A regular session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops has began with the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy in the Belgrade Cathedral church led by His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia with the concelebration of all Bishops of our Holy Church.

Serb protest in Gračanica following shut off of Telekom and Telenor mobile phone network, TV report by Andrija Igić

Following the forcible shut off of mobile phone service, the residents of Gračanica held a protest meeting today from which they sent the message that the shut off of Telenor and Telekom mobile phone networks is primarily a humanitarian problem leading to the even greater isolation of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs. Before departing to Belgrade for the regular convocation of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Vicar Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan met with the head of EULEX, Mr. Yves de Kermabon, to whom he expressed the serious dissatisfaction of the Diocese of Raška-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija, as well as of the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija because of the aggressive destruction of the mobile phone network by self-proclaimed Kosovo institutions. "This decision is contrary to Resolution 1244 and leads directly to the isolation and departure of the Serbsian people south of the Ibar. We are deeply appalled," said the Bishop, "by the fact that the Kosovo police, which failed to prevent the expulsion of Serbs from Žač, is so effective in protecting teams from the Kosovo telephone company in not only dismantling but also physically destroying transmitters, cables and equipment," said the Bishop to Mr. Kermabon.

His Grace Bishop Maksim of the Diocese of Western America today served Holy Liturgy in Sopoćani Monastery with the concelebration of Bishop Atanasije, Vicar Bishop Teodosije, the hegumen of Sopoćani Monastery, protosyncellos Teoctist, and seven priests of the Diocese of Raška and Prizren. Faithful from the Novi Pazar area also took part in the Holy Liturgy, especially many children who took communion. Before the start of Holy Liturgy Bishop Atanasije, the administrator of the Diocese of Raška-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija, presented pectoral crosses to two protopresbyters, Father Miroslav Popadić and Father Tomislav Milenković, the bishop's administrator for the disctirct of Novi Payar, elevating them to the office of protopresbyter-stavrophor. Holy Liturgy was sung by the monks and novices of Sopoćani together with the faithful.

His Grace Bishop Atanasije served Holy Liturgy in the church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in Babin Most (Obilić municipality) today with the concelebration of Vicar Bishop Teodosije, archimandrite Tihon, the hegumen of Studenica, protopresbyter-stavrophor Radivoje Panić in Belgrade, hieromonk Timothy, the administrator of Pridvorice Monastery (near Studenica) as well as priests from the Mitrovica and Priština administrative districts (a total of about ten priests). Some one hundred faithful, adults and children, took eucharistic part in the Holy Liturgy, including a group of pilgrims from Belgrade, who arrived with Father Radivoje Panić. According to priest, this was the first Hierarchal Liturgy served in this church in the last twenty years.

Tanjug, New York (24 April, 2010) - The head of the UN Mission in Kosovo and Metohija, Lamberto Zannier, sharply condemned the stoning of Serb returnees in the village of Žač in Kosovo and Metohija.

He called for dialogue between members of the Serb and Albanian communities who "have to live with each other". Zannier expressed concern over the harassment of the members of 26 Serb returnee families, whose tents have been stoned for the past several nights in the village of Žač in the east of the Serbian province.

"Priština authorities have rightly characterized these incidents as 'cowardly and intolerable" and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice," said Zannier, as published on the website of the UN.

Bishops Atanasije and Teodosije this morning visited the much suffering village of Staro Gracko, Lipljan municipality, where they handed out help in clothing and food to local Serb families with the commander and soldiers of the Greek contingent of KFOR. The commander of Greek KFOR said at the time: "I am very glad that we are here with our Serbian brothers. We bring you little but it is from the heart and it is from the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek army. We know that with these gifts we cannot solve your problems and difficulties but we hope that we will in this way show our love, that we love you and that we are with you." Bishop Atanasije most warmly thanked the members of Greek KFOR for this assistance, pointing out that even during difficult times of suffering we have an opportunity to strengthen the traditionally strong links between the Greek and the Serbian people. Old Gracko is a symbol of Serb suffering but also of the Serbs' strong determination to stay in their ancestral homes despite the heinous crime in the summer of 1999 when 17 Serb harvesters were killed by Albanian extremists. More suffering followed after that, and the graves of those killed are often desecrated. Nevertheless, the village has survived and the residents, especially the children, live in optimism and faith in the Risen Christ.

Protosyncellos Varnava (Dimitrijević) from the above mentioned monastery, which is actually uncanonical, published an article on an anti-church website that states "Bishop Atanasije committed a terrible slander" by calling this monastery "uncanonical".

For the sake of information and the true and complete truth, it is necessary to know that the history of this monastery is not controversial but its present status, which is actually uncanonical. Varnava in his article speaks of "canonical bureaucratic pettiness" above which "it is necessary to rise". The Bishop Administrator has resolved the uncanonical status of this monastery because although Bishop Artemije in principle obtained the approval of Bishop Irinej of Niš, the monastery it is not a dependency of a monastery (or we would have to know whose and from which original monastery and competent church authority it received a blessing) nor a staurophigial monastery, because for either status it would have to be approved by the Patriarch, who alone has the right to a staurophigial institution or the Synod/Assembly to extend the jurisdiction of one Diocese into another (it is not necessary to cite the fundamental 34th Apostolic Canon and many other holy canons that define Orthodox ecclesiology) .

Therefore, one of the first acts of Bishop Administrator Atanasije was to transfer the uncanonical placed monasteries Brainski near Medveđa and Pločnik near Kuršumlija to the Bishop of Niš who is competent for that area (E.br.služb. 8, 14 February 2010). Thus, protosyncellos Varnava either does not know or does not want to know the canonical order of the Orthodox Church (the order that his previous Bishop Artemije grossly violated).

Info-Service of the Diocese of Raška-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija
Prizren-Gračanica, 23 April 2010