Serbian Church Is Opposed to Brutal Regime

Extremist leaders of the nationalist Serbian government of President Slobodan Milosevic would have the world believe theirs is a cause backed by religious righteousness. Milosevic himself often appears on television with icons of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the background.

But the church, closely linked with other Eastern Orthodox churches around the world, has a well established record--little known in the West--of opposition to the fanatical regime.

In 1992, the synod of bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church issued a statement condemning the human rights violations of the Serbian government in Belgrade and calling for the resignation of President Milosevic.

That June, Patriarch Pavle (or “Paul,” in English), the octogenarian leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church, led a public demonstration for peace in the streets of Belgrade that drew some 50,000 people.

Later he joined the Roman Catholic archbishop of Zagreb in calling for a cessation of all hostilities, the closing of all prison camps, an end to ethnic cleansing, the return of all refugees and deportees to their homes and the free access of all bishops and priests, as well as Islamic spiritual leaders, to their flocks.

As recently as last fall, the Serbian Orthodox Bishop Artemije of Kosovo warned the U.S. Congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe that relying on Milosevic as a guarantor of peace in the region “is immoral and counterproductive.” The bishop’s visit to Washington, though it earned condemnation from the Serbian government, went unnoticed by the major American media.

Clearly, the war in the former Yugoslavia is not a religious war and has never enjoyed the support of any religious leadership, in spite of the use of religion as a cloak for extremist nationalism by Milosevic (who “morphed” from Communist to ardent nationalist just before his successful bid for power in 1989) and others currently seeking political clout.

This curious blend of nationalism and religion by Milosevic and others is often confusing to western journalists. Whatever else the church is, there is no other existing structure or institution so deeply linked with Serbia’s long history and traditions, stretching back more than 1,000 years. This has led many extremist Serbian nationalists to value the church for “cultural” reasons, while ignoring its stance on moral and political issues as irrelevant.

It is precisely this utterly false use of religion as a prop for nationalist fanaticism that was condemned in September 1996 at a meeting convened on the island of Patmos by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the world’s leading Orthodox bishop. Orthodox bishops from around the world, including Patriarch Pavle, condemned “nationalist fanaticism” and insisted that the Orthodox Christian understanding of nationalism “contained no elements of aggression and conflict among peoples.”

After decades of marginalization and persecution during the Communist regime of Tito, who died in 1980, a weakened Orthodox Church has had to respond to the political events that have shattered Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Jim Forest, director of the international Orthodox Peace Fellowship, reports that priests in Belgrade, Novi Sad and other Serbian cities and towns estimate only 5% of the population is baptized. And education in Serbia, Patriarch Pavle and the synod of bishops wrote in the spring of 1996, “has remained fundamentally Marxist in spirit.”

Bishop Artemije of Kosovo has publicly lamented the indifference of the Milosevic and previous regimes to the voice of the church. “In the course of the last 55 years, the Serbian Orthodox Church has not been able to influence the government, but we are trying to make our voice heard.”

And President Clinton and NATO seem equally deaf to the call of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Orthodox Church leaders, ranging from Patriarch Alexey of Moscow to Metropolitan Anthony of San Francisco, to end the bombing of the region as horror stories of civilian casualties continue to mount.

The Serbian Orthodox Church, together with the International Orthodox Christian Charities and the Albanian Orthodox Church led by Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, is attempting to make a difference in the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people victimized by this conflict.

Ever a monk and man of prayer, Patriarch Pavle has authorized that special prayers for peace be included in the worship of his church, among them this petition: “For all those who commit injustice against their neighbors, whether by causing sorrow to orphans, spilling innocent blood or by returning hatred for hatred, that God will grant them repentance, enlighten their minds and their hearts and illumine their souls with the light of love even toward their enemies, let us pray to the Lord.”

And the people respond: “Lord have mercy!”

On Faith is a forum for Orange County clergy and others to offer their views on religious topics of general interest. Submissions, which will be published at the discretion of The Times and are subject to editing, should be delivered to Orange County religion page editor Jack Robinson.