ВЕРНОСТЬ - FIDELITY № 80 - 2007

MARCH/МАРТ 15

The Editorial Board is glad to inform our Readers that this issue of “FIDELITY” has articles in English, and Russian Languages.

С удовлетворением сообщаем, что в этом номере журнала “ВЕРНОСТЬ” помещены статьи на английском и русском языках.

CONTENTS - ОГЛАВЛЕНИЕ

1.  FLEE HERESIARCHS OF MOSCOW PATRIARCHY!

2.  HOLOCAUST

3.  NEW MARTYRS OF THE SERBIAN LAND  (From the Serbian Patericon)

4.  MONK HARITON – NEW MARTYR OF KOSOVO. Hieromonk Stefan of Dečani Monastery, Kosovo

5.  THE TRUE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SERBIA  Dr. Vladimir Moss

6.  A DEEPER JOURNEY.  Fr. Paul Welsche, pastor of St. Herman Church (OCA) in Minneapolis, MN

7.  A FOOTHOLD OF FAITH. Father Louis Christopulos, pastor of St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church.

8.  СЕРБЫ И ХОРВАТЫ.  Р. Полчанинов

9.  WHY IS A BOMBED MOSQUE MAJOR NEWS, WHILE BOMBED CHURCHES ARE IGNORED?  Mary Mostert

10.  МОСКОВСКАЯ ПАТРИАРХИЯ ОТКАЗАЛАСЬ ОТ ПРАВДЫ И МУЖЕСТВА И ДОШЛА ДО ГЛУБОКОГО НРАВСТВЕННОГО ПАДЕНИЯ. О. Георгий Эдельштейн.

11.  HIEROMARTYR PROCOPIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF KHERSON and those with him.  Dr. Vladimir Moss

12.  СОБОР ПОКРОВА СВЯТОЙ БОГОРОДИНЫ В МИННЕАПОЛИСЕ (США).  Г.М. Солдатов

13.  THE MINNEAPOLIS ORTHODOX SEMINARY. G.M. Soldatow

14.  INTERVIEW WITH REV. FATHER JOHN DZUBAY. G. M. Soldatow

15.  IОВЪ ХХ-ОГО ВЕКА. (рецензия). Вадим Виноградов

16.  HOLY NUN-MARTYR TIKHONA OF ORENBURG.  Dr. Vladimir Moss

17.  МНОГОГОЛОВАЯ  ГИДРА  ОПЯТЬ  ЗАШИПЕЛА.  Г.М. Солдатов

18.  “DEMONIC GRACE” AND METROPOLITAN SERGIUS  Dr. Vladimir Moss

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Дорогие читатели!

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которые мы подробно описали в  74 номере Верности.

Удешевленная стоимость за оба фильма (на трехDVD), включая пересылку в США, составляет только $25.

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FLEE  HERESIARCHS  OF  MOSCOW  PATRIARCHY!

In view of the clearly approching catastrophe facing Christianity and the inevitable public enthronement of antichrist - the apogee of lack of love for God and His righteousness in Christian people, especially the Orthodox - those who still love God and His righteousness will wisely value the Saints especially the Russian New Martyrs. God sends them to care for those on earth who are striving for true spiritual life in this modern age that has grown cold towards God and everything human, normal and warm.

Even if one should give away all his possessions in the world, and yet be in communion with heresy, he cannot be a friend of God but is rather an enemy.    (Saint Theodore the Studite)

All the teachers of the Church, all the Councils, and all the Divine Scriptures, exhort us to flee those who uphold other doctrines and to separate from communion with them. (Confession of Faith, XII, Saint Mark of Ephesus)

With a great voice, Saint John Chrysostom declared that not only heretics, but also they who hold communion with them, are enemies of God. (Letter to the Abbot Theophilus, Saint Theodore the Studite)

Keep yourselves from soul-corrupting heresy, whose communion is alienation from Christ.  (Saint Theodore Studite)

You told me that you feared to tell your presbyter not to commemorate the heresiarch; even though I will not presume to say anything about this to you for the present, except that the communion is defiled simply by commemorating him, even if he who is commemorating is Orthodox.  (Ibid)

For if simply saying "Hail" is the same as partaking of another's evil deeds, how much more so is the blatant commemoration in the very presence of the Divine and dread Mysteries? For if He that is present before us is the Truth Himself, how is it reasonable to suppose that He will accept this great lie, that is, that this man should be esteemed as an Orthodox patriarch among the other Orthodox patriarchs? At the time when the dread Mysteries are being celebrated, shall we play the part of an actor on the stage? And how shall the soul of an Orthodox Christian endure these things and not straightway refrain from communion with the commemorators, and esteem them to be men that make sordid gain of divine things? For from the beginning, the Orthodox Church of God has accepted that the mention of the hierarch's name within the sanctuary meant complete communion with him.For it is written in the exposition of the Divine Liturgy that the celebrant commemorates the name of the Bishop, thereby demonstrating submission to a superior, and that he is a communicant with him, and his follower in the Faith and in the Divine Mysteries.  (From the letter of the Athonite Fathers to Emperor Michael Paleologus, against Patriarch of Constantinople John Beccos).

We forbid all the clergy who adhere to the Orthodox and Ecumenical Council in any way to submit to the bishops who have already apostatized or shall hereafter apostatize. (3rd Canon of the 3d Ecumenical Council)

APOSTASY AND ANTICHRIST

(Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY, 1978)

“… a new edifice arises in the world, an edifice contradictory to the truth of Christ’s building – this is the mystery of Babylon… Here is a new Babylon in the fullness of the word: mixing truth with untruth. Instead of the clear light of the teaching of the Holy Church, founded on the Gospels, the Prophets, Apostles, Fathers of the Church and the Councils, these new Babylonians thirst for apostate teachings and dark philosophical systems in which truth is mixed with lies and interwoven with untruth…”

“… They will keep up the outward appearance of religion but will have rejected the inner power of it. Have nothing to do with people like that. (II Tim. 3:5)…”

“… The Holy Apostles teach that in the very last times, the various ruinous heresies and false teachings will multiply and gather great strength while unbelief will increase. Mankind as a whole will be morally deaf and blind and insensitive to everything that concerns its salvation. People will willingly believe any falsehood and will completely forget Christ’s Law. Every possible vice and error will be accepted by the world at large…”

“… In addition, many believers will begin to sway in their faith and some will follow after the deceivers and false prophets – the forerunners of Antichrist. Lawlessness and impiety will become so great that the people will not even notice the threatening forewarnings of the end of the world, which God will begin to send in form of various physical troubles and subsequently in the person of Antichrist…”

“… The variety of temptations which comes from the devil is very great and not all of them can be grasped by human understanding. It is known from the Holy Scripture that, with some unbelievers, He “has blinded their minds” to prevent them from seeing the light shed by the glad tidings of glory of Christ Who is the image of God.” (II Corr. 4:4), while with others, upon whom the light has already shone, “the devil comes and carries away the word from their hearts lest they should believe and be saved.” (Luke 8:12), and again, as with the righteous Job, He persecutes some with troubles, chains and prison (cf. Rev. 2:10)

“… As a defense against these oppressions one must maintain a constant disposition of repentance, prayer, fasting and spiritual vigilance of the heart…”

“… But the majority of mankind will remain deaf and dumb to the preaching of the Gospel and will not listen to the truth but will refuse it. Listening instead to the voice of their own passions…”

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HOLOCAUST

March 24, 1999 a group of NATO governments ordered without obtaining any kind of legitimatization from the UN nor from the world community the right whom to execute and whom to pardon by subjected defenceless Yugoslavia to air-strikes. Thus began another attack by the West Europe on the Orthodox Church in the Balkans, destroying centuries old churches and monasteries.  As we observe the development of world events, it appears that all this destruction in the name of Antichrist's NEW WORLD ORDER.

Consequences are not just political, economic, and ecological. There are also such things as MORAL consequences that will rest heavily on a nation's conscience, and not just on its decision-making leaders, whose day of just reckoning, inadvertently, will come in time.

