April 12, 2004

ERP KIM Newsletter 12-04-04

Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God in Lipljan begins to weep

In the church dedicated to the Holy Martyrs Florus and Laurus (the new church) in Lipljan, the icon of the Mother of God with Chris has begun to weep. The local parish priest, Father Randjel Denic, observed a trace some 20 centimeters in length under the right eye of the Mother of God on an icon that is part of the iconostasis.

"At the very moment I was saying a prayer in front of the icon - Most Holy Mother of God, have mercy on us - I observed a trace that was not there before. The trace , as if that of a tear, starts at the right eye and runs across the cheek of the Mother of God," Father Randjel told Radio KIM, adding that this was a sign and a blessing after the March pogrom given as a gift by the Mother of God to her people.

After news of this miracle of God spread, the Serbs of Lipljan celebrated the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ with their priest in great number in the hope that they would survive and return to their destroyed homes. The church of Sts. Florus and Laurus is surrounded by strong forces of Finnish KFOR and most Lipljan church live in the area where the church is located (from Radio KIM news, Caglavica)

A tear on the face of the Most Holy Mother of God in the church of Sts. Florus and Laurus in Lipljan (Photo Glas Juga)

Radio KIM, ERP KIM Info Service
Lipljan, April 12, 2004

On the eve of the Resurrection, on Holy and Great Saturday, while praying in front of the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God on the iconostasis of the church of Sts. Florus and Laurus, Father Randjel Denic, the parish priest in Lipljan, observed an unusual trace in the form of a tear appearing from the right eye of the Mother of God. In the tradition of the Orthodox Church, tears very frequently appeared on icons during times of great suffering by the Church, as a consolation to the faithful but also a call to repentance and more intensive prayer.

Father Randjel Denic made the following statement for the ERP KIM Info Service:

Icon of the Mother of God on which the trace of a tear can be seen from the right eye

"We served Holy Liturgy in the church on Great and Holy Thursday, Friday and Saturday according to the usual custom. On Saturday after the service, prior to dismissal I turned as usual toward the icon of the Mother of God on the iconostasis and said: 'Most Holy Mother of God, have mercy on us.' At that moment I observed an unusual trace in the form of a tear under the right eye of the icon of the Mother of God. When I completed the service I inspected the icon from up close and saw that there was indeed the trace of a tear some twenty centimeters in length from the right eye across the cheek of the Holy Mother of God. I am constantly serving in this church and I know that I have never observed anything like this on this particular icon," said Father Randjel.

In further conversation with the correspondent of the ERP KIM Info Service, Father Randjel said that he and his congregation experienced this sign of God as consolation and encouragement at a time when the Church and its faithful people in Kosovo and Metohija are undergoing great suffering. "On the very eve of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Most Holy Mother of God has shown us that she has not abandoned us, that she is protecting and looking after us, which encourages us all the more to remain in our centuries-old homes. Last month, on March 17, this church and the remaining Serb houses in Lipljan were attacked by a huge mob of Kosovo Albanians, who burned down about thirty Serb houses and beat up a number of Serbs, one of whom, Nenad Vasic, subsequently died. A hand grenade fell only five meters in front of me and I was wounded from the explosion by several pieces of shrapnel. Only the Lord saved my life," said the visibly shaken Father Randjel. After he was wounded, the Orthodox priest was arrested by Albanian members of the Kosovo Police Service under supposed suspicion of tossing grenades at his own church. He was detained for several hours while the Albanian mob looted and burned Serb houses throughout Lipljan.

Father Randjel Denic shows the tears on the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Church of Sts. Florus and Laurus in Lipljan

(We are enclosing a part of a more comprehensive report by Bishop Atanasije Jevtic, who visited Lipljan on March 20, and Father Randjel Denic, who was arrested by Albanian members of the Kosovo Police Service under the alleged suspicion of "tossing grenades at his own church")

In the early evening on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 Albanian extremists in Lipljan attacked the Serbs, the part of the Serb settlement which is to the right (south) of the main road passing through Lipljan from Pristina on the way to Prizren. At that time the Albanians tossed hand grenades and shot at the Serbs, wounding one man seriously (Nenad Vesic, born in 1950, who died of his wounds) and injuring and expelling others. The Albanians then headed in three groups of about 700 (a total of some 2,000) in the direction of the Serbian churches in the northern part of Lipljan, where there are about 800 to 1,000 Serbs living primarily near two churches: the old medieval church of the Mother of God and the new church of Holy Great Martyrs Florus and Laurus.

The result of this extremist pogrom, which continued on Thursday, March 18, is as follows: twenty-eight (28) burned Serb houses, i.e., properties (which means 28 residences and an even greater number of non-residential buildings in their yards). Among these houses was the house of a painter whose walls still remain decorated with the remnants of his burned paintings. In addition to Nenad Vesic, about ten other people were wounded, among them the Lipljan parish priest, Fr. Randjel Denic. People were expelled not only from these 28 homes but from the whole of southern and part of northern Lipljan.

