Pavle Vs. Atanasije

At least ten Serbian Orthodox Bishops requested that Patriarch Pavle step down because he witnessed and guaranteed the document authorizing Serbian President Milosevic to negotiate on Karadzic's behalf. Church circles presume that Patriarch Pavle himself wished to step down, but say that there are fears his resignation would give rise to "unnecessary radicalization", that Church law does not anticipate a Patriarch's resignation, only his shorter or longer absence or inability to chair the Holy Assembly of Bishops or the Holy Synod.

PAVLE: Patriarch Pavle (Stojcevic before he took holy vows) was born on 11 September 1914 in the village of Kucanci, Slavonija, to farmers Stevan and Ana. He went to high school in Belgrade, the Sarajevo Theological Seminary, the Belgrade College of Theology, attended graduate studies in Athens; he took his vows in the Blagovestenje Monastery in 1949, became protopresbyter in 1949, hieromonach in 1954, professor of church singing and Old Church-Slavic Language at the Prizren Theological Seminary "St. Kirilo and Metodije"; he was Chairman of the Holy Synod Committee for the translation of the Holy Bible which was published in 1984 - the first translation of the New Testament officially approved by the Church. Pavle speaks Greek, Russian and German and was Honorary Professor of the Belgrade College of Theology. Bishop of Ras-Prizren Pavle was elected the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch in December 1990, at an emergency session of the Holy Assembly to replace German Djoric, who had headed the Serbian Orthodox Church for 30 years, but had been sick for a long time.

At that Assembly, two factions prevailed in the SOC: one headed by Metropolitan Jovan and the other by the students of Justin Popovic held prisoner in the Celije Monastery near Valjevo for years (Bishops Amfilohije, Atanasije, Artemije and Irinej). In 1991, the Bishops decided that priests and local Serbs in Croatia should rebury the innocent victims of the Second World War Ustashi and perform the funeral rites.

In the crisis that followed, the SOC remained loyal to the decision of the assembly of all Orthodox Patriarchs in 451 AD that the borders of a church coincide with the borders of a state. Patriarch Pavle, who heads the SOC, which is considered a national institution, had been a fervent and persistent advocate of Serbian interests during the war, but tried to underscore humanness, persistence, patience and restraint even in war.

Patriarch Pavle met with Milosevic, Cosic, Panic, Draskovic and other politicians. In 1991, he published his correspondence with Tudjman, he wrote to Boutros-Ghali, Russian Patriarch Alexei II, Croatian Cardinal Kuharic. He blessed Karadzic, persuading and protecting him more than was thought possible.

Like Milosevic, Karadzic presented him with the Bosnian Serb Republic Order, talked with him about peace in 1992, and it is quite possible he assumed the role of conciliator and diplomat at the time Milosevic broke off with Karadzic.

He prayed for the victims, after the Serbian exodus from Western Slavonija, he ordered the churches to toll their bells every day, he tried, without success, to pray in Jasenovac and the Pakrac Diocese headquarters which he considers his home.

Although he signed the SOC memorandum against communist rule in 1992, Patriarch Pavle has always treated Milosevic with deference and tact. According to a newspaper article, he once scolded him for smoking too much and Milosevic immediately put his cigarette out.

The Patriarch was booed in Belgrade in March 1991, when he called for reconciliation between the rally at Usce (Milosevic's supporters) and the student rally at Belgrade's Terazije square (in protest against the regime). Those same children began to like this spry old man later, they once stopped the bus he was riding in and chanted "Pavle is cool!".

ATANASIJE: Bishop of Zahum-Herzegovina Atanasije (rumored to have irrevocably resigned in protest against the Patriarch becoming the witness and guarantor of the Milosevic-Karadzic agreement) is of a different character, popularity and expression than Patriarch Pavle. He resembles a national crusader and political demagogue more than a priest.

Born in 1938, in the village of Brdarica, near Koceljeva, Valjevo, Atanasije graduated from the Theological Seminary "St. Sava" and Belgrade College of Theology and studied Theology at the Athens University in 1967; he was a professor at the Orthodox Academy in Paris, Professor and Dean of the SOC College of Theology; he is the author of theological and publicistic works ("From Kosovo to Jadovno - Travelogues of Hieromonach Atanasije Jevtic" (1984), "Suffering of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija in the 1941-1990 Period" (1990), "Serbian Homeland" (1993).

Atanasije has published articles, polemics and books on genocide against the Serbs in WW 2 and the expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo. In January 1985, Bishops Atanasije Jevtic, Irinej Bulovic and Amfilohije Radovic became members of the Association of Writers of Serbia. Atanasije sharply attacked Milosevic in March 1991 for bringing the army out on the streets and "terror against Serbian children"; in March 1992, he said over NTV Studio B that the "warlock from Dedinje" (elite part of Belgrade where Milosevic lives) is an arrogant and vile man, that life would be better for everyone when he stepped down.

In May 1992, when the Holy Assembly held a long session and adopted the SOC anti-Communist Memorandum, Atanasije personally requested to be transferred to the Zahum-Herzegovina Diocese.

From there, Bishop Atanasije attacked FRY President Dobrica Cosic for criticizing the Serbs in Trebinje who were reported to have expelled the town's Moslems and razed the local mosque. Those reports prompted Belgrade to ask the opinion of the Zahum-Herzegovina Bishop. In his response, Atanasije said that this was not the only shameful act by the authorities headed by President Cosic for not showing interest when Serbian churches and villages were burned and when a large tract of territory had been ceded to the Croats. In his reply to Atanasije on 16 February 1993, Cosic said that the shame on the Serbian people was inflicted not only by the authorities in Belgrade, Pale and Trebinje but also by the church authorities. Cosic said the Bishop should ask himself whether he, too, was one of the sinners.

Bishop Atanasije later even more sharply criticized Vuk Draskovic for protesting against the expulsion of Moslems. He even attacked Trebinje Mayor Bozidar Vucurovic for allowing the Adventist relief organization Adra to distribute aid.

Regarding the Vance-Owen Plan in late 1993, Atanasije wrote about the Serbian tyrant in Dedinje, who is "suffocating the whole nation and forcing us to sign whatever the Western tailors of our fates decide to enforce in the Balkans." When the Bosnian Serb Parliament rejected the Contact Group peace plan for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Atanasije conveyed to it the SOC message that the decimation of the Serbian people could not be allowed again.