The Serbian Orthodox Church, in responce to these attacks on her homeland, directed that the following petitions be added to the litanies in Vespers, Matins and the Divine Liturgy: In the Great Litany:

"For God's mercy upon us, His unworthy servants, that we may all be protected from harred and evil actions, that we may have instilled in us unselfish love, by which all shall know that we are disciples of Christ and God's people, as were our holy ancestors, so that we may always know to decide for the truth and righteousness of the Heavenly Kingdom, let us pray to the Lord".

"For all those who commit injustice against their neighbors, wherher by causing sorrow to orphans or spilling innocent blood or by returning hatred for hatred, that God will grant them repentance, enlighten their minds and hearts and illumine their souls with the light of love even towards their enemies, let us pray to the Lord".

At the Augmented Litany:

"O Lord, how many are our foes who battle against us and say: there is no help for them from God or man. O Lord, stretch forth Thy hand that we may remain Thy people in both faith and works. If we must suffer, let it be in the ways of Thy justice and Thy truth - let it not be because of our injustice or hatred against anyone. Let us all fervently say: Lord have mercy".

"Again let us pray to God, the Savior of all men, also for our enemies - that our Lord Who loves mankind will turn them away from attacks on our Orthodox people; that they not destroy our churches and cemeteries, that they not kill our children or persecute our people; but that they too may turn to the way of repentance, justice and salvation. Let us all fervently say: Lord have mercy".

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NEW MARTYRS OF THE SERBIAN LAND

(From the Serbian Patericon)

There is no greater witness to the total love of God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit then the pure and unconditional love a Christian has for his neighbor and for all of God’s creation. The love of god through one’s neighbor is most fully expressed in humble and sincere service to others, and especially in the art of sacrificing for another. To lay down one’s life for the promotion and aid of another is the pinnacle of what it means to follow Jesus Christ, to be a child of Light and a lover of mankind.

The Christian witness of laying down one’s own life – martyrdom, for the Greek word “martyria” literally means “witness” – is what our Savior accomplished for the life of the world (John 6:51), as Jesus Christ was no mere mortal, since His death on the Cross was greater than any other sacrificial death in the history of the world. Jesus was the God-Man, truly God in human form, and thus His sacrifice on the Cross exhibited and demonstrated the superabundant love of God Himself for His entire creation: For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Accordingly, as every Orthodox Christian believes, it is the emulators of this sacrifice of Jesus – the glorious Martyrs – who have always been considered to be the Protectors of the Faith, as they have throughout the ages preserved our Faith whole and pure from all defilement of the devil. And every local Orthodox Church which has in her history the record of martyrdom can rightfully be considered blessed by God and even justified in His eyes.

Concerning this test and witness to the sacrificial Faith of Christ the Lord, the Serbian Orthodox Church remains, in the eyes of our lord and the entire Christian world, most precious and beautiful! Ever since Christianity was established in the Balkans among the Serbs, persecution and resistance to the power of Christ has continuously reared its ugly head. One need only read the Lives of the Serbian Saints to appreciate this fact. The enemies of pious Orthodox Serbs have relentlessly persecuted them throughout the century. They have attacked their patriarchs, bishops, priests, monastics and pious faithful; slaughtering, hanging and impaling them, while at the same time plundering and burning down many Serbian Orthodox churches, schools and monasteries. In the late 16-th century the Turks hanged the Serbian Patriarch John Kantul because he supported a national movement for liberation, and Bishop Theodore of Vrshac was skinned alive in 1595 for the same reason. During those dark days of Sinan Pasha, the Turks burned the holy relics of St. Sava I on Vrachar Hill, a hideous religious and political crime committed against the entire Serbian Orthodox people. In the latter part of the 17-th century Patriarch Gabriel was strangled to death by the Turks for establishing ties with the Orthodox Church of Russia. In the beginning of the 18-th century the Serbian Orthodox Church in Dalmatia, which at that time was under the domain of the Venetian Republic, endured bitter persecution due to their Orthodox beliefs, which fostered their desire for national rights. Two leaders – Abbot Isaiah of Dragovich Monastery and Fr. Peter Jagodich-Kuridza of the village of Biovice (Dalmatia) – were imprisoned and tortured for over forty years. Neither of the two, however, would recant their Orthodox faith nor their national allegiance to the Orthodox Kingdom of Serbia.

Similar tribulations took place during the heroic struggle of the Serbs for national liberation at the beginning of the 19-th century. Hundreds of noble Serbian clergymen were impaled at the fields of Kalemegdan in Belgrade, or were killed outright in prison camps. Throughout these ordeals the constant cry which united and comforted the Serbs was the five-century-old rallying cry of Kosovo, “For the Honorable Cross and Golden Freedom”, a Christian plea based on the triumphant struggle of Jesus Christ on the Cross. For the Serbs at this time, to die for Christ and the Orthodox Faith was an honor, a holy privilege which they believed would be recompensed with eternal blessed life. For, as all pious Orthodox Christians believe, the Cross was the first step in the Lord’s final victory over the devil and his power; and the Lord’s Resurrection, the summit of this victory, granted true freedom to all those who endured. Hence the Christian Serbs were happy to “lay down their lives” for Christ in behalf of their family, friends and nation.

During the first quarter of the 20-th century, specifically during the years 1913, 1914 and 1915, the terrible assaults of the evil one rose up again against the Serbian Church. These years have been recorded as the first years of her martyrdom in modern times. Besieged by the Germans, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Albanians, the Serbian Church suffered bitterly during this time. For example, Metropolitan Vincent of Skoplje (Macedonia) was burned alive in the Gorge of Surdulica along with 157 Serbian priests. Later, during the 1930s, the Serbs suffered tremendously under the infamous Concordat, which sought to limit their religious and civil rights. (The Concordat was an attempt by the overly conciliatory government to sign an agreement with the Vatican that would have given the Roman Catholic Church a privileged position in Yugoslavia. It was finally defeated in 1937, thanks in large part to the heroic witness of Patriarch Varnava, who reposed during the heat of the controversy, and was thought by many to have been poisoned.)

But of all the persecutions in the history of the Serbian Orthodox nation, none was more excruciating and terrifying than those which began in 1941. The Serbs and the Serbian Church were forced to undergo some of the worst atrocities the world has ever known. It has been said that these Christians were tortured even more than the Hebrews were b6y the Egyptians as recorded in the Book of Exodus; worse than the barbarous annihilations in ancient Carthage and the exterminations of the Christians in Nubia, North Africa, and even worse then the Holocaust victims in Nazi Germany during World War II. In all, there were over 800,000 Serbs butchered and slain by the regime of Ante Pavelich in the “Free Croatian State” during World War II. In addition, many thousands of Serbs were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism under pain of death. (Many were simple asked to make the sign of the Cross, and if they did so in Orthodox fashion – from right to left – they were tortured on the spot.) Besides these, there were over 300,000 civilians killed by the Germans, Bulgarians, Hungarians and Albanians, many being sent to concentration camps to starve to death. In the end, the death toll of Serbian Martyrs amounted to over one-and-a-half million, or more than one third of the entire Serbian people, over the span of thirty years (1914-1944, from World War I to World War II).

Must we provide the horrible details of these atrocities? Pregnant women’s wombs were ripped open; men were roasted on rotisserie spits used to cook animals (there were cases in which people were forced to eat the roasted bodies of members of their own families). Malicious medical experiments were performed. People were impaled, had their eyes gouged out, were sawn in two. Heats were cut out of innocent victims and eaten by their adversaries. Slow, agonizing death could last for weeks and weeks. Every manner of torture that the devil could instill in people to use on their fellow human beings was on full display during those years of tribulation.

During these persecutions the leaders of the Serbian Orthodox Church were the first to suffer and lay down their lives for their people. Bishop Platon of Banja Luka (Bosnia) was murdered in an incredibly bestial manner: he was taken by the Ustashas, (Crjatian armed forces, formed by Hitler’s Nazis to punish the Serbs for resisting him. Mostly Roman Catholic by faith, but including Moslems as well, they committed atrocities so horrible against the Orthodox Serbs that even the Nazi soldiers were appalled.-Ed.) along with the previously arrested priest, Fr. Dusan Jovanovich, to the village of Vrbanja, where their beards were shaved with a blunt knife, their eyes were gouged out, their noses and ears were cut off, and a fire was lit on their chests. Their bodies, together with the bodies of several other martyred clergymen, were thrown into the Vrbanja River.

