“The seizure of property belonging to the Serb Orthodox Church in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina must be opposed both legally and spiritually, and Serbs in that entity must be provided with concrete assistance,” historian Miloš Ković said.
“We are facing an exhausting legal, but also spiritual struggle. The legal struggle must be waged within the legal framework, while the spiritual struggle means resisting all forms of historical revision and reinterpretation of the past, in order to influence the future in that way,” Ković said.
“He pointed out that the process of attempts to seize Serb spiritual heritage and attribute it to neighboring peoples has intensified, along with the seizure of property and efforts to later rename it and transform it into something entirely different.”
“This certainly includes the recent mention of some so-called ‘Bosnian Orthodox Church,’ as well as attempts to establish a ‘Croatian Orthodox Church’ or a ‘Montenegrin Orthodox Church’—that is, to seize the property of the Serb Orthodox Church and hand it over to these quasi-churches that they would establish,” Ković said.
“He assessed that the enemies of the Serb people know very well that the Serb Orthodox Church is ‘the heart of the Serb people,’ and that this has been the case for more than eight centuries.”
“Ković noted that pressure on the Serb Orthodox Church is visible from many directions, above all through the most radical measures, such as those carried out by the Independent State of Croatia, which killed Orthodox believers, destroyed churches, and persecuted and murdered priests.”
“What is happening now falls into, so to speak, pressures of a somewhat lower intensity, but it also includes the seizure of property. And as we know, property is a key issue,” Ković said.
“From a historical perspective, attempts to seize the property of the Serb Orthodox Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina are nothing new, because for centuries the Church has been the main target of all anti-Serb policies of great powers that have marched through these areas,” Ković said.
“He emphasized that much greater attention must be paid to what is happening in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the seizure of Serb Orthodox Church property and the position of the Serb people.”
Source: RTRS
