,000 Euros. Serbian vice-consul for Germany who was bidding on behalf of Serbian Government under the instructions the Seal is priceless for Serbia, has placed the highest bid and won the auction.

Worn as a pendant, the Seal is made of gold, 19 millimeters high and weighs 15.46 grams. The Byzantine-style cross on the top is encircled with the Greek inscription: God Help Stojimir. So far, this Seal is the oldest material evidence of Serbian early statehood with the Court Office, Archive and the administrative apparatus.

Posted by Svetlana at 05:28 PM | Permalink

I was thrilled to find the magazine both my parents and I grew up with, Politikin Zabavnik (Politika's Entertainer), is available on the web.

This is one of Serbian oldest magazines, first published on 28 February 1939. From 1939-1941 it was published biweekly, during which time a total of 220 issues were published. The title was picked up in 1952 (the magazine is the edition of Serbian oldest publishing house Politika) and has since been published once a week. The numbering restarted in 1952, reaching over 2,800 issues in 2006 which, with previous issues, would go well over 3,000.

I was always fascinated with the fact editors of Zabavnik are able to make every single issue so engaging and exciting, and afraid they'll run out of ideas at some point and the magazine will suddenly become boring, repetitive and choked up with dull fillers. But it never happened - they haven't just preserved the ability to find an intriguing angle and fresh approach to each story both visually and textually, but are still one of the rare weekly magazines that are commercial-free.

They still have a “Believe It or Not...” section where they reveal the most amazing things, like the fact there is a river in Algeria the chemistry of nature has turned into ink. The stream is formed by the union of two others, one of which is strongly impregnated with iron, while the other contains gallic acid. And the natives use this compound for writing letters and other documents.

Many of the articles are written by historians, mathematicians, physicists, anthropologists and experts from different fields, and every one is wonderfully illustrated. You can learn about ancient Serbian cities, like Sokograd (Falcon City), a town made of stone high up in the hills (“neither in the skies, nor on earth”), which served as a fort to Serbian hero Hajduk Veljko from where he fought the Ottomans; about the Byzantines and why were they so proud of their beards; about Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof who created “The Language of Hope,” Esperanto, in which Tolstoy was able to read few hours after receiving its Dictionary and Grammar from the gentle doctor; the history of Romanov Dynasty and the Holy Tsar Martyr Nikolai, including the fact three Serbian princesses were married into the Romanov family; the most famous fairy-tales and than those same stories retold by the kids with the unexpected twists, like the Little Red Riding Hood being swallowed by one of the storytellers' TV and thrown into her living room and how, from that moment on, this great friendship was forged, so the girl remains Little Red Riding Hood's best friend since, while the grandma lives in the closet and they feed her with sweets from Riding Hood's bottomless basket; about the great Saints of the Church, like St. John Maximovich, whose father was of Serbian descent and who, at some point, was selling Politika in Belgrade for living, and all you ever wanted to know about the Moon, like why both Sun and Moon look so much bigger on the horizon than while they are in the zenith.

Although most of the articles are so interesting, well written and engaging adults read them too and remain faithful to the magazine throughout life (Zabavnik says it is for readers “from the age of 7 to the age of 107”), The Entertainer is generally aimed at children, so it has regular sections for comics by Disney, Dick Browne, etc. During the sanctions in the '90s, Disney prohibited the use of their comics in the magazine (I guess the idea was that Serbian children should also get punished and feel the sanctions on their own skin), and Zabavnik switched to other comic writers. I don't know if they still use the Disney stuff, though. I hope not.

Unfortunately, the World Wide Web edition offers only few marginal articles per issue and not even the main article around which each weekly Zabavnik is built, and the illustrations designated for the Internet edition are just a tiny fraction of those that are printed.

But for those of us who sometimes feel stranded in a foreign universe, everything that tastes like home is greeted with great joy.

Posted by Svetlana at 04:59 PM | Permalink

• Sign #10:  Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija has suddenly become a “southern Balkan province,” as if Balkan peninsula is a state, a phantasmagorical “renegade province” (no-man's-land), or simply “South-European province.”
• Sign #9:  Speaking of war between insurgent terrorist KLA (UCK) and Serbian army in Kosovo, the article uses terms like “Serbian crackdown,” “Serbian ethnic cleansing,” or “violent crackdown by Serbian/Milosevic forces.”
• Sign #8:  NATO aggression and 78-day bombardment of Serbia (with Kosovo) is reduced in scope and severity to “Kosovo mission” (suggesting NATO bombed part of Serbia - Kosovo and Metohija - only, and rained flowers instead of missiles and cluster bombs on Serbia), and justified as “a mission aimed to put an end to/halt Serbian crackdown,” most often within a single sentence.
• Sign #7:  KLA (UCK), Albanian Muslim terrorist organization with ties to Bin Laden's Al Qaeda and well known jihadist groups in the Middle East, which started the war in Serbia and keeps terrorizing Kosovo is never mentioned.
• Sign #6:  Somewhere along the li(n)es, the article mentions the long ago refuted falsehood that Serbs have killed 10,000 Albanians during Kosovo war. At the same time, it provides no link to a credible study or analysis that backs the allegation up.
• Sign #5:  In patronizing tone, it threatens Serbs with isolation, telling them they will either accept Kosovo independence and “improve their prospects” for entering the European Union, or “slide back” into isolation and, generally, suffer consequences for trying to keep their borders intact.
• Sign #4:  Members of the Serbian government refusing to sign the amputation of 15% of their country's sovereign territory are denounced as “nationalists,” and/or compared to the late President Milosevic.
• Sign #3:  Granting independence to southern Serbian province of Kosovo is treated as a fete-accompli, a mere formality and a reflection of “reality.” According to Albanian lobbyists, all that is needed to redraw the borders of any state in the world is to have a city, an area or a part of the territory predominantly inhabited by a different (foreign) ethnic group that desires to secede.
• Sign #2:  Serbia's (and, therefore, Kosovo's) constitutive nation, Serbs, are treated as a “minority” in their own state, while one of its minorities, Albanians, are spoken of as a “majority,” so the issue of hijacking part of one's state is presented as a democratic one: majority's rule over minority.