Archbishop Peter (Zimonich) of Sarajevo (Bosnia) was warned of the danger he was in from the Ustashas, but replied, “I am the people’s shepherd, and it is my duty to be with my people in good and in evil”. He was arrested and imprisoned by the Ustashas on May 12, 1941, but was able beforehand to convey a message to his priests: “Stay in your parishes, and whatever happens to the people, let it be your destiny as well”. He was tortured and humiliated in every way conceivable, and then thrown into a pit to die, together with 55 Orthodox priests.

Archbishop Dosithei of Zagreb (Croatia) was arrested on May 2, 1941, imprisoned, beaten and brutally tormented in an Ustasha police prison, with Roman Catholic monks taking part in this outrage. This result of his torture was seen by Arnold Robert, the Belgian consul, who said, “By God, what these people do is savageness!” Even the Ustasha police chief reported, “The Metropolitan was so atrociously (tortured) that it was hardly possible to put him on the train for Belgrade. “He died in Belgrade on January 14, 1945.

Bishop Sava (Trlaich) of Plaski (Lika) was imprisoned on June 13, 1941 and tortured beyond endurance in a stable along with several priests. During their beating a phonograph recording of “As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ” was played. The bishop-confessor was permitted to say good-bye to his 83-year-old mother, albeit with his hands tied and his feet shackled. In mid-August of the same year he was taken to the Velebit Mountain and thrown into a pit with numerous other Serbs.

Bishop Irenei of Dalmatia was also imprisoned and later transferred to an Italian concentration camp near Florence. St Nikolay (Velimirovich) suffered in the worst Gestapo concentration camp, Dachau.

The case of Patriarch Gabriel (1937-1950) must be mentioned. He was despised by the enemies of the Serbian Church not only for his leadership status, but also for his protest against this inhuman treatment of his people and flock. After Belgrade was bombed in April of 1941, Patriarch Gabriel fled to the Ostrog Monastery in Montenegro, where he was joined by King Peter Karageorgevich of Yugoslavia. When the Royal government decided to leave Yugoslavia with the King, Patriarch Gabriel was asked to follow, but he refused to leave, preferring to share in the suffering of his spiritual flock. On May 9, 1941, the Nazis arrested Patriarch Gabriel and the priests with him at Ostrog on the charge that the Patriarch was stealing newly claimed government property. (Being arrested was nothing new to the pious Gabriel, as he had been arrested in 1915 in Pech Monastery by the Austro-Hungarians.) From Ostrog, the 63-year-old Patriarch, by decree of the Nazis, was compelled to travel on foot to Belgrade, about a month’s journey from Ostrog. To the horror of all, he was disrespectfully stripped of his monastic garb and forced to make the entire trip in his underwear. This humiliating plan of the Nazis failed, for along the way, wherever the Patriarch passed, The Serbian Christians wept and knelt in prayer to Almighty God for the alleviation of his sufferings. Patriarch Gabriel’s witness to the Christian Faith was a tremendous source of strength and comfort to the pious Serbian Christians at this time. He was a meek Lamb of God and emulated our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who was mocked and humiliated, using only godly courage, truth and meekness to endure and triumph in the end. Patriarch Gabriel was finally imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp in Germany (along with St. Nikolai), and later returned to the patriarchal throne after the war. He was one of the greatest Confessors of the Orthodox Faith that the Serbian people have ever known.

Many clergymen and monastics were executed right outside the walls of their churches and monasteries, in major cities such as Krushevac, Kragujevac, Mostar and Novi Sad.

Here are but a few of the well-known examples of the torments Serbia has been subjected to:

Glina – Over 120,000 were killed by the Ustashas, as many as six hundred per evening being bludgeoned to death assembly-line style in the local Orthodox churches. The few that survived fled to the area of Petrova Gora.

Vrgin Most – On August 3, 1941, 3,000 Serbs were massacred for refusing to convert to Roman Catholicism.

Vojnich – On July 29, 1941, the chief of the Ustasha police in Zagreb, Bozidar Gervoski, arrived with a number of Ustasha police units. They rounded up some 3,000 Serbian Christians from Krnjak, Krstinje, Siroka Reka, Slunj, Rakovica and other villages, and after mocking and torturing them, led them to the village mill in Pavkovich, where they were butchered like cattle.

Kordun, Sluj, Ogulin, Vrbovsko – The long list of bloody sacrifices began with the martyred priest Fr. Branko Dobrosavljevich from Veljun. Fr. Branko was ordered to read the canon for the departure of the soul from the body over his son, who was still alive. His son was then killed in his presence, and he was subsequently tortured and killed himself. There followed for several weeks’ mass executions of innocent Serbs, including women and children.

Churug, Novi Sad – On the Orthodox Feast of Christ Nativity in 1942 about 1,200 Serbs, along with their parish priests, were cruelly murdered in Churug. At the end of the same month 1,300 more Serbs, including clergy, met the same fate in Novi Sad.

Sadilovac – On July 31, 1942, the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos was burned to the ground, along with 463 people, ranging in age from newborn babies to old men and women.

Zhitomislich Monastery – On June 26, 1941, Croatian Ustashas tortured and murdered the entire monastery brotherhood, then threw their bodies into a pit. A Roman Catholic friar removed all the church valuables by tractor; the monastery church was subsequently demolished, and then the rest of the buildings were burnt down.

Jasenovac – This was one of the most horrible sites of the persecutions against Orthodox Serbs. The Ustashas, including Croats and Moslems from Herzegovina, came with rifles, revolvers, axes and hammers, and brutally murdered the Serbs. To save ammunition, many Serbs were brought to the brick factory in Jasenovac and tossed into the fiery furnaces. As they were placed in single file the last person in line was shoved, creating enough force to thrust his fellow martyrs forward. Others were butchered along the Sava River and thrown into the water. The bloodthirsty Ustasha leader Ljubo Milosh boasted that he had killed over three thousand Serbs, each time jesting and crying out, “How sweet is Serbian blood!” One Orthodox Serb, Joca Divjak, was given to Milosh as a Christmas present. Martyr Joca’s heart was torn out of his chest as other Serbs were forced to watch and laugh. Anyone who turned his head away from this abominable scene was killed on the spot. In all, over fifty thousand pious Serbian Orthodox Christians were martyred from August, 1941 to February, 1942 – a period of seven months.

There are many other lists of savageries which could be recounted – the record is truly astounding! These facts reveal that the Serbian Orthodox Church is in truth a Martyred Church.(In 1998 the Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church glorified several of the New Martyrs mentioned here.) Here recent history demonstrates a courage and commitment to the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which grants the Serbian Church a rightful and honorable place not only in Christian history but, more importantly, in the eyes of God Almighty Himself. So many – literally a million and a half innocent victims – upheld the belief in “laying down their lives” for the cause of Christ and His Holy Church. Their sacrifice for one another is an eternal witness and memorial, which should and must inspire all Orthodox Christians until the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And truly, at the great Day of Judgment they will all be crowned with an incorruptible crown of glory, received as a result of their love for truth and justice, and for carrying out the message of “the Honorable Cross and Golden Freedom”.

Holy New Martyrs of Serbia, you are now standing in glory before the Saviour’s throne. Pray, therefore, O holy lambs of God, that we too, your wretched followers and posterity, many receive strength, courage and zeal for Christ our True God, that we might also be willing to witness to the Life-giving Cross and glorious Resurrection of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs glory, honor and worship, together with His Unoriginate Father and Life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

TROPARION [1]

Tone 8

Because of your faith in God and God’s justice, ye have suffered earthly sorrow in the flesh; yet ye saved your souls, as heaven rejoices and your ancestors sing out in Heaven, greeting you at the gate of Paradise in song: “Your names are in the book of eternity, enter into Paradise, ye children of immortality! Therefore we on earth, your posterity, cry out in unison: Holy New Martyrs, pray for us.”

