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RETURN TO THE MONASTERY

Why did Father Sava Janjic withdraw from the political life which he joined, due to circumstances in Kosovo and Metohija, with all his strength and intelligence

By Lidija KUJUNDZIC

NIN, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, December 14, 2000

Even though Protosyncellus Sava Janjic did his best to leave the position of the spokesperson of the Serb National Council of Kosovo and Metohija as quietly as possible, he was not successful. His return to his home monastery of High Decani remained a "secret" for almost ten days until the media's published, on the basis of a anonymous statement, that Father Sava "withdrew to the monastery because the Adventist clergyman whom he supported was not appointed to the position of director of the newly founded Serb radio station in Caglavica".

"I don't want to get involved," says Momcilo Trajkovic, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coordinator for Kosovo and Metohija, who was, from the very beginning, directly and indirectly (through Stojan Jovanovic) involved in negotiations on the founding of a radio and television station in Caglavica, commenting on Sava Janjic's return to the monastery of Decani.

For unknown reasons, the administration of KIM Radio from Caglavica considered it to be necessary to issue a rebuttal of the Belgrade media allegations and to explain that the election of the director of the radio station took place in accordance with regulations and that the candidate for the directorship, Petar Jeknic, was an RFI correspondent from Pristina, not "an Adventist clergyman".

"Father Sava returned to Decani for the salvation of his soul. He left everything: his computer, his cell phone... His current assignment is to serve as the librarian," says Vasilije Delic, the archdeacon who shared a cell with Protosyncellus Sava Janjic in the monastery of Gracanica for more than a year.

Blessing

The withdrawal of Protosyncellus Sava Janjic from the political life which he joined, due to circumstances in Kosovo and Metohija, with all his strength and intelligence, surprised many. Mostly those who do not know that several months ago Father Sava begged the bishop of Raska and Prizren, Artemije, to withdraw, or that this summer Father Sava was transferred by helicopter from Gracanica to Skopje, and then by airplane to a hospital in Paris. Doctors at the time determined that Father Sava suffered from complete physical and psychological exhaustion.

"Father Sava spent many, many nights on end working on his computer," said Father Vasilije, explaining that Protosyncellus Sava prepared all the documents in Serbian and English for signature by Bishop Artemije.

Father Sava also daily received as many as 300 email messages that required a response; this was frequently impossible due to conditions in Kosovo during the last year because there was frequently no electricity or telephone service... Father Sava frequently traveled to Kosovo Polje with Father Makarije, without a KFOR escort, in a white "Skoda" over ten years old, in order to connect to the Internet. This was the only way of maintaining the www.decani.yunet.com web site, for many reporters the only way of getting information on events in Kosovo and Metohija but also a habit that could hardly have been called advantageous. Actually it was rather dangerous. Frequently it was necessary to wait for nightfall so that the Albanians would not notice the monks in the car as they drove back to the monastery.

Lack of Understanding

There were moments, also, when the Serbs demanded Sava's head. Encouraged by former associates of the Bishop and unsophisticated supporters o Milosevic, the residents of Gracanica believed that Bishop Artemije should surrender himself as "a spy and a NATO mercenary" and allow them to hang him on the spot.

Certain senior church officials who threatened to take Father Sava before an ecumenical court, shared that opinion. The only thing Father Sava ventured to say at that time to this NIN reporter was: "I wish I had the opportunity to tell them what I think."

Bishop Artemije did not give in to either pressures from the Holy Synod or the pleas of Father Sava.

Even friends of Father Sava, such as the former Bishop of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, Atanasije Jeftic, criticized him for "being photographed too much". It is true that reporters, especially foreign ones, simply adored Father Sava for speaking perfect English, for being exceptionally well-educated, for being one of those who agreed to make a guest appearance of TV Kosovo, to give interviews and statements to the Albanian media when it was necessary and because, from the very beginning, Father Sava Janjic always fought against violence and vandalism with courage that many others lacked.

Thanks only to the intervention of Father Sava and Prior Teodosije of the monastery of High Decani, more than 70 Albanians escaped death.

"This was before the bombing when all sorts of paramilitary formations were running wild throughout Metohija. If we had not hidden them, they would have been killed. There were women and children among them," related Father Makarije and added: "They also threatened to slaughter all the monks in the monastery if we did not turn over the Albanians. Prior Teodosije would not give in for days and Father Sava ensured safe passage for all of them."

Bishop Artemije and Bernard Kouchner, the head of the UN mission in Kosovo and Metohija, are probably the only ones who know the full extent of Father Sava's merits. Bishop Artemije displayed his compassion by giving precedence to protecting Sava the monk, losing in the process his most precious associate, a man with sufficient tact to hold his own among foreign diplomats. The head of the UN civil mission in Kosovo and Metohija paid the highest of compliments to the Decani monk by saying that Father Sava deserves to be nominated for the Nobel peace prize.

Someone will probably venture to say that it is unbefitting for a monk to adorn himself in praise. Perhaps this is true but a man who readily sacrificed himself to save others deserves, at the very least, respect.

Translated by S. Lazovic (Dec. 15, 2000)