The church of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple, left, from the 14th century (with 14th century frescoes) was restored in the 16th century. The foundation of a medieval basilica dedicated to early Christian martyrs Florus and Laurus was found under the church, and it is believed that this was the location of the medieval Lipljan diocese. The new church (20th century) dedicated to Sts. Florus and Laurus is in immediate proximity to the old church and Holy Liturgy is regularly served there. During the pogrom of March 17-19, the Albanians tried to set fire to both churches but tragedy was prevented thanks to the arrival of Finnish and Czech KFOR, who protected the churches and the remaining local Serbs.

According to accounts by Fr. Randjel and local Serb eyewitnesses who were themselves targeted, the attack by the Albanian terrorists began with Albanian policemen from the Kosovo Police Service expelling Serbs from their homes, allegedly to protect them of the oncoming masses but in fact to enable the Albanian extremists to more easily set on fire the Serb houses and Serb residential quarters in Lipljan. The mass of terrorists in three groups attacked from three sides who were shooting and also armed with incendiary bombs, rifle grenades and special missiles fired from rifles resulting in large fires, as well as hand grenades and Molotov cocktails. In some locations individual Serbs attempted to offer resistance but they were surrounded by police, captured, tied up and taken to the police station. As it advanced toward the churches, the mass screamed, threw rocks and grenades at Serb houses in the street in the direction of the church. When a hand grenade fell near an elderly Serb man, KPS police rushed toward him, captured him and tied him up because allegedly he had thrown the bomb! They did the same with Fr. Randjel after a grenade was lobbed three or four meters in front of him in the church courtyard; upon hitting the ground, the grenade exploded and he was wounded by seven or eight pieces of shrapnel, two of which inflicted cuts and flesh wounds to his chest, one a cut to his forehead, and the others wounds to his arms and legs. Luckily the injuries were not more serious and even though he staggered and almost lost consciousness, he remained on his feet. Hearing that the mass was approaching, Fr. Randjel with the help of another man, had closed the gate on the church courtyard and the door on the old church, and was withdrawing to his parish home, which is on the north side of the church. Rocks were flying at the windows of both churches and some of them were reaching him and then the hand grenade was thrown, too. The extremists crashed through the church gate and entered the courtyard and continued to target the church with rocks. They did not succeed in breaking into the church and setting it on fire because Finnish and Czech KFOR arrived.

Father Randjel Denic and Bishop Atanasije Jevtic (right)

Before the arrival of KFOR, Fr. Randjel, whose face and hands were bloody from the shrapnel, entered his parish home to wash the blood off his face and forehead. At that moment a few Albanian policemen from the Kosovo Police Service ran in front of the terrorists and, as if to surround the parish home from the front and before the door, lay down on the ground with their pistols pointed at the house. They shouted in Serb: "Hey you, get out of the house!" When the priest appeared at the door, the policemen demanded that he immediately lie down on the ground, to which he replied: "Why?" "Because you are throwing grenades," they responded. "How could I have thrown a grenade when I'm covered with blood from the shrapnel?" answered the priest and refused to lie down on the ground. They forced him to raise his hands and searched him for weapons then put handcuffs on him. Then they broke into the parish home and searched it for weapons, taking Fr. Randjel to the police station shortly before 18,00 hours. There they forced him to lie on the ground on his belly even though his chest hurt from the shrapnel and he was bleeding. They kept him there until 22,40 hours when a U.S. policeman came and released him. The shrapnel wounds were still visible the afternoon of Saturday, March 20, when we visited him between 16,00 and 17,00 hours. Other Serbs from Lipljan with shrapnel wounds are located in the Simonida Hospital in Gracanica and in the hospital in Laplje Selo.

Numerous Serbs from Lipljan fled toward Laplje Selo and Gracanica, and 130 Serbs, including 15 children and 18 seniors, took refuge in Suvi Do (on the other side of the main road).  Other Serbs fled to the northern part of Lipljan, where some of those who fled to Laplje Selo and Gracanica are also returning. They have no place to stay, no beds or blankets, and they also have no food. On Saturday afternoon, when we visited them, there were distributing the last remaining bread and food. (Their first meal of the day was at 16,00 hours.) They are appealing for assistance in beds and blankets because they intend to enter the Cultural Hall on Sunday after Liturgy, and to stay there and receive other returning refugees. It is not known if they will succeed in this because the Cultural Hall has long been occupied by the Albanians. (Just north of the Cultural Hall, next to the main road, there is a secondary school completely occupied by the Albanians from where, unfortunately, campaigns against Serbs are prepared every time: attacks and well-known methods of terrorizing the remaining Serb population in Lipljan, which prior to June 1999 was a small town with a predominantly Serb population. (There were 6,000 Serbs in Lipljan living in three-fourths of Lipljan, and about 1,500 to 1,800 Albanians living in the extreme southern part.) 

One of 28 burned Serb houses in Lipljan

TOP

ERP KIM Info-Service is the official Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren and works with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Artemije.
Our Information Service is distributing news on Kosovo related issues. The main focus of the Info-Service is the life of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian community in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija. ERP KIM Info Service works in cooperation with www.serbian-translation.com as well as the Kosovo Daily News (KDN) News List

Disclaimer:
The views expressed by the authors of newspaper articles or other texts which are not official communiqués or news reports by the Diocese are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Serbian Orthodox Church

Additional information on our Diocese and the life of the Kosovo Serb Community may be found at: http://www.kosovo.com

Copyright 2004, ERP KIM Info-Service