KONTAKION

Tone 8

Let God be praised in the fields and meadows, on the green mountaintops and in the valleys below, on the rushing rivers and in dark caves, since every place has been watered by the innocent and holy blood of many Serbian Martyrs: worthy stewards, brave soldiers, young boys and children and chaste virgins; let God be praised and let everyone keep silent, for the Lord of all rules the wo

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MONK HARITON – NEW MARTYR OF KOSOVO.

(By Hieromonk Stefan of Dečani Monastery, Kosovo)

Translated by Andjelka Raicević

The Lord’s words, Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul (Matt. 10,28) have inspired many generations of Christians over the past two thousand years, since the sacrificial crucifixion of our Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ. Following these words, even our sinful yet cross-bearing people have produced many martyrs and saints from the inception of Christianity until now.

Even today, when many have distanced themselves from Christ, there are God-thirsting souls who are prepared to follow Christ through death into eternal life. Such a one was Fr. Hariton.

Fr. Hariton first saw this world on the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, November 8/21, 1960, in the village of Lukovačka Reka at Kuršumlija (southern Serbia). He was born into the large peasant family of Lukić. In baptism he was named Radoslav (“joyous one”). Later in life he would be tonsured a monk with the name Hariton, which is the Greek equivalent of the Serbian Radoslav. Thus, at birth a mystical premonition of his future life of service in the Church was given – for every affliction endured for Christ’s sake brings joy, both in heaven and on earth.

Prior to his entrance into the monastery he worked hard helping his family in the village.  Later on, he educated himself and worked as a professional driver for twenty years. Thanks to his upbringing, he strove to live honorably and help all who were in need.

In his desire to do good,  he at first tried to join the Communist Party, but he was not accepted. Before long he began to see all the negativity inherent in Communism. This understanding remained with him for the rest of his life, and in the light of this awareness he viewed his people’s previous suffering under the rule of the Communist Party. While he did not live to see the fall of that system, of which he too was a victim, he now rejoices in heaven with all those who suffered at the hands of the Communists, knowing that it was not in vain that those blossoms were torn from the garden of the Serbian people.

While he was still living in the world he thought of getting married. At one point he even came close to marrying, but eventually the Lord revealed to him another path of salvation-that of the ascetic life. In honestly and wholeheartedly turning to the Lord, he wanted to follow Him in the most perfect and sincere way. With this in mind, he thought of going to th Holy Land, there to serve the sweetest Lord Jesus. Arriving as a pilgrim, he wanted to remain as a monk in the monastery of St. Sava the Sanctified in Jerusalem. However, by the unknown decree of Providence he was not accepted at that holy lavra, (Lavra: a coenobitic monastery noted for it size or importance.-ED.) and thus returned to his homeland.

During the last several years before he entered the monastery, Fr. Hariton lived and worked in Niš (The ancient city of Niš is located about forty miles to the northwest of Fr. Hariton’s home village in Kuršumlije.-ED.) He was known and remembered by all the faithful there solely for his goodness. He never gave up his God-pleasing intention to become a monk, and waited patiently for the right opportunity to fulfill his desire. Knowing that the Lord does not abandon His servants, he turned to the Lord with the sincere prayer that the path of salvation would be opened to him.

Fr. Harriton’s great faith and love toward the Lord is evident form the following incident:  Once when he was very ill, he turned in tearful prayer to his icon of the Mother of God “Of the Three Hands” and did not rise until he had received healing. His faith was increased through this incident, and in the future he would receive more confirmations that God is indeed real and answers prayer.

Guided by the Lord, in 1995 Fr. Hariton entered the Crna Reka (Black River) Monastery at Ribarić(Dating from the thirteenth century, Crna Reka Monastery is situated in the Black River Gorge in the south Serbian mountains.-ED.) there, in his service to God he also served the patrons of the monastery, the Holy Archangels and St. Peter of Koriša. Upon his entry into the monastery the battle with the old man (cf. Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22) began. Full of resolve and self-sacrifice, Fr. Hariton directed himself toward the higher ideals of monastic life.

Surrounded by younger men who were not used to physical hardship, he did his best to help each one in his common chores. Day and night he disregarded his own need for rest in order to help those brothers who needed assistance.

With a blessing from his abbot, he also assisted the monastery’s neighbors, especially the infirm and elderly, always joyfully hastening to fulfill such obediences. Taciturn and patient, he gave the impression that he was from another world. While he entered the monastery desirous of the solitary life, he would fulfill the obedience of driver without complaint whenever his abbot assigned him that task. In this duty he showed great care for his passengers. While he himself had been a professional driver and had liked to go fast, he would nevertheless overcome his own preference and proceed slowly and cautiously.

AT times Fr. Hariton could appear austere and strict in his zeal for the truth. The essence of his character, however, was characterized by love and self-sacrifice, which was demonstrated by deeds rather than by words. Ever silent and sober, he would speak readily only when he felt that his words would bring benefit to the common good. At all times he was careful not to hurt others or himself by his speech.

Within the monastery, he immersed himself in the Lives of Saints and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. While he conducted his life in their spirit, he would strive not to be noticed by those around him, as his spiritual father taught him.

Possessing nothing yet possessing all things (II Cor. 6:10), he struggled in this manner as a novice for two years at Crna Reka. Then, in obedience to his spiritual father, Bishop Artemije, he was called to assist in the rebuilding of the monastery of the Holy Archangels near Prizren, Kosovo. (Prizren was the capital of Tsar Dušan’s Serbian empire of the fourteenth century. This move took Fr. Hariton from southern Serbia to the war-torn province of Kosovo and Metohija.-ED.)

Once again Fr. Hariton was called to serve the Holy Archangels (with whom he was connected by birth), and he tirelessly gave of himself in the reconstruction of that holy place. Immediately he began to assist his new superior in preparing living accommodations for the brothers to move into.  In these labors, whether as a driver or on some other obedience, he did not spare himself and paid no attention to his own physical exhaustion. With constancy, he quietly and soberly fulfilled his missions. He was the first to arrive in church and never asked to be relieved of reading or chanting the services. He would stand by the kliros as straight as a candel, never taking a seat, and always focused on the words of the readings and singing.

On May 10, 1998, just before the vigil service to the patron of the chapel, St. Nikolai (Velimirović) of Žiča, Hariton was tonsured a monk by Bishop Artemije. (A disciple of Archimandrite Justin Popović, Bishop Artemije (Radosavlijević) is a renowned theological writer in Serbia. While he is officially “Bishop of Raška and Prizren,” his diocese covers all of Kosovo and Metohija. He is the former abbot of Crna Reka who received Fr. Hariton into the monastery.-ED.) Following his tonsure Fr. Hariton added labor to labor, becoming ever more zealous in obedience. He strove all the more to fulfill the tasks assigned to him and was never one to refuse even the most difficult jobs. One of his obediences was to obtain supplies for the monastery. He was also called upon to pick up important materials for the diocese, and for the bishop and his assistants. In these difficults tasks he was extremely reliable.

He could always be counted on to carry out any kind of job, because he did his best to labor according to his conscience, never thinking of himself or of what time of day or night it was. There are many examples of his eagerness to serve others, such as one time when he was ready to drive off in the middle of the night during the worst attacks of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), over the most dangerous terrain of Dulje and Crnolijeva, to bring healing water to an ailing brother in Christ. He was at peace and totally prepared to carry out that obedience. However, he was stopped before he could start the car. With the same readiness and peace within himself, with neither murmuring nor comment, he received a new blessing to remain.

While Fr. Hariton was capable of doing almost anything, and while he was knowledgeable about many things, he would never offer advice to his abbot. He preferred to serve rather than advise. When on occasion he did make a suggestion, it always proved beneficial to the monastery. For his integrity, Fr. Hariton earned the respect of his monastic brothers and the visitors who knew him. We all remember how he would often sit in the corner fo the refectory reading the Lives of Saints or praying.