• #1 sign you are being brainwashed by an Albanian lobbyist:
  The results of the flood of illegal immigrants from neighboring Albania on the one hand, and ethnic cleansing of Serbs from their own province of Kosovo on the other, are accepted as a legal, valid road to secession, so the article doesn't mention what is really going on in the “postwar” Kosovo. It doesn't mention any of the:
  - 3,200 Serbs killed,
  - 2,000 Serbs abducted and presumed dead,
  - 350,000 expelled Serbs, Gypsies, Jews, Turks, Egyptians, Gorans and other non-Albanians,
  - 150 destroyed Christian churches,
  - 200 desecrated and destroyed Christian graveyards,
  - or daily assaults on remaining churches, monasteries, clergy, and generally all of the remaining non-Albanian residents in Kosovo.

(Cartoons by Nikola Otas)

Posted by Svetlana at 05:11 PM | Permalink

Some time before the “negotiations” over the status of southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija were to start, the Albanian lobbyist's propaganda machine, quite expectedly, went into a full swing, getting dangerously overheated at the end of the first round of talks.

Personally, I have difficulties deciding what's more repugnant: the brazen lies, the audaciousness of the ultimatums, or the fact Albanian Western allies are so accommodating in providing ample space in their mass-media outlets for the onslaught of sheer rubbish.

Since they killed or chased out all the Serbs they could once again try to frame for their bestial crimes, Albanian terrorists or, rather, their Western employees, seem to have decided the best course of action is to launch a psychological war designed to chip away at Serbian resolve. Using mass-media in the West, they keep telling us we better sign on the dotted line, thus legalizing Kosovo occupation and amputation, because Serbian signature is no more than a formality anyway, a mere acknowledgment of the “reality” and a good-will gesture which will help whatever is left of Serbia get into the European Union (the way it is, by the time that carrot materializes, there won't be any Serbia to let in).

Terrorists' “International Community” hirelings are assuring us this is indeed so, with the UN’s deputy envoy for the talks, Albert Rohan, leading the pack in threatening with the imposed “solution:”

If such a solution [reached through compromise] is not possible, the UN Secretary General will be informed, and will then be informed by the envoys of what solutions are possible for Kosovo.

This sounds like fishing for bribes: if we pay Envoy Rohan, will he “inform the UN Secretary General” autonomy for Serbian province is also a solution? Is the UN Secretary General a complete idiot to have to be informed by Envoy Rohan independence is not a solution, but legitimizing occupation of part of Serbia which can very well lead to war, and a serious one this time around? Envoy Rohan seems to think so, suggesting his input may be crucial in deciding the status of the province.

Other than having no Serb to frame for their own atrocities, the new propaganda assault Western powers generously support and endorse is no different than what we've already seen many times during the past fifteen years. It is one and the same story, a patchwork of big words, threats, repeated accusations and relentless vilification. As before, facts are not allowed to enter the picture and, instead of evidence, it is the claims and allegations that count.

Such is the renewed insistence on a falsehood refuted long time ago, of alleged “Kosovo genocide,” and supposedly 10,000 killed Albanians. Carla del Ponte - Madame Inquisition herself - told us 7 years ago that foreign forensic teams found around 2,000 bodies as a result of Kosovo war (during US/NATO aggression), both Serbian and Albanian. After NATO aggression (apart from mostly Serbs Western Allied force killed), Serbs and other non-Albanians were the only victims of violence and terror so, speaking of reality, have the Albanian propagandists undergone a collective lobotomy since, or what?! Being highly ethical, they probably hope the westerners with notoriously short memory have already forgotten the facts, so they can come back with thousands and tens-of-thousands lie. Soon enough, they're bound to go back to Albright's magic number: 100,000 killed Albanians! Albright, the Deception Personified, knew perfectly well that once you start lying you should go big, for it's already a bit late to fake scruples and morality of any sort, so she'd just let it rip.

Based on the Serbian media, though, the poorly disguised ploy is doomed to failure: the only thing boorish pressure has achieved so far is more resolve among Serbs to resist no matter what.

