Vol. 2 No.

2 October 2A02

New

Marfrs

of Our Times

Hieromonk Hariton of Kosovo +1999 and Hieromonk Stefan of Kosovo +1999

Hieromonks Hariton and Stefan, monks of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren, were executed by Kosovo Albanian terrorists during the bloody aftermath of the Kosovo war. They were abducted and killed only because they were Serbian Orthodox monks. With their martyric death they suffered for Christ together with many other slaughtered Christian Serbs and more than 100 destroyed or desecrated Ofthodox churches in Kosovo and Metohija. May they rest in peace with the Lord whom they loved so much.

Hieromonk Hariton (Lukic) Hieromonk Chariton was a monk of the Holy Archangels Monastery near Priaen in Kosovo. He was born on Novembef 21, 1960 in central Serbia and became a monk in Kosovo in 1995. Father Chariton was kidnapped by armed persons wearing UCK (KLAKosovo Liberation Army) uniforms and insignia on June 16, 1999 in the sfteets of Prizren. fn the time of his disappearance the German KFOR troops had already entered the Prizren area. Unfortunately they were followed by armed gangs of UCK extremists who killed and kidnapped a dozen Serbs in the city during those first days. The body of Father Chariton was found near Prizren on August 8th, 2000. According to the post mortem report Father Hariton's body was decapitated and severely mutilated. The head of Father Chariton has not yet been found. According to the forensic report the remains of Father Hariton were found in an unmarked individual grave in the cemetery of the Albanian village of Tusus near Pfizren. There is evidence that the body was left in

the open atr after the murder because only the skeleton remains. Several ribs were found broken, &s well as the left hand. The head and a few vertebrae are missing. Father's body was found still dressed in his riassa (cassock). His sweater was found cut in the front side which might suggest that Father Hariton's stomach was ripped, and holes found around the area of heart suggest that he was stabbed by a knife. In any case it was a painful death. With his clothes the investigators found his ID papers and prayer rope (chotki). All evidence and the forensic report have already been handed over to

KFOR and UNMIK authorities for investigation. The perpetrators of this foul deed have not yet been found. Hieromonk Stefan (Puric) Father Stephen, & priest-monk of Budisavci Monastery near Klina, in Kosovo, was abducted on July 19, 1999 by armed Albanian UCK rebels and since then nothing is known about him. According to unconfirmed information from the Albanian side Father Stephen was murdered and his body was thrown into an empty well
and covered with the carcasses of animals.

Above: A Nun of Gracanica lllonastery near Pristina, Kosovo, reads the Psalter over the remains of the new Martyr Hieromonk Hariton prior to the funeral service conducted on l{ovember 12,2000 by His Grace Bishop Artemije of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren.

Above: Tun photographs of Hieromonk Hariton on the day of his tonsure into monasticism.

The Voice

Left: Hieromonk Stefan

from Budisavci Monastery abducted by armed Alban-

inas
ered.

in July 1999. His

body has not been recov-

Righil Convicted by their own evidence-from cap. tured Albanian archives of

WWll, the murder of Abhot

Damaskin amidst the

ruins of Devic monastery
by an Albanian fascist.

BeloW right The only knoum photograph of Bishop Serafim of Raska

and Prizren taken in front of Decani Monastery before the start of WWll. He uas to be taken to Albania, imprisoned and tor-

tured until his death

1945.

in

Holy New Martyrs Serafim, Damaskin, Hariton and Stefan, pray to God for us and the suffering Orthodox Christians of Kosovo.

History repeats itself The murder of these two monks is not the first time Orthodox clerry and monastics have been exposed to violence and terror by Albanian extremists and nationalists. Only as long ago as the Second World War, Albanian Nazis belonging to the SS Skanderbeg Division killed many priests and monks, desecrated numerous churches and killed more than 10,000 Orthodox Christians civilians in Kosovo. At that time, as today, Kosovo was under the protectorate of another countrythen it was Mussolini's ItaIy, today the heavy hand of the IJN and KFOR troops Abbot Damaskin (Boskovic) was the abbot of the Monastery of Devic when the Second World War broke out. Immediately after the Italian Fascist troops occupied KosoVo and established Greater Albania, Kosovo Albanian extremists launched a series of attacks on the Serbian Orthodox population of the province. According to historical records around 10,000 Serbs perished and more than 100,000 others were forced out of Kosovo and Metohrya. Their homes and entire villages were first looted by Albanian Moslems and then burnt to the

that area was expelled by Albanian extremists and their homes have been looted and burnt in the presence of the IJN Mission and KFOR troops. At the very beginnittg of the Second World War, the then Bishop of Raska and Prizren, Bishop Serafim (Jovanovic), was forced to leave his throne in Prizren and found a temporary shelter in Decani Monastery. There he was arrested and deported to a special camp in Albania where he was tortured and humiliated in the most brutal way. After many sufferings for his faith he departed to the Lord on January L3, 1945 and was buried in the Albanian capital Tirana. Bishop Serafim was born in Prizren, Kosovo where he affended the Orthodox Seminary. He graduated ,from the Moscow Spiritual Academy and received ordination as a hieromonk on June 16, WAz in the church of St. Alexander Nevski in Skodra. He was a professor rt the Prizren Seminary and later became bishop of Zletovo-Struma (today Macedonia) on December 23 1920 and was subsequently elected bishop of Raska and Prizren Diocese on October 29,1928.

ground. The Serbian Orthodox Church was stricken with exceptional cruelty. In I94I they killed 14 priests and a nun. Abbot Damaskin was murdered most brutally while some priests like Fr. Luka Popovic, Fr. IJros Popovic and Fr.Slobodan Popovic were killed while
celebrating the Holy Liturgy.

After the murder of Fr. Damaskin, Devic monastery was burned to the ground. It was only in 1954 that
the monastery was reconstructed and became a convent. Today under the leadership of Abbess Anastasia, her nuns remain in the monastery and live under the protec-

tion of KFOR troops, completely isolated from the local Albanian community. All the Serb population from