He would not keep anything in his cell that he did not need, even books. Besides a prayer book and a bible he had only a few books, which he had received as a gift from his abbot. Even these he kept only out of obedience, not because he needed them. He was the same way in regard to icons. In his cell, which he never called his own, he kept only three icons. In regard to appearance, he was tidy, clean and simple. There was nothing about him to attract the attention of others except that, in both winter and summer, he always wore rubber opanke (handmade peasant sandals) with wool socks, and a vest over his robes, and only on the coldest days would he add another vest, identical to the first one. At church services he wore the complete monastic attire.

Mindful of his spiritual father’s teaching to remain silent at the refectory table and eat whatever is put before one, he would eat whatever he could and never complained to the cook. If there was no dish that he could eat, he would suffice himself with bread and tea. In serving guests he was polite and without regard to race or creed. He did his best to like all people.  Even when the Shiptari  (The name ethnic Albanians use for themselves. The Albanian name for their own country is Shqiptare.-ED.) committed crimes against our people, he did not hate them. Rather, he tried to justify their actions by blaming the godless regime.

While Fr. Hariton was not directly involved with the outside world, he was not ignorant of its events. However, he strove to remain dispassionate. He clung to the “one thing needful,” the Lord Christ, accumulating nothing for himself, keeping in mind that only what can be sent on to the heavenly treasury-where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt) (Matt. 6:20)-will remain with us when we meet the Lord.

We cannot remain silent about his endurance of illnesses. He always remembered his healing by the Mother of God. After that incident, he never turned to an earthly doctor. Once he became ill with what appeared to be hepatitis. Spurning any assistance, he retired to his cell and turned to the heavenly Healer. For several days he ate nothing. So that he would not scandalize the brothers, he told them that he would get food on his own. A few days later he emerged from his cell without any symptoms of illness.

When traveling, Fr. Hariton was careful not to demean the monastic calling by behaving improperly. He was cautious even concerning such details such as not eating ice cream on the street, but rather waiting for the proper circumstances. He was careful of his actions outside the monastery and even more so within it, diligently following the monastic codes of behavior, such as refraining from touching anyone even from placing one’s hand on another’s shoulder.

That he was a man who tried to be patient with others is evident from the following example. One of the brothers would always ask Fr. Hariton to help him with his chores. Everyone thought that Fr. Hariton helped him because he liked to. One time, however, that brother went overboard in his request and Fr. Hariton had to confess to the abbot that many times he had barely been able to refrain from yelling at the brother. The situation had been nearly unbearable for some time. Nevertheless, Fr. Hariton continued to assist the brother with each of his numerous demands, never publicly showing his frustration.

He was also kind to the neighboring Muslims. He tried to help them in many ways and intervened on their behalf as he did for other poor people. In his compassion, he often spoke up for them so that they would receive whatever material things they needed. Occasionally one could glimpse the softness of his heart when a tear would roll down his cheek as he listened to stories about he suffering and persecution of innocent people.

Fr. Hariton concealed his life behind a mask of disinterest. For all that he did for those around him, he kept quiet and did not draw attention to himself. His behavior drew criticism from some, but he never defended himself, believing that the monastic way of life should be respected, and not wishing to be spiritually harmed by deviating from it. His actions helped many. He spoke and acted in a simple and direct manner. When he was presented for ordination to the priesthood, he declined out of humility. His spiritual father understood this and did not force the issue. Truly, Fr. Hariton never allowed his speech to outweigh his actions.

Though he suffered at the hands of those he defended, he never showed any hatred, even when on May1, 199, when he was driving to visit a person sick in the hospital in Priština, an automatic rifle was shot at him. Because he had no hatred in his heart and believed others to be the same, he remained calm and fearless in these circumstances. This purity of heart allowed him to move about freely even after the Serbian army retreated [from Kosovo and Metohija} and the criminal gangs known as the KLA poured in.

During June of 1999, he drove his superior to Prizren every day, each time having to drive through an angry mob of Shiptari who were celebrating their “victory” over the Serbs. Once, alone and without any protection he fearlessly and calmly drove a mortally wounded man to the hospital through the same mob. After his incident, he told his bishop that he wished to remain in his Serbian monastery in the land of the Serbs. He said that he had not hurt anyone and wanted to stay-whether to live or to die. He was already prepared for anything.

Indeed, it was on June 15, 1999, that he received his last obedience on earth. At 10:30 A.M. he arrived by car at the diocesan see in Prizren and then departed to a family residence to pick up a mean they had kindly prepared for the bishop. As usual, he departed cheerfully, without complaint and without any sign of fear. He did not return from this trip. Along the way, in plain sight of NATO troops who had arrived [in Kosovo and Metohija] to bring “peace and freedom,” Fr. Hariton was captured by the criminal horde and taken to the place of torture.

Messages were sent to officials in all directions, but nothing was heard about his whereabouts. While the criminals wished to remain silent about the crime, the Lord did not want Fr. Hariton to be forgotten.  And as the martyrs are free to send messages to those on earth, so too did Fr. Hariton. He appeared in dreams to several of the brothers and told one that he was dead.

It was not until a year later that these dreams were confirmed. His tortured body was found near Prizren, behind the hospital in the town of Tusus. The body was identified by his monastic robe, his prayer rope, and his identification documents. The autopsy revealed torture: several of his ribs were broken, as well as his left hand. His vest was torn, and there were stab wounds near his heart. His body was headless, and several of his vertebrae were missing. We know that “Fr. Hariton did not deny his faith. He suffered because he was a Christian, a monk, and a Serb.

On November 11, 2000, his tortured remains were brought to his spiritual father, Bishop Artemije, at Gračanica Monastery [in Kosovo]. The following day the body was taken to Crna Reka Monastery, where Fr. Hariton had begun his monastic life. At Crna Rek, Bishop Artemije addressed the monks and the faithful who were gathered with the following words: “Fr. Hariton, we received you here several years ago as a novice, and now we receive you as a martyr…”

The All-night Vigil was served together with the continuous reading of the Psalter over the departed. The next day, the Divine Liturgy was concelebrated by more than thirty priests. The Liturgy was followed by a memorial service attended by more than five hundred believers. Fr. Hariton was then taken to the cemetery for a final tearful farewell. The martyr was the first to be buried in this cemetery. Now he urns continually like a candle before the Lord-just as the candles lit at the Liturgy and memorial service were not extinguished, and that light continues to burn atop his grave, witnessing his eternal life in God.

May we join together in the prayer that the Lord will glorify Fr. Hariton in the earthly Church as He has in the Heavenly. May his ascetic sacrifice and martyr’s blood truly be the seed of the new Christians.  And may all who receive inspiration from his example of quiet service and martyric suffering walk with even more devotion on the path of our God-bearing and holy ancestors, who suffered “for the Honorable Cross and Golden Freedom.” Together with them, in the unity of the Church militant and the Church triumphant, we wholehearted cry out: Holy Father Hariton, pray to God for us!

* * *

THE TRUE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SERBIA

Dr. Vladimir Moss 

The True Orthodox Church of Serbia came into being in the mid-1990s as a result of the fall of the official Serbian Church into the pan-heresy of ecumenism. A group of Serbian monks broke communion with the official Church and went under the omophorion of Archbishop Chrysostomos II (Kiousis), first-hierarch of the True Orthodox (Old Calendar) Church of Greece. In 1997, after two years training in the True Orthodox monastery of Esphigmenou on Mount Athos, one of the monks, Fr. Akakije, was ordained to the priesthood, went to Serbia, and celebrated the first Divine Liturgy in the chapel of St. John of Shanghai on Fruska Gora near Novi Sad. Services are exclusively in Church Slavonic (whereas in the official Church services are almost always in Serbian). At present there are three hieromonks – Fathers Akakije, Nektary and Haralampy – and one married priest – Fr. Atanasije. There are three men’s monastic communities, one women’s convent under Abbess Efrosinije and a large parish in Paracin. The True Orthodox Church of Serbia is growing, and has at present over 400 members.

This growth has taken place in spite of fierce opposition from the official church. Thus the official church has tried to have the women’s convent of New Stejnik torn down, although it is situated 1000 metres above sea level in a very remote part of Eastern Serbia and was built exclusively through the labours of the True Orthodox. In 2005 the True Orthodox won their court case against the official church, but the local bishop, Justin, is again trying to obtain a court order to have the monastery destroyed.