All things considered, Vienna talks are nowhere near the civil concept of “negotiations” -- “negotiations” in this case is just a polite word for a gathering hosted by the Albanian lobbyists masquerading as the “International Community,” where Serbian President and Prime Minister are delivered an ultimatum to sign Kosovo off.

While Serbian delegation presented a detailed plan for the province’s institutions, legislative, executive and judicial government within the scope of autonomy unprecedented in the civilized world, Albanians came with the single, non-negotiable demand: independence. President Boris Tadic, criticized at home for his permissive attitudes, complained during the break Albanians demand unconditional independence without showing a desire to negotiate anything:

We are here to talk, but all we get from the Albanians is an ultimatum demanding independence.

Self-styled “Kosovo president” Fatmir Sejdiu went as far as mocking Christ's words “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (Revelation 1:8), declaring “Kosovo independence is the Alpha and the Omega.” Perhaps someone should have warned the Serbian delegation they are being forced to talk face-to-face with Antichrist himself. Sejdiu, after all, is the official representative of those who take pleasure in blowing Christian shrines up and return to urinate and defecate on the remains.

The Antichrist used the opportunity to issue some threats along with the blasphemy:

Further postponing of determining Kosovo status is in no one’s interest and can only damage peace and stability in South-Eastern Europe.

What will they blow up next? Perhaps they'll hire the US/NATO again, to start the Third World War on their behalf.

But the most surprising thing is that everyone managed to keep the straight face when the Antichrist assured all the present that “the leading desire of the Kosovo people is to build a multiethnic society, with the same rights for all of its communities.”

After killing and mutilating 3,200 Serbs since NATO bombardment of Serbia ended, after ethnically cleansing 350,000 Serbs, Roma, Turks, Gorani, Jews and Croats from Kosovo (EVERYONE but Albanians), after destroying more than 150 Orthodox churches, no one but Antichrist could have forced such a gargantuan lie through his teeth without keeling over right there and then.

President Tadic criticized the Pristina delegation for offering nothing more than general principles, a lip service instead of the appropriate institutional guarantees in all major issues. He said that the right to the protection of the Serbian national and cultural identity as well as the right to personal freedom and safety had to be realized through concrete institutions, such as their own schools, universities, and media as well as through the local police and judiciary. In other words, Serbs in their own southern province should have at least all the rights Albanian terrorists had in Serbia, during late President Milosevic's reign.

Prime Minister Kostunica summed up the failed attempt at negotiating with the Antichrist and his Helpers:

We made a detailed presentation of our arguments which go in support of the essential autonomy, while the Albanian side came out with no valid arguments in support of Kosovo’s independence, except for their own will for the independence of Kosovo.

Having nothing but a wish to bring to the “negotiating table” is something that, these days, only Albanian terrorists are encouraged to do. Everyone except Serbs is justified for refusing to get together for a chit-chat with terrorists, none worse than Albanian Muslims such as Hashim Thaqi, one of terrorist KLA leaders and Bin Laden's personal protege since the meeting in Albania, in 1995. Obviously, when it comes to Serbs, the “war on terror” has to take a back seat in order to terrorise and destroy Serbia, even if it means forging an open alliance with Bin Laden's front-men in the Balkans.

In short, using the same sofisticated bully-diplomacy of seven years ago in Rambouillet, US/NATO is informing Serbia it will either sign its own death certificate, or be hacked up without consent. Once again, Serbia is generously given the entire two options by the so-called International Community: suicide or guillotine.

I love the fact West is so civilized and righteous -- if this goes under ‘civilization,’ I give my vote to Sahara savages drinking their cattle's blood any day. It seems to me all Western civilization has achieved for the past few centuries is to clothe its evil in clean shirts and Armani suits. Underneath the thin glaze of civility, these vampires are as brutal, barbaric and vile as any KLA ogre. No wonder they get along so well.

Posted by Svetlana at 01:52 AM | Permalink

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. (Isa. 5:20-21)

He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. (Proverbs 17:15)

Let not us who would be Christians expect anything else than to be crucified. For to be Christian is to be crucified in this time and in any time, since Christ came for the first time. His life is the example and warning to us all.

We must be crucified personally, mystically; for trough crucifixion is the only path to resurrection. If we would rise with Christ, we must be humbled with him even to the ultimate humiliation, being devoured and spit forth by the uncomprehending world. We must be crucified outwardly in the eyes of the world, for Christ's Kingdom is not of this world and the world cannot bear it, even a single representative, even for the single moment.

The world can only accept Antichrist now or at any time.

Fr. Seraphim Rose

Posted by Svetlana at 03:22 PM | Permalink

Before leaving for Vienna to take part in negotiations over Kosovo and Metohija status, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has summed up the opinion of every single Serb regarding the insolent proposal to forfeit part of Serbian territory:

The sooner the audacious idea of establishing some new state on the territory of Serbia is forgotten, the better. This is not simply the issue that pertains to the Serbian interest, but crucial for the stability of the entire region. Serbia was not formed yesterday and it evaluates its state and national interests with the long-term view. What we need to agree upon is the optimal measure of autonomy for Kosovo and Metohija within Serbian borders.

