Serbian Church Demands Action After Albanian Lawyer Urges Razing of Sacred Site

Source: Eparhija Prizren

GRACANICA — The Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren has strongly condemned Kosovo Albanian lawyer Tome Gashi’s public demand to demolish the unfinished Church of Christ the Savior in central Pristina, labeling it hate speech and a direct threat to religious freedom.

In a widely circulated statement, Gashi described the consecrated Serbian Orthodox cathedral as a symbol of “occupation” that “must be demolished” after standing for 26 years since the 1999 war. The Diocese insists the church and its land are legally registered to the Serbian Orthodox Church, with no final court ruling declaring it illegal.

Since 1999, the site has faced repeated attacks, including failed bombing attempts, arson, vandalism, and desecration. Religious services remain heavily restricted.

The Diocese warns that such rhetoric normalizes exclusion of Kosovo’s Serbian Orthodox community and risks further violence against religious sites, noting over 150 churches destroyed since 1999. It urged Kosovo authorities, legal bodies, and international organizations to condemn the statement and protect minority religious rights.

The V. Rev. Protopresbyter Vasilije Vranic, Episcopal Dean of the Washington Deanery of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Diocese of Eastern America, gave the following comment to the Union of Orthodox Journalists:

The ongoing persecution of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija by the Kosovan Albanians has morphed into a systemic ethnic cleansing. The frequent attacks on the Christian churches, monasteries, clergy, and people in the heart of Europe in the 21st century is unconscionable and must be condemned by the international community using all diplomatic and economic means.

To that effect, we are hoping that the United States of America will lead the effort in condemning the violence committed against the Serbian Orthodox Church and its faithful people by taking first steps.

Recently, the UOJ reported on Serbian Patriarch Porfirije's warning about the temptation to appear “modern” by adapting to the spirit of the age—which, for the Church, would mean "abandoning her true self, relativizing and diluting her nature and message.”

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