Below are two documents from the women’s monastery of New Stejnik describing their confession of faith and how they were unlawfully expelled from the monastery of Old Stejnik by the official church in 2003:

Sisterhood of Monastery Saint John the Baptist STJENIK, Jelica mountain, Serbia

PUBLIC DECLARATION

Regarding our lawless eviction from the monastery

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY

The monastery of Stjenik is a legacy of the Mrnjavčević family (XIV century). From the beginning, martyrdom and confession pervade the history of its inhabitants. One historian claims that the foundation of the monastery alone (dedicated to the birth of Saint John the Baptist) is marked by the martyric blood of monk - confessors. Because of their Orthodox confession, Jovan Stjenik as well as a great many Serbian monks, perished on this holy ground. They were tortured most dreadfully, burnt alive and beheaded by the unbelieving Turks. It was from this monastery that the Saints Deacon Habbakuk and Abbot Pajsije started confessing the faith of Christ, singing: “There is no better faith than the Christian, the Serb belongs to Christ, he goes to death with joy”. In this holy monastery there began the famous rebellion of Hadži-Prodan, which was suppressed in blood. During this time, the thick dark cloud of the sacrilegious Turks overshadowed Serbia. The Turks were conducting a “holy” war, or Džihad, against the Orthodox Christians, inspired by their father Satan.

The monastery was razed to the ground several times. Before World War I, hieromartyr Bishop Nikolaj Žički reconstructed it and settled in it nun Julijana. He made her a nun and was also her spiritual father. Since, during the war, the monastery served as a hideout for the chetniks of general Draža Mihajlović, it was razed again, first on behalf of the German Nazis, and afterwards by the Serbian communists. It was the Holy Bishop Nikolaj who, together with nun Julijana, preserved the Orthodox faith, adopting an uncompromising attitude towards the heathens. He also taught her how to maintain the holy tradition, which she sincerely passed on to our sisterhood.

Until recently the monastery of Sjenik was completely derelict. Mother Julijana lived totally forgotten in the deep deserted forest on Jelica mountain until the first novice came. Very often she did not have bread. The first novice in the monastery was today’s abbess, Mother Efrosinija. Ever since we came to this holy place, we have tried to live as our holy fathers have taught, never seeking any worldly pleasure, which we have seen in other places. In time we came to realize the situation of our other dioceses of the official Serbian church. The spiritual fathers and clergy had damaged us spiritually rather than giving us spiritual purification and transformation. Baptisms as well as other holy sacraments were inconsiderately distorted and corrupted. In such surroundings and under such spiritual guidance, we could no longer see ourselves as nuns. Along with this, the terrible apostasy and fall of our church into the heresy of ecumenism slowly revealed itself before our eyes. When we could not see any other way out, we refused obedience to Archimandrite Benjamin, avoiding all the other priests of the official Serbian church. At that moment we were proclaimed improper, dangerous and delusional. Many believers were told during sermons not to come to our monastery of Sjenik. We prayed and fasted, begging the Lord to help us come out of the darkness of apostasy and lead us to His unspotted bride – the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, which has nothing in common with the new apostates: the ecumenists, newcalendarists, newpaschalists and other enemies of God, together with the God - fighting Jews and Masons at their head. Following in the steps of the holy martyr bishop Nikolaj (who broke communion with the Belgrade patriarchate during the rule of the communist patriarch German), we decided to leave the apostate jurisdiction of the Serbian church, even though ecumenism had not yet gained ground. With fasting and ardent prayers we started searching for a way out.

We sought affiliation with those who do not participate in treason against Christ’s truth – Holy Orthodoxy. We sought those who are not creating a new religion with the Antichrist as its pontiff, the religion which is now arising trough the monstrous heretical organization of the World Council of Churches.

In our search there was the option of joining the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, but as soon as we got familiar with its pitiful condition and its ecumenical course of coming closer to apostates of official Orthodoxy, we turned to the Russian Catacomb Christians and Greek Old Calendarists. But since there are great intrigues for power in Russia and it is almost impossible to contact the canonical followers of the Russian Catacomb Christians, we decided to seek help from the Greek followers of Holy Tradition. Soon we heard about the metochion of the Athonite monastery of Esphigmenou, and also that Serbia has a True Orthodox jurisdiction, which has canonical apostolic succession from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad from its famous confessing period, precisely from the newly glorified confessor Saint Philaret (Voznesenky).

Our prayers were answered, and words cannot express our happiness when we finally came in touch with the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Serbia, in particular hieromonk Akakije. He especially helped us in making the first steps towards true Orthodoxy: in ending contacts with the Serbian Church and joining a true Orthodox bishop. When we first met our present spiritual leader, hieromonk Akakije, by God’s mercy we received a truly Orthodox spiritual guide, and from that moment on we were able to receive the holy sacraments, without which salvation is impossible. We started with the foundation of salvation – Baptism, since we had all been baptized in an unorthodox and anti-canonical manner: by pouring or sprinkling. After being baptised, the sisters who were nuns received The Great Angelic “Obraz” – The Schema. Before all this we confessed truthfully for the first time, and after being baptized we received the holy sacraments almost every day. Strengthened, or rather revived by the mercy of God, we decided to confess our cessation of communion with the ecumenists by a public declaration in which we explained the reasons which led us to this decision. We sent the document to our ex-ruling bishop Chrysostom of Banat and Zicha, archimandrite Venjamin, and the clergy of Čačak.

Bishop Chrysostom was informed about what was happening in the monastery before the document was handed to him, so his reaction was unexpectedly fast and incredibly brutal.

The contents of the document were as follows:

“The sisterhood of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist – Stjenik.

We are informing the bishops, the clergy and monastics in the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church that our monastery of Stjenik (all of the sisterhood) is putting an end to all communion of prayer with you.

We have not come to this decision hastily or thoughtlessly. Bearing in mind the present situation of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), as well as other local churches, our Orthodox consciousness does not permit us to have further contact with you. The reasons for this decision are as follows:

1.  The anticanonical rule of “patriarch” German, on behalf of the communist Tito government.

2.  The Serbian Orthodox Church remaining as an organic member of the antichristian heretical organization, the World Council of Churches, and participating in the heresy of ecumenism (praying together with the heretics) for several years.

3.  Full eucharistic communion with the apostates from Holy Orthodoxy: the sergianists (the Moscow patriarchate), the new calendarists, the new paschalists, and also with the heretical Monophysites anathematised by four Ecumenical Councils.

4.  The lifting of the anathema of 1054 against the papist heresy, even though the Roman pope has not repented of any of his innovations. Also, the forming of a union between all the Orthodox churches and the Catholic church. The complete acknowledgement of the Catholic church as a sister church, as well as acknowledgement of its sacraments.

5.  Charging money for conducting Holy Sacraments (simony).

6.  Mutilation of the holy sacraments with the Latin practice of pouring or sprinkling.

After a long search for a way out of your jurisdiction, which has completely fallen into the heresy of ecumenism, having lost all hope that it will get out of it, we have decided to join the only canonical and Orthodox jurisdiction in Serbia – the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Serbia under the omophorion of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece, whose first-hierarch is his Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostom II of Athens.

Bearing in mind that the Serbian monasteries were obviously not built for ecumenists, those who withdraw from Saint Savva’s way and Orthodoxy, and that monks and nuns are supposed to protect the sacraments, and never put them into the hands of the enemies of God, we shall continue to live in our monastery and will leave it only if some one forces us out of it.

We do not acknowledge the church court and we shall not answer to its summons, nor will any verdicts of this court be valid for us.

With the help of God we are ready to die for our firm determination to continue the confession of the holy Orthodoxy.

This declaration is signed by all the sisters, without any duress or personal motives, but with solid faith in the Lord, the Mother of God, our patron Saint John the Baptist, Saint Sava, the holy martyred Deacon Habbakuk, and the rest of the confessing martyrs of Stjenik.