The vice-president of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the member of the Serbian National Council (SNC) for northern Kosovo, Dr. Marko Jaksic doesn't expect much from the negotiations presided over by the Albanian lobbyist Marti Ahtisaari. Based on the record of the representatives of the International Community assigned to force Serbia to give its land up, Dr. Jaksic is convinced Serbia shouldn't pay much attention to the so-called International Community:

Serbia intends to preserve its territorial integrity. At present, this is the most important issue for Serbs. As for the Albanians, they should finally come to their senses and realize they cannot form another Albanian state on someone else's territory. The sooner they understand this, the better.

During renewed attempts to reach an acceptable compromise through negotiations in Vienna, it is interesting to take a look back and remember what led to this point where amputation of Serbian land and a proposition to form Albania No.2 on the territory of Serbia is fantasized about.

In 2004, Professor Vojin Joksimovich published a book Kosovo Crisis: A Study in Foreign Policy Mismanagement, which represents the most thorough analysis so far that catalogues all the factors, foreign and domestic, that led to Albanian terrorists' illusory attempts to hijack Serbian Kosovo. The number of Serbs that were killed, expelled and abducted, as well as the material damage done to Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbian property in Kosovo and Metohija has, unfortunately, grown in the past two years, but the basic facts and the history itself hasn't changed.

The Biggest Propaganda Lie

Some might recall that President Clinton characterized the naked aggression on a sovereign country, in violation of a host of international laws, as “American finest hour since WWII.” This claim amounts to the most blatant disinformation and propaganda lie since the Soviet Union imploded. U.S./NATO delivered a victory to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), linked to the Albanian mafia supplying 40% of world heroin to Western Europe and the East Coast. Subsequently, NATO/KFOR has effectively ceded control of the province to the KLA. The only superpower in the world has become nothing more than the pawn for a narco-terrorist organization.

Instead of the finest hour it amounted to the darkest hour. Nuremberg War Crimes Prosecutor, Walter J. Rockler, wrote:

The attack on Yugoslavia constitutes the most brazen international aggression since the Nazis attacked Poland to prevent 'Polish atrocities' against Germans.

The war was unnecessary, it amounted to military humiliation including committing war crimes and the loss of the U.S. influence in the world, as human suffering was vastly enhanced rather than diminished.

Unprecedented Destruction

The UN Resolution #1244, which terminated the war, was breached many times. It called for creation of a multi-ethnic society. On NATO's watch, the KLA has ethnically cleansed 350,000 Serbs, Montenegrins, Roma, Slavic Muslims, Turks, Egyptians, Gorani, Croats and Jews, thus creating a mono-ethnic society instead. Virtually all Kosovo cities have become mono-ethnic. 1200 Serbs have been murdered, while 1000 are listed as kidnapped and are presumed dead. Not even the dead were spared. More than 100 Serbian graveyards have been dug out or demolished. An exodus of an entire civilization has taken place as 150 Serbian monasteries and churches have been leveled to the ground; many of them dating from medieval Christian period. Such destruction of Christian heritage at the time of “peace” is unprecedented in the modern history of Europe.

How It Started

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), or Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves (UCK) in Albanian was radicalized in 1993. For the purpose of arming and financing, the KLA members approached their relatives, migrant workers in Western Europe. Many of them had already been involved in various illicit activities, drug trafficking in particular. A firm link with the 1.8 million strong Albanian diaspora and the leaders of organized crime was established in order to advance the pan-Albanian ideal of Greater Albania.

Not long ago, the Washington Post published an article about an Albanian roofing contractor in Brooklyn, Florin Krasniqi, who collected $30 million to fund the KLA aggression. The KLA attacks on Serbian police began in 1995.

Al Qaeda Involvement

While the Islamist terror network was maturing in Bosnia and being exported to the Western Europe and later on to North America, Al Qaeda was looking for other opportunities in the Balkans. In 1994, Al Qaeda established an operation in Albania. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's #2, was charged with establishing a terrorist and intelligence infrastructure for infiltration into Kosovo and Macedonia.

In 1995 Osama bin Laden visited Albania as a guest of Sali Berisha, then president of Albania. Logistic and financial support for the Al Qaeda operation in Albania was set up with cells in Kosovo. Hashim Thaqi, the KLA political leader, later to become protege of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and currently leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK); and Ramush Haradinaj, a principal KLA commander and currently leader of the Alliance for Future for Kosovo (AAFK), attended the meeting. Tropoje, Berisha's hometown in Northern Albania, became a staging area both for Al Qaeda and the KLA.

Iranian and Saudi Jihadists

In 1997 the KLA received vast amount of weapons looted from Albanian army arsenals. The crisis in Albania led Iran to move in to fill the vacuum.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards began to train the KLA members. In late 1998, the Islamist network expanded. The senior supervisor of these activities was engineer Muhammad al-Zawahiri, Ayman's brother, who became the KLA's principal military instructor and partner in narco-trafficking. Like in Bosnia, a number of Saudi and Al Qaeda funded NGO's operated in Albania and Kosovo in order to provide financing.

