Patriarch Pavle's statements have been one of the objects of controversy in this forum. Some even felt my disagreements with some of Pavle's statements were an attack on the Patriarch. There was in fact a quite fierce attack on Patriarch Pavle, but it did not ae from the New York Times forum host, but rather from a powerful group of Serb bishops.
The attack occurred after Pavle temporarily broke ranks with the religious nationalists and endorsed the negotiating agreements leading up the the Dayton accords.
For this, Pavle was fiercely criticized by the extremist wing of the Serb Church led by Bishop Atanasije Jevtic. Because Pavle has become an important issue in this forum, I present here a summary of these dramatic events, which evidently led to a retreat by Pavle from efforts at reconciliation to the extremist position of the Atanisije camp.
The story of the attack by the Atanasije faction against Patriarch Pavle was summarized in Vreme News Digest (a publication of pro-democracy Serbs in Serbia). The following account is based on the Vreme News Digest report in December, 1995, entitled "Pavle vs. Atanasije.
According to the report by Milan Milosevic:
""At least ten Serbian Orthodox Bishops requested that Patriarch Pavle step down because he witnessed and guaranteed the document authorizing Serbian President Milosevic to negotiate on Karadzic's behalf..."
Vreme offers the following portraits of the two principal figures in the clash:
""PAVLE: Patriarch Pavle (Stojcevic before he took holy vows) was born on 11 September 1914 in the village of Kucanci, Slavonija, to farmers Stevan and Ana. He went to high school in Belgrade, the Sarajevo Theological Seminary, the Belgrade College of Theology, attended graduate studies in Athens; he took his vows in the Blagovestenje Monastery in 1949, became protopresbyter in 1949, hieromonach in 1954, professor of church singing and Old Church-Slavic Language at the Prizren Theological Seminary 'St. Kirilo and Metodije;' he was Chairman of the Holy Synod Committee for the translation of the Holy Bible which was published in 1984---the first translation of the New Testament officially approved by the Church. Pavle speaks Greek, Russian and German and was Honorary Professor of the Belgrade College of Theology. Bishop of Ras-Prizren Pavle was elected the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch in December 1990, at an emergency session of the Holy Assembly to replace German Djoric, who had headed the Serbian Orthodox Church for 30 years, but had been sick for a long time."
Later in the piece, Vreme gives the following account of Pavle's stance after becoming Patriarch:
""Patriarch Pavle, who heads the SOC, which is considered a national institution, had been a fervent and persistent advocate of Serbian interests during the war, but tried to underscore humanness, persistence, patience and restraint even in war.
Patriarch Pavle met with Milosevic, Cosic, Panic, Draskovic and other politicians. In 1991, he published his correspondence with Tudjman, he wrote to Boutros-Ghali, Russian Patriarch Alexei II, Croatian Cardinal Kuharic. He blessed Karadzic, persuading and protecting him more than was thought possible. . .
He prayed for the victims, after the Serbian exodus from Western Slavonija, he ordered the churches to toll their bells every day, he tried, without success, to pray in Jasenovac and the Pakrac Diocese headquarters which he considers his home."
Here are some excerpts of Vreme's background on Atanasije:
""ATANASIJE: Bishop of Zahum-Herzegovina Atanasije (rumored to have irrevocably resigned in protest against the Patriarch becoming the witness and guarantor of the Milosevic-Karadzic agreement) is of a different character, popularity and expression than Patriarch Pavle. He resembles a national crusader and political demagogue more than a priest.
Born in 1938, in the village of Brdarica, near Koceljeva, Valjevo, Atanasije graduated from the Theological Seminary 'St. Sava' and Belgrade College of Theology and studied Theology at the Athens University in 1967; he was a professor at the Orthodox Academy in Paris, Professor and Dean of the SOC College of Theology; he is the author of theological and publicistic works 'From Kosovo to Jadovno---Travelogues of Hieromonach Atanasije Jevtic' (1984), 'Suffering of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija in the 1941-1990 Period' (1990), 'Serbian Homeland' (1993)."
To get a sense of how militant Atanasije is, here are short sections of Vreme's account on Atanasije's attack on two of the founders of contemporary religious nationalism in Serbia, Dobrica Cosic and Vuk Draskovic, for allegedly not being militant enough.
""Bishop Atanasije attacked FRY President Dobrica Cosic for criticizing the Serbs in Trebinje who were reported to have expelled the town's Moslems and razed the local mosque.""
According to the Vreme account, corroborated by other sources, Atanasije attacked Cosic for questioning the propriety of the burning of the mosques in Trebinje (a particularly brutal attack, according to human rights reports, that took place on the feast of St. Sava, no less) and the killing and expulsion of the town's Muslims.
Cosic responded on 16 February 1993 that ""the shame on the Serbian people was inflicted not only by the authorities in Belgrade, Pale and Trebinje but also by the church authorities. Cosic said the Bishop should ask himself whether he, too, was one of the sinners.""
This is only the beginning of Atanasije's enthusiasm for the assault on Trebinje's Muslim population and the systematic annihilation of their ancient heritage in Trebinje.
Atanasije "later even more sharply criticized Vuk Draskovic for protesting against the expulsion of Moslems. He even attacked Trebinje Mayor Bozidar Vucurovic for allowing the Adventist relief organization Adra to distribute aid."
Not for Vuk Draskovic to be attacked by Atanasije for not being militant enough is quite extraordinary. Vuk Draskovic was the founder of a notorious militia called the Serbian Guard which gained fame for atrocities in the town of Gacko, not far from Trebinje. According to Danica Draskovic, the wife of the founder of the Serbian Guard, Guardsmen boasted openly of gang-raping a thirteen year old Muslim girl in Gacko and then tying her to a tank and driving her around until there was nothing left of her but a skeleton. Danica Draskovic complained about the Guard's activities in Gacko as taking place without her the proper authorization, but her complaints, made publicly before Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Party, were ignored.
[there is no independent verification by human rights groups of the story of the "girl on the tank" but the fact that the Serbian Guard would boast of such a feat, even if they made it up, gives a clear indication of their mentality]
Back to Trebijne--Atanasije's only criticism of the Serb authorities in Trebinje was NOT that they polluted St. Sava's day by using it to engage in a killing spree against Muslims and burning and dynamiting the mosques, but that they didn't go further and take care of the Seventh Day Adventists as well, a group of evangelical protestant Christians engaged in non-violent peace work, whom Atanasije clearly wanted "cleansed" from Trebinje as well.
At any rate, the Atansije faction appears to have driven Pavle back into the extremist camp. The most recent Serb Synod recent statement attacking the International Tribunal, which attempts to find individual responsibility for crimes rather than blaming entire peoples or nations, is deeply problematic for the Serb Church and Serb people. The Serb Church advocates, in effect, that the Serb nation embrace and protect its war criminals against international investigations, and by doing so it will invevitably will cause the transfer the blame from individuals to the Serb nation as a whole.
Please correction a sentence in the above post. The sentence read: Not for Vuk Draskovic to be attacked by Atanasije for not being militant enough is quite extraordinary.
The sentence should begin with the word "Now": "Now for Vuk Draskovic to be attacked by Atanasije for not being militant enough is extraordinary."
Michael Sells