(Below are the signatures of all eight sisters and the monastery stamp)

In the Holy Monastery of Stjenik, Year 2003.

Upon the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSECUTION

The events in chronological order Monday, October 6^th 2003. Conception of Saint John the Forerunner. 

Brother Stefan, who had been baptized together with his family and had joined the True Orthodox Church, went to the eparchy to hand over the declaration of the Stjenik nuns to bishop Chrysostom. On his way he passed a delegation from the eparchy, which had been urgently sent to Stjenik by Chrysostom himself. The delegation consisted of the following members: eparchy secretary priest Toma, archimandrite Venjamin, abbot of the Preobraženje monastery, priest Ljubiša from Mataruška Banja and abbess Jelena from Žiča. The delegation arrived at Stjenik almost at the same time as brother Stefan handed the declaration from the sisters to the bishop. After a brief talk, all four members of the delegation decided that we should immediately be evicted, even with the help of the police if neccessary. They threatened that they would beat us with sticks if we didn't repent and kiss the bishop's, as they said, »holy« right hand (although we would be given a certain epitimia).

All of the nuns and novices were present at this conversation with the delegation. We unanimously decided that we would consistently follow the Tradition of the Holy Fathers, and none of us have any doubt with regard to whether we should repent before any bishop of the ecumenist Serbian Orthodox Church. Having taken such a firm position, we were faced with insults, blackmail, together with the common ecumenist phrase: ”You can not be reconciled since you are not obedient”.

During this conversation, if it can be called a conversation at all, a record was taken in which everything we believe in was stated: from our refusal to acknowledge the church authorities of the official Serbian church nor her blessing, to our correct baptism in the True Orthodox Church (which was not a rebaptism!).

Each and every one of us signed that document gladly, and soon the delegation angrily left the monastery, threatening us that we wouldn`t see the morning. Being afraid that they would defile the altar, which had already been consecrated and which contained the Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, we didn't unlock the church for them, which got them extremely upset. Honestly, we have never seen such hatred and scorn, and especially not from people who were until recently our shepherds.

Meanwhile, in the heart of the diocese of Zicha in Kraljevo, brother Stefan, as we have already said, was giving our declaration to bishop Chrysostom. By the command of Vladika it was read out to some preists who were there at that moment by the abbot of Studenica. As he read on, his voice changed, and he could hardly finish reading. Together with the declaration was a photocopy from Vladika's latest book, in which he presented himself to the diocese of Zicha, and also recommended the papist calendar, while making fun of the calendar of the Holy Fathers. We had sent our notice to other eparchies as well, and at the end of the day there came many phone calls from »soul-caring« priests and other religious people from the eparchy, trying to convince us to change our minds and repent.

Tuesday, October 7th 2003. First martyr Thecla – the last peaceful morning in our monastery.

We started the day with Liturgy, which was celebrated by father Akakije, and finished at dawn. The Liturgy was very soul-stirring for all. We had the presentiment that we would not stay in our beloved monastery for much longer. It was as if we were already parting with the relics of the Stjenik martyrs, which were kept in the monastery church. It was as if we were parting from our spiritual teacher, mother Julijana, her grave and from all the holy things of Stjenik. And no longer did anything earthly tie us to the ground, we were all facing the heavens. The Epistle and Gospel of this day implied awesome events which took place a few hours later.

While we were enjoying our last moments after the Liturgy, the peace of Jelica mountain was disturbed by the sounds of Cacak police cars,  carrying officers, but without their uniforms. They insisted the abbess come with them to the Chief of police. Mother Efrosinija and one more nun took our car and returned from this interview after about three hours. The confused but friendly Chief tried to convince Mother Efrosinija to persuade the sisterhood to change their attitude about parting from the official church. Since the Chief did not understand the problems and reasons for the decision of the sisters, who were even ready to be evicted from the monastery, after a long conversation they went together to see the mayor Mr. Velja Ilić. He also said that this was no time for changes or reactions to the policies of the SOC. He begged mother Efrosinija to apologise to the bishop, and convinced her that he would try to brighten up the bishop. Of course mother Efrosinija did not accept this offer even after several hours of convincing. She turned back to the monstery. When she stopped at the gas station, unexpectedly she was surrounded by four cars, full of priests, yelling out loud and expressing their dissatisfaction.

It seemed that the diocesan Deacon Rados, who was among them, had the leading role and he was the one everyone was listening to. This will come to light later on during the brutal eviction of the sisters.

Mother Efrosinija sat in the car and tried to get away from them, but she couldn't because they followed her all the way to the monastery, with two cars in front and two behind. When they arrived at the monastery the persecution began. Those of us who stayed in the monastery begged father Akakije to move deeper into the forest, fearing his stay in the monastery could  be very dangerous. After a short urging, father Akakije and monk David, a brother from the metochion of the Athonite monastery of Esphigmenou, hid in the forest of Jelica. Very soon a large number of vehicles filled the not so small parking area in front of the monastery. In the begining there were about 50 priests in the courtyard of the monastery together with a hundred incensed laypeople. As time went by the number increased to 200 bystanders. They insisted on going into the church at once, which we allowed them to do immediately. They had all come to frighten the eight nuns and make them change their minds, or to throw them out of the monastery. 200 men vs 8 nuns! Almost all of them were convinced that they were doing a good thing by evicting the nuns. From the start they provoked and were aggresive to the small and unprotected sisterhood. They said that the church had been desecrated by schismatics and had to be reconsecrated. This was never done after joint prayers with the heretics or after papists and Anglicans entered their altars. In the western world it is common to use the altar and holy table with various heretics, without reconsecrating the desecrated table. Finally when they came out of the church having finished the ceremony, and when the provocation was becoming vulgar, the nuns unanimously sang the beginning of David's Psalter: »Blessed is the man….«

Hearing the nuns sing, the priests went into the church to serve the All-night vigil which lasted for half an hour. Afterwards they came out to the courtyard, lit their cigarettes and started a new attack aimed at the nuns.

It seems they were actually just preparing everything for the arrival of the bishop. Even though there were only a few truly believing Orthodox people with the nuns and strengthening them, the bishop was afraid to come, so the priests were informing him what was going on in the monastery on cellular telephones. Their fear was so great that they encouraged one police officer to ask the nuns if it was true that they were armed?!!

Among the civilians who came with the clergy, there were some suspicious characters. As soon as thay found out that father Akakije was hiding they turned towards the forest above the monastery. They were armed with chains with a big lock hanging at the ends. A miracle of God saved him. They searched the nearby forest several times, searching for the two monks. Their readiness to take a life was obvious at first sight, and it seemed they had permission for this. The aggressive followers of the bishop pushed the nuns down the stairs whenever they came upon them, and even shoved the severely ill nun Anisia. A couple of hours later Vladika Chrysostom came. As he was getting out of his car, surrounded by bodyguards, priests welcomed him in a Bolshevik manner, with a song and church bells. Having come out of the church, standing with a sceptre in his hand, he asked for the abbess, insisting that no one else come near. The priests roughly drew her away from the sisters and took her to the bishop, making a human wall, so that no one could approach her. Mother Efrosinija was standing alone, like a sheep brought to a wolf to be slaughtered. This obviously upset the bishop, who asked mother Efrosinija whether she recognised the Serbian Orthodox Church, and to the surprise of all present she said yes. She also answered the second question whether she would be obedient affirmatively. However, at that moment she was continuing to confess her recognition of, and complete obedience to, the True Serbian Church, but not to their ecumenist Serbian Church. She said she would not obey them, stating that the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Serbia were the Genuine Serbian Orthodox Church and that she would obey  only the true Archbishop Chrysostom of the Old Calendar Greeks. Then Vladika, full of fury, started yelling: »Seize the monastery!« In ten minutes the monastery quarters were invaded by Vladika's followers – laymen and the clergy. From that moment the nuns were not able to approach their living quarters and personal things. They started singing »God have mercy«, happily and with inspiration making the sign of the Holy Cross.

A deacon from Žiča approached mother and the nuns and told them to leave the monastery. Mother said that they would not do such a thing unless they were shown some kind of a legal document. Instead of the expected legal document, they received several hours of torment, mental harassment, insults...