KLA ‘Unquestionably Terrorist’

In the 1993-1998 period, the KLA committed some 2000 terrorist acts with the following three objectives: (1) Assassination of Albanians who do not cooperate; (2) Assassination of Serbian police; and (3) Reign of terror against Orthodox Christians. At the end of 1998, 300 civilians, police officers and soldiers had been killed, 500 wounded and 280 abducted.

Whenever the Serbian government responded with tough measures, the U.S./NATO accused them of repression and threatened with sanctions and the military intervention. The American public was shocked and rightly outraged at the despicable and barbaric beheadings of Americans by jihadists in Iraq and Saudi Arabia respectively. However, the Americans were completely unaware that the media has concealed from the public the pictures of the Serbs beheaded by jihadists in Bosnia and Kosovo.

President Clinton's special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, had little difficulty in condemning the KLA: “We condemn very strongly terrorist actions in Kosovo. The UCK (KLA) is without any question a terrorist group.” Gelbard's characterization of the KLA did not prevent several congressional leaders and members of the Clinton administration from comparing Albanian terrorists with freedom fighters. Washington saw an opportunity for a marriage of convenience with the KLA to breakup rump Yugoslavia.

Hypocrisy Beyond Pale

The KLA's strategy was to escalate the level of violence to the point where outside intervention would become inevitable. Clinton delivered victory to terrorists/gangsters linked to Al Qaeda that deal in drugs, prostitution, white slavery and extortion, whose objective has been to ethnically cleanse the last Serb from the land of their forefathers.

The KLA was formally demilitarized in October 1999. It was bad enough for the U.S./NATO to use the KLA as a war ally, but deputizing its leaders to carry out UN responsibilities has been absolutely beyond pale. The UN paycheck and uniform did not change the behavior or goals of a terrorist organization committed to an ethnically pure Albanian state. Creation of institutions, which operate via repression, discrimination and terrorism, has amounted to legalization of Albanian terrorism.

Exporting and Continuing Terror

In late 1999 Albanian terrorism was exported, using Kosovo as a sanctuary, into Southern Serbia proper and Western Macedonia by virtue of establishing the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (LAPMB) and the National Liberation Army (NLA) respectively. The only people who have used these new acronyms were NATO and the Western media. UCK (KLA) continued to be painted on walls and elsewhere. The message delivered to the Kosovo Albanian terrorists was that secessionist terrorism was legitimate.

The Serbian Government report contains 156 names, with short bios, incomplete list of crimes committed, including murder with the names of victims identified, and linkage to different types of organized crime. Among the listed terrorists/criminals are the Kosovo Albanian political and military leaders including Hashim Thaqi, Ramush Haradinaj and Agim Ceku. On March 17, 2004, just like in the 1930s, an orchestrated prearranged Albanian ethnic-cleansing plan of remaining Serbs was put into effect. It has been characterized by some as the Kosovo Kristallnacht. The pogrom resulted in 19 deaths, 1030 injuries including KFOR and UN personnel, ethnic cleansing of another 4,000 Serbs, 930 houses burned down and destruction of additional 35 Serbian churches.

Pressing On

It should not come as a surprise that a ruthless Islamo-fascist organization such as Albanian Al Qaeda, KLA, continues to devour Serbia and lay claims on neighboring states, while openly declaring their lofty goal: to form a new state on someone else's sovereign territory. But, for Serbs, this is where the buck stops.

No Serb will ever accept the prospect of losing Kosovo. The expectation of Albanian terrorists and their employees among the representatives of the “International Community” to find Serbs willing to sign Kosovo and Metohija off to this bunch of thugs and butchers is no more than a wet dream.

Albanians should finally do something to heal their collective psyche, so they stop looking for things and land to steal. They already have their state, right next door to Serbia. It's called Albania and it is, reportedly, the emptiest state in the world, so Albanians who wish to live surrounded by their cousins and goats alone should pack up and go home already.

Over there, they don't even have to bother with blowing up priceless churches, monasteries and World Treasure -- except for bunkers styled by the Stalin's personal Gulag-designer and tons of barbed wire from the time of Cold War, there's nothing there anyway! Regardless of what they think about Serbs (who cares?!), one thing is guaranteed: not a single Serb will follow them there.

Posted by Svetlana at 12:14 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Bishop of Rashka-Prizren Diocese, His Grace Artemije

On the two-year anniversary of the renewed pogrom in southern Serbian region, during which 35 Serbian churches were set ablaze in only two days, Bishop Artemije's devotion remains firm.

No price is too high for us when it comes to Kosovo and Metohija. It is not over until it’s over, and that is why we cannot allow ourselves to become despondent over Kosovo. I am certain Kosovo will remain Serbian, because I have faith in God.

Our holy shrines in Kosovo and Metohija are gravely wounded today. Not a single one has been restored yet, regardless if they were destroyed on March 17, or prior to this sinister day. The Diocese managed, through great sacrifices, to make parts of the monastic quarters livable in three monasteries - Saint Archangels, Devic and SS. Cosmas and Damian Monastery, so that monks have a place to rest their heads, while everything else remains in rubble, like before.

