Posted on 02/27/2008 4:45:04 PM PST by Bokababe
Restitution of Serbian Orthodox Church Property in Kosovo-Metohia Province
Serbian Orthodox Church is the legal owner of 5,300 hectares of land in Kosovo province. The word Metohia, an integral part of the name of southern Serbian province, is derived from the Greek word "metoch", denoting the land owned by the Church. Photo: Pec Patriarchate built in 1260, the seat of Serbian Orthodox Church, Kosovo-Metohia, Serbia.
Raska and Prizren Diocese (encompassing Raska region and the province of Kosovo and Metohia) of the Serbian Orthodox Church will soon receive a decision stating the return of 5,300 hectares of land (13,097 acres) that was seized from this diocese alone, during the agrarian reform and nationalization process in 1945 by the Yugoslav communist dictatorship, the Serbian government Directorate for Property Restitution Director Vlaidmir Todorovic has said in a statement for Tanjug.
Raska and Prizren Diocese should submit a request to the authorized local organs with the real estate registry offices that are located in all municipalities in Kosovo and Metohia province, so that the ownership could be recorded, the director explained.
Stressing that the deadline for submission of requests for restitution of seized property is Sept 30, 2008, Todorovic said 12 churches and monasteries from Kosovo and Metohia province have submitted requests so far, and that the biggest area of around 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) belongs to Monastery of Devic.
Seat of Serbian Orthodox Church, Pec Patriarchate, which is also in southern Serbian province, is the next on this list, seeking restitution of 846 hectares, then the Monastery of Visoki Decani with 728 hectares, Draganac with 207 hectares, Gracanica with 100 hectares, The Holy Trinity near Musutiste with eight hectares, The Saints Cosmas and Damian near Zociste with five hectares, as well as the Church Municipality of Prizren which was stripped of 300 hectares of land in its property at that time, the official said.
Serbian Property in Kosovo Province Estimated at $400 Billion
Few days earlier, Serbia's Trade and Services Minister Predrag Bubalo confirmed that the value of property owned by Serbia and Serbs in Kosovo and Metohia is at around 400 billion USD.
Serbia has the deeds to 58.79 percent of the land in the territory of Kosovo and Metohia — state and social, private, and the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which comprises 641,071 hectares of the total of 1,090,410 hectares of land in that southern province.
This is data from the files of the land ownership register for a total of the 1,299 land-registry municipalities in Kosovo and Metohia, and every foot of the southern province is covered by the land registry books, the Belgrade daily Vecernje novosti reported last year.
For security reasons, the bulk of the documents were taken from Kosovo-Metohia to Serbia proper in 1999. On the grounds of these land registry books, the Coordinating Center made a digital land registry plan, so that Serbia now has an electronic database for details on all land owners in Kosovo and Metohia.
“It is fortunate that we were able to bring out the documents,” Slavica Radomirovic told the daily. Radomirovic is in charge of the Land Register with the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo and Metohia, and she was Kosovo-Metohia Land Register Director before the war.
“The first thing that UNMIK asked of us was that the original documents should be returned. Naturally, we refused. As long as we have the originals, Serbia has the proof of what belongs to it. All the copies of the plans and the land register data remained in the computers at the land registry services, so that UNMIK has access to all the data,” she said. Nevertheless, Radomanovic pointed out, any changes can be recorded only in the original documents.
The Way Forward Leads Through Pristina
So, now you know why Serbs laughed their heads off when Condoleezza Rice made a pathetic attempt to persuade them to “drop centuries of grievance and sentimentality in the Balkans and move forward”, meaning, of course, move away from both 1,700 years of their history and property which, in land ownership, covers over 58% of Kosovo-Metohia land. Understandably, Condoleezza prefers not to know that the only way “forward” for Serbs leads straight through Pristina.
Is the Serbian Church connected to the Russian still?
There is one Holy Orthodox Christian Church, period. The Serbian, Greek, Russian, Antiochan and even American Orthodox churches are part of that same Whole, although they function administratively separately.
Wherever we have traveled - in several mainly Orthodox Christian countries including Russia, we feel that we are in the same Church..same rituals same prayers, same hymns, same beliefs...only in different languages.
It is truly remarkable! Truly and essentially Christian.
Condoleezza Rice: for someone who claims to be an “academic” she demonstrates a dangerously naive understanding of the world...although it is probably deliberate - a way to force the extension of the NWO - the other even more frightening head of the materialism hydra.
Yes, we are connected in that we are in Canonical Communion. The two churches are governed separately though and each has it's own Synod of Bishops. We have our Patriarch (Alexei II) and they have their own Patriarch (Pavle).
Greek Orthodox related ping!
Same for me, Eleni. It is very enjoyable to have family around the world.
The Serbian Orthodox Church has been autocephalous since 1219.
I had a thought how to explain Kosovo to Americans (though it works best with Texans): imagine how Texans would feel if a chunk of Texas, and not just any chunk of Texas, one that included the Alamo, was ceded to a bunch of murdering Mexican drug-gangs just because the majority of residents happened to be illegal immigrants from Mexico, after a bunch of foreign countries took offense at Texas trying to bring the murdering gangs to heel and sent bombers to attack Austin and Washington.
It doesn’t quite get it, since there is not religious component to the attachment to the land, but it does to some degree communicate how offensive the theft of Kosovo on behalf of Mohammedans is.
Good analogy from the standpoint of emotions. But as this article points out, there is also about $400 billion dollars and a huge amount of land ownership at stake, too!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.