Serb Church to Tell All
 

Globe and Mail, Toronto June 26, 1999 P A-13

 
Globe and Mail, Toronto
June 26, 1999
P A-13

Serbian Orthodox Church to Tell All
Leaders vow to lift veil on their side's brutality

by Rory Carroll
The Guardian, Belgrade

Serbia's wall of denial around war crimes in Kosovo is about to be smashed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has secretly decided to tell its flock that the nation's soul has been stained with the blood of ethnic Albanians.
     Church leaders are preparing to return from the province to Belgrade and defy Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic by publicly admitting that Serb forces committed widespread atrocities.
     Bishops and priests are braced for a backlash from a population drilled by state-controlled media into viewing Serbia as an innocent victim of aggression by Albanians and NATO.
     The head of the church, Patriarch Pavle, has been shocked by evidence of murders, torture and expulsions since arriving in Kosova last week. He has decided with his bishops to break Serbia's silence by declaring some of their countrymen guilty of horrific crimes.
     The church hierarchy will make the announcement at a press conference next week regardless of government threats, said Rev. Luka Novkovic, deacon at the church's library in Belgrade.
     Even if the state media ignore the announcement, the message is expected to spread like wildfire because the church is one of the few institutions able to communicate directly with the people.
     "At our services on SUnday our priests will be able to tell the people about what happened in Kosovo," said Father Novakovic. "We have learned that some Serbs did terrible things in Kosovo, and admitting that is the first step in changing things for the better."
     "It is a question of telling the truth. It will not be possible to keep it a secret, not any more. Society will know about it. It is our duty. It is important for a country to know the truth. It has top know, otherwise it will just continue on without confessing. Denying it is not going to save souls."
     Virtualy every Serb is of the Orthodox faith, with about half said to worship regularly. The church has already angered Mr. Milosevic by calling for his resignation.
     State-copntrolled television stations and newspapers continued to insist that NATO and Albanian terrorists committed the only crimes. Serbia was a victim of aggression and deserves reconstruction aid, they said.
     The church decided to speak our amid increasing ethnic Albanian attacks on Orthodox monasteries, priests and monuments.  The hierarchy has complained that NATO troops are not doing enough to protect Serbs sheltering in seminaries and monasteries.

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