Golgotha Continues

When You take a look back in order to evaluate these past two years, which impression is the most dominant?

I can see that these two years are exactly like the two years before. The time since 1999. until the latest pogrom is the time of the most severe suffering of the Serbs, with the greatest number of murders, expulsions and destruction of our shrines. Of course, the agony of March 17, since it embodies so much horror compressed in such a short time span, has forced the International community to verbally denounce the violence, but the perpetrators of the surge of brutality are continuously rewarded. Instead of bringing the criminals to the “recognition of right,” as Njegos would say, the International community is rewarding them with ever-rising transfer of power to the temporary Kosovo institutions.

Murders, assaults, bombs thrown in the houses, attacks on churches… have continued to this very day. This is precisely the very purpose of the spurs of aggression and harassment of Serbs in Kosovo, because one hears about it - there was a bomb thrown here, a home was pillaged there, someone was beaten-up or killed over there - this is sufficient to keep the tensions high, so that Serbs wouldn’t start thinking their position is improving.

How can all this be possible when Kosovo and Metohija are guarded by the best trained foreign soldiers, with best arms and equipment?

I have never blamed the foreign troops for failing to prevent these crimes, nor have I thought they are the ones who lack the will to protect us. Those decisions come from Washington, Brussels and who knows where else. When there were more than 40,000 troops stationed in Kosovo, that was the time when the worst and most numerous crimes were committed, in their midst, without the appropriate reaction and, the most damning of all, throughout these seven years of our plight and misery not a single terrorist was arrested, tried and punished for his crimes.

Try to imagine the feeling that washes over me when, surrounded by the armed soldiers, I come to a place where a church once stood, that is now a desolate, leveled field. Last time this happened was only few days ago, in Djakovica, where they are making a “memorial park” to the notorious terrorist organization, KLA, out of the church yard. I could look at the place only through the armored vehicle’s window, since they couldn’t guarantee my safety if I stepped out.

It All Depends On Us

Was the optimism with which You returned from the States fleeting? Do these visits have any effect?

Many people there are willing to help us, they understand the problems, but the core of the issue is still here, in Belgrade. It all depends on us. They cannot finish our work instead of us, unless we do here what we have to, mainly to remain persistent and firm in position that no one in Serbia can be forced or persuaded to accept Kosovo independence.

Serbian Job

You have compared the life of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija with a life on the archipelagos consisting of larger and smaller islands, which are under the constant threat of flood by the restless sea.

I was thinking about our enclaves, ghettos, reserves, about the fact we are surrounded with the barbed wire in Kosovo. Still, we have to keep struggling to survive, despite the hardship and the eventual solution which, we hope, will be agreed upon through the negotiations. Because, as long as there are Serbs in Kosovo, Kosovo is not lost to Serbs. This is why the safe return is the main issue. We first need to restore the living Church and bring back the expelled, the refugees. It is the condition which precedes everything else.

In essence, unfortunately, there are no returnees - according to the UNMIK statistics, only some 5,000 Serbs have returned. While they were coming back others were leaving and no one knows the exact number of Serbs in Kosovo. They are leaving at night, in secret, without witnesses, most people are ashamed for leaving Kosovo…

As a Bishop of Kosovo who, during the last 15 years has seen and been through a lot in Kosovo and Metohija, how do You bear the weight of Your cross?

One can bear everything with God. If I walked through it all as a mere man, the things I saw - grisly murders, massacres, my churches in flames - I doubt I would have survived, or remained sane up until now. The struggle for preservation of our people and our Kosovo and Metohija fulfills me.

Today’s Kosovo epitomizes and mirrors the Old Testament story about Job. Kosovo is Serbian Job. Because, just like Job long time ago sat covered in sores and boils on a garbage lot outside the city walls, so is Kosovo today dumped to the garbage lot of the world, and everyone is eager to forget it as quickly as possible. They are trying to convince Job he brought his suffering upon himself. But the Lord Who sees everything has rewarded Job afterwards, and has given him His blessing.

Suffering

The initial intention [to grant Kosovo Albanians independence] of the International community hasn’t changed not only by the gruesome crimes, but even by the March 17 pogrom, when 12 Serbs were killed, 850 of them wounded and mutilated, 4,000 Serbs forced to leave, 930 houses burnt and destroyed, 35 churches razed to the ground, 7 Serbian villages entirely wiped off the earth… in two days alone. For two days Kosovo and Metohija were in flames. Targets included foreign police officers who were responsible for protecting Serbian enclaves. According to the official reports, 117 UNMIK policemen and 63 KFOR soldiers were wounded, 63 of their vehicles were burned. Some foreign soldiers were killed. All the words of conscience one could hear were quickly replaced by the proponents of independence for Kosovo.

Posted by Svetlana at 02:53 PM | Permalink

During the latest, 30th session of the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee on July 14-16 this year, three groups of Serbian churches in Kosovo and Metohija have been added to the list of International Treasure: Patriarchate of Peć, Gracanica near Pristina, and the Cathedral Church of the Virgin of Ljevis in Prizren.

