Petkovic: The Patriarchate of Pec has outlived every evil, today it is a powerful witness to the greatness of Serbian culture and suffering

Petar Petkovic, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, reminded that on this day in 1981, during destructive demonstrations by Albanian separatists in Kosovo, the residential quarters of the Patriarchate of Pec were burned, noting that the year marked the beginning of many evils that later befell Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the years and decades that followed. He also said that the Patriarchate of Pec has outlived every evil, including that of 2004, and that today it stands as a voice of Serbian culture and historical suffering.

“On this day in 1981, during destructive demonstrations by Albanian separatists in Kosovo and Metohija, the residential quarters of the Patriarchate of Pec, one of the most significant monuments of Serbian culture, faith and spirituality, were burned. It is a historical landmark that still testifies today that the area of Kosovo and Metohija for centuries represented a Serbian state and national center in both political and value terms,” Petkovic wrote on Instagram.

Petkovic added that over the 45 years that followed, people witnessed continuous attacks on Serbian holy sites in Kosovo, which confirmed what had been foreshadowed in 1981 – “that Albanian separatism in its very essence contains an anti-Serb and anti-Orthodox component.”

“The ideologues of Albanian separatism in Kosovo and Metohija, aware that our monasteries preserve both materially and symbolically Serbian title deeds to Kosovo and Metohija, made the physical destruction of traces of the continuous national presence of the Serbian people in that area their primary task,” Petkovic said.

He emphasized that the distant year of 1981 was the introduction to many evils that befell Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the years and decades that followed, and that the pattern of burning, demolition, and destruction has remained to this day an essential part of the ideology and practice of extreme Albanian political structures in Kosovo.

“The Patriarchate of Pec has for centuries been a spiritual source from which the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija have drawn strength, and it has outlived every evil, including that of 2004. Today, this jewel of Serbian culture and one of our national sources is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and as such it stands as a powerful witness to both the greatness of Serbian culture and our historical suffering,” Petkovic concluded.