The Kiss of Judas 

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Serbian Patriarch Irinej said today, “There are more people that bring us together and unite with the Roman Catholic Church, than those that divide us.“ Is this another “Kiss of Judas”? Will the disciples of the Orthodox church convince us that betrayal of a thousand years of dedication and commitment taught to us for generations be cast aside? Like Tito’s so-called “Brotherhood and Unity” are the Serbian people again being asked to give up their faith to accommodate a brutal Catholic Brotherhood and the murderous Franciscan order?

Like Judas, the words of the Patriarch strike at the heart of everything Serbian Christians believe in. This stampede into the arms of the Roman clergy that created the Great Schism in 1054 by naming the first Pope…is suddenly acceptable? Now our Patriarch is convincing us that we worship that Pope or worse, to take Holy Communion from the unclean hands of hundreds of gay priests who may have had a sexual encounter with an altar boy hours earlier.

Serbian Christians suffered through 400 years of Ottoman slavery, tormented by the Muslim motto of “Convert or Die.” Millions were put to death just like ISIS is doing today but dedicated Serbs resisted the embrace of these Muslim fanatics and managed to maintain their church and their faith …now we are being asked to ignore that history and to look past the recent century in which Serbs fought 5 times for their freedom and lost over 52% of their adult male population to now find they are being betrayed by their own Patriarch. “Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone” (John 8:7).

In 1942, I lost 17 relatives burned to death in the Serbian Orthodox church in Vojnic, Croatia along with dozens of other who came to that church to be converted to Catholicism believing the conversion would save their lives…it only postponed their deaths. Hundreds of Catholic priests and nuns participated in the Ustashe and murdered Serbian victims with their own hands. A half million Serbian Christians were converted to Catholicism during WWII and 90% were slaughtered once the Catholic Nazis knew their true identity…now we are led to believe we are dealing with different Christian creatures?

In 1995 during “Operation Storm” when 230,000 Serbs were ethnically cleansed from Croatia, the last 5 relatives of my name were too old and too sick to flee. A month later the Red Cross notified me that they were found with their throats slit. Now my Patriarch expects others and me to join hands with Catholics and sing Kumbaya? ... WHEN PIGS FLY!

The Jasenovac Concentration Camp in Croatia was nicknamed the “Auschwitz of the Balkans” in which most historians agree that about 700,000 Serbs, 40,000 Jews and 60,000 Roma were put to death by Croatian Catholics and their Nazi priests in some of the most grotesque war crimes of the 20th century…none were brought to justice. Instead, 970 Catholic priests killed Serbs, Jews and Roma with their own hands then fled to Argentina through the “Vatican Ratline” where they escaped justice. Serbian Christians being convinced to join with those who just 70 years ago tried to liquidate us is truly insulting.

To expect Serbs to worship with priests and unrepentant Catholics who have not offered a single apology or a dime of compensation will drive others and me to create another Great Schism in the Orthodox church that will make the split in the Serbian church that took place in the United States during the 1960s look like a warm up and I am confident that Coptic, Bulgarian, Romanians, Syrian, Greeks and Russian Orthodox will find any union with the Rome church equally repugnant.

“We've always been close, and lately it has improved and we want to shelter those moments that keep us apart," the patriarch told reporters at the opening of the exhibition "Naissus - The median" of the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of Niš, Serbia. Yet the elephant in the room at that event was the fact that no one spoke about the 98 Serbian churches that were destroyed in Croatia in 1991, the 230 destroyed in Bosnia in 1993-95 and in 390 destroyed in Kosovo—not during the war but were destroyed in the 10 years after the Serbs signed the peace agreement with Albanian terrorists. The Patriarch seems to treat his flock as though we have amnesia.

According to the Patriarch, “There must be unity, and it can be achieved at that level that befits Christians and people who read the gospel.” I wonder how many of our Catholic neighbors read that gospel and how many of their hands are covered in the blood of their Serbian victims? How may of those bible-reading Croatian Catholics made damned sure that 300,000 Serbs were cleansed from Croatia? How many of those Catholics will finance the rebuilding of over 450 Serbian churches destroyed in the past two decade? And when will 1.2 million Serbian refugees be permitted to return to their homes and their land?