In addition to Visoki Decani Monastery, listed as a World Treasure in 2004, these groups of churches have also been placed on the United Nations' list of World Heritage in Danger.

There are some 1,400 Serbian Orthodox churches and church sites in Kosovo and Metohija. Since United Nations took over the security and the administration of the southern Serbian province in June of 1999, over 150 Serbian churches and monasteries have been turned to rubble by Albanian Muslim terrorists. All of the Eastern Orthodox holy sites in Kosovo and Metohija are facing the same danger.

Patriarchate of Peć

Patriarchate of Peć (Pech) is a historic center of the Serbian Orthodox Church - the seat of Serbian Archbishops and Patriarchs since 13th century. It consists of three churches: Holy Virgin, Holy Apostles and St. Demetrios with a chapel of St Nicholas. The Holy Apostles' Church in the center is the oldest in the group (built in the 1220s). The two other churches were built in the beginning of 14th century and a chapel of St. Nicholas was added in the 16th. The monumental frescoes date from 1260. Peć Patriarchate is also significant for the World Heritage because it successfully harmonizes few diverse artistic styles.

Gračanica Monastery

Gračanica (Grachanica) Monastery is the most graceful example of the medieval Byzantine style in Serbian architecture. It was erected in 1315 as an endowment of Serbian King Milutin and in memory of his beautiful bride Symonida. Built out of pink stone, with numerous elegant arches and columns, Gračanica is regarded as a pearl of Byzantine architecture and one of the most beautiful churches built by the devout King.

Cathedral of Mother of God of Ljeviš

The Cathedral of Bogorodica Ljeviška (Ljevish/Ljevishka) is the oldest of the three newly listed groups of churches. It was built in 10th century and restored and enlarged in the 14th century by the Serbian King Milutin. It served as a Cathedral church of the Orthodox Diocese in Prizren, capital of Serbia at the time. This is one of the most beautiful examples of the urban sacral Serbian architecture in Byzantine style. The church was decorated with outstanding 14th century frescoes, many of which suffered damage in March 2004 pogrom, when Albanian terrorists seriously damaged the church.

Diamonds, or the Pearls&Swine Issue

Around the same time UNESCO added more Orthodox churches from Serbia's southern province to its World Heritage list, on July 15, after visiting some of the Serbian holy places in Kosovo and Metohija, Eric Jansson wrote:

(...) The Orthodox monasteries of Kosovo are diamonds scattered in this moral scrapyard. They count among the places, so rare in the present age, where one's agnosticism and relativism seem to blow away. These places demand focus and reckoning.

If for some visitors the uncorrupted body of Stefan Decanski fails to force the big issue of personal faith, then the constant state of danger in which the monks live inevitably does. These havens of prayer and joy have become the most threatened places in Kosovo since the 1998-1999 war.

On any ordinary day, profound peace prevails in the cloisters. Order becomes beauty as life moves to the rhythm of bells and the low tone of the semantron, a wooden board that strikes the call to prayer. The patterns, colours and shapes of Byzantine, Romanesque and Balkan aesthetics fuse seamlessly in ancient buildings and immaculate gardens amid the muffled clamour of labour from the workshops.

The sheer pleasantness of the scene causes some visitors to doubt that these communities live in genuine danger. But no one can dispute the reality of the routine attacks against Orthodox religious communities in Kosovo, none worse than the 2004 pogrom in which more than 30 churches [35 exactly] were destroyed and Decani came under mortar attack.

The diamond metaphor comes to mind again, for the gems are formed under massive pressure. So is the kind of peace that prevails here. The monks and nuns speak no ill word of the ethnic Albanians outside their cloister walls and some even dare to muse, in unreason­ably good humour, that someday the monasteries in Kosovo may all be overrun by militants. "Temples fall. It happens. What matters is that we preserve the community of prayer," a monk says.

So fearless and infectious is this disposition - tempered by what the monastics call harmolipi, "joyful mourning" - that the modern western traveller who ventures here risks departing as a pilgrim, even if he has arrived as a tourist.

Entire article, also published by the UK's Financial Times: Whiffs of Mystery, Visions of Glory, by Eric Jansson

Posted by Svetlana at 09:58 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Suffering

The initial intention [to grant Kosovo Albanians' independence] of the International community hasn’t changed not only by the gruesome crimes, but even by the March 17 pogrom, when 12 Serbs were killed, 850 of them wounded and mutilated, 4,000 Serbs forced to leave, 930 houses burnt and destroyed, 35 churches razed to the ground, 7 Serbian villages entirely wiped off the earth… in two days alone.

For two days Kosovo and Metohija were in flames.

Targets included foreign police officers who were responsible for protecting Serbian enclaves. According to the official reports, 117 UNMIK policemen and 63 KFOR soldiers were wounded, 63 of their vehicles were burned. Some foreign soldiers were killed. All the words of conscience one could hear were quickly replaced by the proponents of independence for Kosovo.

