The Altar of War

On August 10, Patriarch Pavle publicly complained that "while an unprecedented disaster befell our people in Krajina, and hundreds of thousands of homeless and confused people are wandering around Bosnia", TV programs remain unchanged, sports matches are still being played, people in restaurants and taverns drink and sing til dawn, with deafening music coming from everywhere. "Usually when there is an accident in a mine pit, or in case of a train or plane crash, a national day of mourning is declared", the Patriarch said in his letter addressed to Milorad Vucelic, director of the Serbian Radio and Television (RTS).

In the last few of months, Church dignitaries visited many scenes of Serbian defeat and exile. On August 16, The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) sent out a message to the exiles from Krajina which said that they "have been unjustly moved from their ancient hearths with brutal and inhumane force" and were made to "set out into the unknown", and invited them to stay near their homes and places of worship. Orthodox Serbs, those in exile in particular, have also been asked to "abstain from prejudice against any members of ethnic minorities in Serbia, Republic of Srpska and elsewhere". On August 19, Patriarch Pavle officiated a Holy Liturgy in Trebinje, while fighting went on around it. While on August 6, in the Church of St. Marc in Belgrade, Pavle officiated a commemoration ceremony for all those from the Republic of Srpska who perished in this war, and on that occasion he called for a presence of mind, harmony and unity and requested that "hatred is not allowed to prevail in this misfortune", adding that "countries and states can not be built on genocide and crimes". On July 31, the Patriarch visited refugees in Drvar who arrived there after Croatian forces entered western Bosnia and captured Grahovo and Glamoc. Prior to that, on July 29, he officiated a Holy Liturgy in the Temple of the Holy Mother of God in Glina, and then visited the monument erected in memory of the martyrs whose throats were slit in 1941 in a church in Glina. Hours later, Glina was captured by the Croats. In an appeal to the Serbian people, issued on August 7, the bishops of the SPC invited all responsible Serbs to "rise above all human vanity and discord" and elect a "government on national trust". The appeal also warned that the threat of further ruin looms over Serbs "from Jadovno to Kosovo". It also said that "power-loving conduct and selfish attitude" of Yugoslav, Serbian and Montenegrin authorities "led them to break all promises and ignore all guarantees they once gave to Krajina", and that their "short-sighted policies brought their people to the end of a cul-de-sac".

NDA's Dossier contains longer extracts from Dr. Radic's work which was recently published in the newspaper "Republika". The essay was completed prior to the above mentioned events and analyzes the way in which the Serbian Orthodox Church dealt with events, movements and leaders in the Yugoslav war drama the consequences both for the Church and the people it represents. The Church went by the decision of the Synod from 451 AD which said that Church borders run along state boundaries, and thus tied confession with the ethnic being of the people. Church officials warn that after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, less than half of Serbian Orthodox eparchies remained within the borders of what is now Yugoslavia. In Europe and overseas countries there are 12 eparchies of the SPC, while another 10 are in the countries of former Yugoslavia but outside the FRY.