The Patriarch told the press, "The anniversary celebration of the Edict of Milan is an opportunity to go back to the past and have a peek at the contents of the edict to see how much he needs us now."

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The persecution of Christians ended in 313 when Constantine of the West and Licinius of the East proclaimed The Edict of Milan, which established a policy of religious freedom for all. This is an English translation of the edict.

When I, Constantine Augustus, as well as I, Licinius Augustus, fortunately met near Mediolanurn (Milan), and were considering everything that pertained to the public welfare and security, we thought, among other things which we saw would be for the good of many, those regulations pertaining to the reverence of the Divinity ought certainly to be made first, so that we might grant to the Christians and others full authority to observe that religion which each preferred; whence any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens may be propitious and kindly disposed to us and all who are placed under our rule. And thus by this wholesome counsel and most upright provision we thought to arrange that no one whatsoever should be denied the opportunity to give his heart to the observance of the Christian religion, of that religion which he should think best for himself, so that the Supreme Deity, to whose worship we freely yield our hearts) may show in all things His usual favor and benevolence.

Therefore, your Worship should know that it has pleased us to remove all conditions whatsoever, which were in the rescripts formerly given to you officially, concerning the Christians and now any one of these who wishes to observe Christian religion may do so freely and openly, without molestation.
We thought it fit to commend these things most fully to your care that you may know that we have given to those Christians free and unrestricted opportunity of religious worship. When you see that this has been granted to them by us, your Worship will know that we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases; this regulation is made we that we may not seem to detract from any dignity or any religion.
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Archbishop of Belgrade Stanislav Hocevar said that the anniversary of the Edict is an opportunity to discover the history dating back to the church and this enables us to meet the same roots, the same content, and the same future.

Archbishop Hocevar said the Catholic Church in Nis, Serbia from September will be considered a pilgrimage and that it contains particles of the Holy Cross and the relics of the holy Empress Helena.

"It's an opportunity for many Roman Catholics to come to Nis, Serbia and see the intertwining of East and West. Hocevar has announced that it will be a restored Catholic church that was consecrated on September 14.”

It has also been suggested that the Serbian church convert to the Gregorian calendar. It therefore strikes me as odd that every aspect of this renewed union between the eastern and western churches is like a shotgun marriage. What can we expect next from the Serbian Patriarch who seems eager to rush into the arms of those Roman Catholics that sided with Austria in WWI, with Hitler in WWII and the Vatican who was the first to recognize the new state of Croatian in 1991?

We have bishops in the Serbian church that scoffed at Serbians who call Kosovo their “Serbian Jerusalem,” totally discounting the fact that in a thousand years over 1,350 Serbian churches were built in an area the size of Rhode Island. Now Serbs are supposed to believe Kosovo is insignificant?

Like ISIS today, the clergy pretended it was hopeless to fight back against the KLA terrorists who were selling organs from Serbian prisoners of war. Today Serbs are faced with their near annihilation in Kosovo. Serbs were the majority for a thousand years in Kosovo until WWII when thousands were killed by the very Roman Catholic Nazis the Patriarch now wants us to embrace and to share Holy Communion. Are we being asked to ignore history or are Serbs like sheep being led to the slaughter?

As a dedicate Serbian Orthodox Christian I am confident that a great many Serbians will refuse to follow any Patriarch, priests and bishops that would treat us like vassals and expected us to blindly abide by church edict as though we are all stupid…I remind the Patriarch that this is not Kosovo in 1389 and we are not being defeated by a Roman Catholic army. It is time the clergy start treating those of us who have spent a lifetime supporting our church be given the respect we deserve and an opportunity to share in any major decisions of our faith and not dictated to as though Tito is still running the Belgrade Patriarchate. 

By W. D