Serbian Job

Today’s Kosovo epitomizes and mirrors the Old Testament story about Job. Kosovo is Serbian Job. Because, just like Job long time ago sat covered in sores and boils on a garbage lot outside the city walls, so is Kosovo today dumped to the garbage lot of the world, and everyone is eager to forget it as quickly as possible. They are trying to convince Job he brought his suffering upon himself.

But the Lord Who sees everything has rewarded Job afterwards, and has given him His blessing.

His Grace Artemije, Bishop of Raska-Prizren Diocese

Posted by Svetlana at 04:18 AM | Permalink

When speaking about the genocide Croats committed during the WWII when over 1,7 million of Serbs were killed (approximately half of them by Croat Ustashi and Islamofascists on the territory of former Yugoslavia, while the other half died fighting against fascists), it is easy to forget the rare men of honor on the enemy side, who were horrified by the crimes of their own.

Such is the unknown German soldier who was herded up along with 7,000 Serbs from Kragujevac in front of the German firing squad on October 20, 1941, because he refused to carry out the order and shoot into the defenseless mass. The seven thousand men, women and children were collected randomly, from school and streets, and killed in reprisal for 70 German soldiers who lost their lives while fighting with Serbian resistance forces. It was the swift application of the newly established law by the German occupier: 100 Serbian lives for 1 German soldier. Among many school children shot that day along with their teachers were also three Roma boys age 12-15, who refused to clean filthy Nazi boots.

Italian fascists stationed in Dalmatia (present-day Croatia) quickly turned into Serbian allies after witnessing Croat Ustasha bestiality. They were protecting Serbs and Jews even after Croat Fuhrer Pavelic personally complained to Hitler about Italians, demanding they send Serbs who managed to escape Pavelic's bloodbath back to Ustasha, so they can continue the “purification of Croatia.” Concerned over the happiness and the wellbeing of his favorite ally, Hitler promptly wrote to Mussolini who ordered his troops in Dalmatia to comply, but Italians remained defiant. Their General Mario Roatta later explained in his memoirs Italians refused to hand over Serbs and Jews to the Ustasha because “they would be interned at Jasenovac, with well-known consequences.”

Italian commanders initially provided food and protection, and later guns and ammunition to units of Serbian Royal army (Chetniks under the command of General Draza Mihajlovic) for defense against the Ustasha. At Trebinje (Bosnia and Herzegovina which during the WWII was also annexed by the fascist Croatia), an Italian military governor actually disarmed an Ustasha detachment emerging from a massive slaughter of Serbs and placed them under arrest.

Austrian General Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, a German Plenipotentiary in Croatia, didn't go as far as arresting his hideous allies for their crimes, but he kept sending devastating reports about the monstrous Croat Ustashi he openly detested to Berlin. Although those reports went largely unnoticed at the time, they have given us a first-hand account of the black abyss of Ustasha pathological hatred and an unexpected eyewitness on the enemy side.

Visiting the Croatian countryside previously inhabited by the Serbs, Von Horstenau left a harrowing report:

We saw no sign of [guerrillas] but there were plenty of ownerless horses and cattle, not to mention innumerable geese. At Crkveni Bok, an unhappy place where, under the leadership of an Ustase lieutenant-colonel, some 500 country folk from fifteen to twenty years had met their end, all murdered, the women raped and then tortured, the children killed. I saw in the River Sava a woman's corpse with the eyes gouged out and a stick shoved into the sexual parts. This woman was at most twenty years old when she fell into the hands of these monsters. Anywhere in a corner, the pigs are gorging themselves on an unburied human being. All the houses were looted. The "lucky" inhabitants were consigned to one of the fearsome boxcar trains; many of these involuntary "passengers" cut their veins on the journey.

As soon as he arrived to his post in fascist Croatia, in June of 1941, General began his report:

According to reliable reports from countless German military and civilian observers, during the last few weeks, in town and country, the Ustasha have gone raging mad.

In the Autumn of 1942, Horstenau concluded another report with his assessment of the Ustasha as: “the unspeakable swineishness of this gang of murderers and criminals.”

Upon hearing about the “internment camps” for Serbs, Jews and Roma, General demanded to be taken to one. Although he was not taken to one of the worst concentration camps of the WWII, Jasenovac, and the camp he was allowed to visit was cleaned up for the occasion, the impression it left on Horstenau is one of utmost disgust and horror:

We now went into the concentration camp in a converted factory. Frightful conditions. Few men, many women, and children, without sufficient clothing, sleeping on stone at night, pining away, wailing and crying. A camp commandant - in spite of the later, favorable judgment of the Poglavnik - a rogue; I ignored him but instead told my Ustase guide: "This is enough to make you puke."

And then worst of all: a room along whose walls, lying on straw which had just been laid down because of my inspection, something like fifty naked children, half of them dead, the other half dying. One should not forget that the inventors of the KZ were the British in the Boer War. However, such places have reached their peak of abomination here in Croatia, under a Poglavnik installed by us. The most wicked of all must be Jasenovac, where no ordinary mortal is allowed to peer in.

There is no doubt Horstenau was an enemy to Serbs -- though utterly disgusted with Ustasha “swineishness,” Austrian General never went any further than reporting about the carnage, in hope someone higher up in the chain of command will rein the repugnant Ustash