Meanwhile, the personal belongings of the nuns were wrapped into sheets and thrown out of the monastery courtyard. The sisters begged the pursuers to allow them to take some of the belongings from the cells, like a pump for asthmatics, which one of the sisters needs badly. Insulting them, they let them take their things, controlling what they took. The sisters found their cells in chaos, things taken out of the drawers, cupboards opened and everything thown all over the place. By then the locals living near the monastery had arrived. They cried as they watched 200 maddened people taking out their anger on eight poor confessors.

All the sisters were on the field in front of the monastery, surrounded and without any possibility of taking shelter. Continuously they answered the provocations of the mad aggressors, defending the Orthodox faith.

Soon a document for their eviction was typed out, without a stamp and only with the signature of Vladika Chrysostom. With this so-called document, the inspector of the police came to the abbess and insisted the sisterhood leave the monastery. Neither the police nor the town authorities could stop the lawless and aggressive eviction of the nuns. Helpless in providing them with any legal protection, stunned by the aggressiveness of the church leader and his servitors, the lawyer said he had never seen such law-breaking and that he was not able to offer them legal protection. It was as if it had been ordered by some more powerful force. Those who wanted to help the nuns had their hands tied. The mayor himself was called upon by the Vladika to help him evict the nuns. During all this the police officers  were protecting the nuns from being lynched, and if it wasn't for them who knows how this story would have ended!

The sisters moved to a neutral area, across the creek, belonging to a public company Srbija Šume, from where their pursuers could not chase them away. Evening had already come, the sisters stayed on the field, while most of the people left with Vladika. In the occupied monastery there remained only a few of the bodyguards and priests who soon filled the gate of the monastery with cigarette filters. They never stopped watching over the nuns, but mostly they nervously walked through the gate, in and out of the monastery.

The nuns spent the night reading the Psalter and singing spiritual songs by a fire they lit so that they wouldn't freeze. The temperature was about zero.

After midnight a group of 15 true Orthodox Christians joined them led by priest Atanasije from Smederevo. The occupiers of the monastery were stunned by this unexpected night visit, so they called the police, who came at once. The police asked for the documents of the newcomers, writing down the serial numbers of their cars. But the visitors hadn't come to make chaos or take over the monastery, they had come to support the nuns.

As the night grew colder, the sisters worried about the fathers hidden in the deep mountain forest. Praise the Lord, who hid the fathers form their pursuers in the forest dark. At dawn, while darkness was still covering mountain Jelica, father Akakije showed up, trying not to be spotted by the police and pursuers. We begged him to leave the mountain while it was still dark, and one of the brothers took him to the city by car, leaving him in a safe place. As for monk David, we didn't know where he was. We found out later that he hid in the forest caves for 48 hours. He was without food or water, dressed in thin clothes in the cold mountain night.

Wednesday, October 8th 2003. Feast of Saint Ephrosinia.

At dawn the group of truly Orthodox Christians left the nuns with the blessing of father Akakije. The sisters had not slept, singing the troparion to the saint Efrosinija. They congratulated their abbess on her name's day, thanking God for such a beautiful vigil under the stars. They divided the feast cake themselves and shared it with each other. It was the first meal they had had in 24 hours. They had never had a better and more blessed feast. Never had there been so many wanted and unwanted guests. All the sisters were filled with happiness and peace. It is that kind of peace which Orthodoxy gives – peace given only to those who follow the Tradition of the Holy Fathers.

On this day, the name's day of our mother Efrosinija, in our monastery, the Liturgy was being served by those who had sold their faith for dinner and not by the truly Orthodox. A song could be heard coming form the church: »..Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake..« We sat under a clear sky and listened to the cynical Liturgy of the orthodox ecumenists. We were only a dozen meters away  and a small bridge was between us. The truly Orthodox and the truly nonorthodox. On one side the truly Orthodox without food, drink and shelter, praising their Lord Jesus Christ, and on the other food, drink, cigarettes, Liturgy and the warm monastery quarters. And it started to rain.

Suddenly we noticed father David coming out of the forest walking towards the monastery, not knowing anything about our eviction. The pursuers immediately went for him, but he managed to escape and come to us. We created a human wall between him and the pursuers. The above-mentioned Deacon Radoš openly swore in front of everyone, and addressing Saint Simeon the myrrh-gusher said he would strangle father David with his bare hands. We pulled out our icons and turned them towards Deacon Radoš and his company. Then he turned to father David and said that he was lucky this time, having the sisters to save him, but that he would not get away the next time.

After this we moved to a bush near the monastery, seeking shelter from the rain.

Our things were still lying all over the field. When the rain stopped, we moved inside a van one of our brothers in Christ left parked in front of the monastery. At that moment it started snowing. This was unbelievable, snow in October! Meanwhile, one of the brothers of the official church came to visit us with his wife and children. We begged him to take father David to Čačak, so he could escape another attack of the beastly pursuers. He accepted, and as soon as they started for Čačak, two eparchy bodyguards hurried after them. Brother Stefan, who was with us all the time, frozen and sleepy, got in his YUGO and managed to get in between the car in which father David was and the pursuers. Intentionally slowing down he didn’t let them reach father David, and when father David’s car was well out of reach, brother Stefan tried to get away himself, but the slippery roads and lack of rest and sleep stopped him – the car overturned and brother Stefan was knocked unconscious. The frightened woman and child got out the car and begged the pursuers to help brother Stefan. They did so, giving him mouth-to-mouth first aid, and afterwards taking him to the hospital. While brother Stefan was lying unconscious and suffocating with a brain concussion, a car with archimandrite Benjamin passed him. He saw the very tragic situation but didn’t stop to see if the man was alive, but waited until the people had moved him from the road before continuing coldly and full of contempt.

With him in the car were nuns from the monastery of the Holy Meeting of the Lord, and as we found out later, they were carrying food and beer for the new inhabitants of our monastery, who were smoking and drinking in the monastery dining room. We heard in the van about brother Stefan’s accident. Fear and uncertainty overcame us, since we did not know how serious his injury was. Two sisters wanted to go with the monastery car to the hospital, but the eparchy servitors wouldn’t let them. We begged them to let the sisters visit brother Stefan and at last they let them. We stayed in the van, shaking from fever and fear for brother Stefan’s life. There was no heating in the van and it was very cold. All of a sudden we lost confidence. We were not sure what had happened to father Akakije and David. Our souls shook with uncertainty. This Wednesday was spiritually the hardest day in a series of unpleasant events. The hours passed. We waited. At last the sisters come with good news. Brother Stefan was alive and well, in hospital. The fathers were safe and sound too. Again we were filled with inexplicable happiness. The sisters brought food from the town, festal consolation. Later on we tried to fall asleep, but we couldn’t since it was so cold. Our teeth chattered. We could see new cars coming and going from the monastery. Archimandrites Benjamin and Timotej from Studenica and of course the bishop’s assistant, Deacon Radoš, were in charge of the new inhabitants. Monks from Studenica had taken our monastery. Antonije from Studenica, Pajsije from Uvce and German also from Studenica came to the monastery. Antonije was to be abbot. This was the new brotherhood of the monastery. They all eat meat and drink, while the abbot even smokes.

Late at night one brother in Christ travelled a few miles to come and take us to a temporary hide-out. One car with priests followed us, but they stopped near the hospital, where we visited brother Stefan, the true Orthodox Serb who condescended to give his life for the truly holy Orthodoxy, protecting an Orthodox monk from his pursuers. On our way we noticed one more eparchy loyalist following us closely.

Having come to our temporary hide-out, we finally rested from our small confessors’ suffering for Christ’s Truth. We thanked God, our Lord Jesus Christ, Saint John the Baptist, monk-martyr John from Stjenik and all the other martyrs from Stjenik for enabling us to confess our faith, our beloved Orthodoxy. And also to expose the ones who had abandoned the Tradition of the Holy Fathers.

We hope with all our hearts that the Lord will strengthen us, so that our lives don’t bring shame on Him, our Savior. Because Thine is the kingdom and the power and glory of the Father, of the Son, and