Редакция Православного
альманаха
«Романитас»
Община Монастыря Св.Иоанна Предтечи (Сербия, ИПЦ Греции под омофором Архиеп.Хризостома) подверглась побоям и выселению
Выселение общины осуществили представители официальной
Сербской Патриархии при «нейтралитете» со стороны сербских властей
Монастырь Св. Иоанна Предтечи, находящийся на горе Елица (Сербия), покинул Сербскую Патриархию ввиду сергианства и
экуменизма последней некоторое время назад. Община монастыря
надеялась присоединиться к РПЦЗ, но ввиду ее распада воздержалась от этого
шага (Митр. Филарета члены общины почитают во
Святых и признают его канонизацию. Это, возможно, означает, что не прославившую
Митр.Филарета РПЦЗ(В) монастырь на
законных вероисповедных основаниях считает частью «распавшейся» Зарубежной
Церкви). Согласно распространенному монастырем коммюнике община активно искала
путей для обращения за омофором к Катакомбным Епископам в России, но ввиду
противодействия и интриг властей, а так же того обстоятельства, что из-за
границы почти нет никакой возможности войти в общение с подлинными каноническими
Епископами Русской Церкви, в этом не преуспела.
Монастырь обратился
с просьбой о принятии в общение к Архиеп.Хризостому
Киюсису и был принят под его омофор. После своего
ухода из юрисдикции Сербской Патриархии, община монастыря вскоре подверглась жесточайшим
гонениям. Монашеская община была выселена с помощью представителей Сербской
Патриархии и властей прямо на улицу.
Однако этого мало.
Положение монахинь,
выкинутых на улицу, избитых при выселении и преследуемых, отчаянное. Сила
ненависти, направленная на них со стороны представителей экуменической Сербской
Патриархии и союзных с ними мiрских бандитов,
вооруженных цепями и не встречающих сопротивления власти, феноменальна.
Согласно официальной информации, 11 октября 2003 г. пожилых монахинь уже после
выселения, во временно обретенном убежище, пытались…сжечь. Для наших читателей
мы приводим текст этого страшного коммюнике, распространенного монастырем,
по-английски (перевод с сербского). Корректор перевода чтец Владимир Мосс.
Просим так же о
молитве за монахинь-исповедниц:
Игуменью Ефросинию
схимонахиню Ипомонию
схимонахиню Анисию,
схимонахиню Нину,
монахиню Даниилу
монахиню Александру,
монахиню Иоанну
монахиню Екатерину
18 окт. 2003 г. «Романитас»
Sisterhood of Monastery Saint
John the Baptist
STJENIK, mountain Jelica, Serbia
PUBLIC NOTICE
Regarding
our lawless eviction from the monastery
SHORT HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY
Monastery Stjenik is the legacy of the Mrnjavčević family (XIV century). From the beginning, martyrdom and
confession pervade the history of its inhabitants. One historian claims that
the foundation of the monastery alone (dedicated to the birth of Saint John the
Baptist) is marked by
the martyric blood of monk - confessors. Because of their Orthodox confession,
Jovan Stjenik as well as a great many Serbian monks, perished on this holy
ground. They were tortured most dreadfully, burnt alive and beheaded by the
unbelieving Turks. It was from this monastery that the Saints Deacon Habbakuk
and Abbot Pajsije started confessing the faith of Christ, singing: ”There is no
better faith than the Christian, the Serb belongs to Christ, he goes to death
with joy”. In this holy monastery there began the famous rebellion of Hadži-Prodan,
which was suppressed in blood. During this time, a thick dark cloud of
sacrilegious Turks overshadowed Serbia. The Turks were conducting a “holy” war,
or Džihad, against the Orthodox Christians, inspired by their father
Satan.
The monastery was torn down to the ground several times.
Before World War I, hieromartyr Nikolaj Žički, reconstructed it and
settled in it nun Julijana. He made her a nun and was also her spiritual
father. Due to the fact that, during the war the monastery served as a hideout
for the chetniks of general Draža Mihajlović, the monastery was once
again torn down, first on behalf of the German Nazis, and afterwards by the Serbian
communists. It was Holy
Bishop Nikolaj who preserved Orthodoxy religion with nun Julijana, as well as
adopting an uncompromising attitude towards the heathens. He also taught her
how to maintain the holy tradition, which she sincerely passed on to our
sisterhood.
Until recently monastery Sjenik was completely derelict.
Mother Julijana lived totally forgotten in the deep deserted forest on Jelica
mountain until the first novice came. Very often she did not have bread. The
first novice in the monastery was today’s abbess, Mother Efrosinija. Ever since
we came to this holy place, we have tried to live as our holy fathers have
taught, never seeking any worldly pleasure, which we have seen in other places.
In time we came to realize the situation of our other dioceses of the official
Serbian church. The spiritual fathers and clergy had damaged us spiritually,
more than they had enabled us spiritual purification and transformation.
Baptisms as well as other holy sacraments were inconsiderately distorted and
corrupted. In such surroundings and under such spiritual guidance, we could not
anymore see ourselves as nuns. Along with this the terrible apostasy and fall
of our church into the heresy of ecumenism slowly revealed itself before our
eyes. When we could not see any other way out, we refused obedience to
Archimandrite Benjamin, avoiding all the other priests of the official Serbian
church. At that moment we were proclaimed improper, dangerous and delusional.
Many believers were told during sermons not to come to our monastery of Sjenik.
We cried out prayers to the Lord, along with regular fasting, begging him to
help us come out of the darkness of apostasy and lead us to his unspotted bride
– The One and Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, which has nothing in common with
the new apostates: the ecumenists, newcalendarists, newpaschalists and other
enemies of God, together with the God - fighting Jews and masons in charge.
Following in the steps of the holy martyr bishop Nikolaj (who stopped
communicating with the Belgrade patriarchate during the rule of the communist
patriarch German), we decided to leave the apostate jurisdiction of the Serbian
church, even though ecumenism had not yet gained ground. We started searching
for a way out, together with fasting and ardent prayers.
We sought affiliation but with those who do not participate
in treason against Christ’s truth – Holy Orthodoxy. We sought those who are not
creating a new religion with the Antichrist as its pontiff, the religion which
is now arising trough the monstrous heretical organization of the World Council
of Churches.
In our search there was the option of joining the Russian
Orthodox Church Abroad, but as soon as we got familiar with its pitiful
condition and its ecumenical course of aggiornamento with the official
apostates from Orthodoxy, we turned to the Russian Catacombniks and Greek Old
Calendarists. But since there are great intrigues for power in Russia and it is
almost impossible to contact the canonical followers of the Russian
Catacombniks, we decided to seek help from the Greek followers of the
tradition. Soon we heard about the metohion of the Athonite monastery of
Esphigmenou, and also that Serbia has a true orthodox jurisdiction, which has a
canonical apostolic succession from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, from its
famous confessing period, precisely from the newly glorified confessor Saint
Philaret (Voznesenky).
Our prayers were answered, and words can not express our
happiness when we finally came in touch with the Genuine Orthodox Christians of
Serbia, in particular hieromonk Akakije. He especially helped us in making the
first steps towards true Orthodoxy: helping us in ending contacts with the
Serbian Church and joining a true Orthodox bishop. The first time we met our
present spiritual leader, hieromonk Akakije, by Gods mercy we received a truly
Orthodox spiritual guide, and from that moment on we were able to receive the
holy sacraments, without which salvation is impossible. We started with the
foundation of salvation – Baptism, since we had all been baptized in a
unorthodox and anti-canonical manner: by pouring or sprinkling. After the
baptism, the sisters who were nuns received The Great Angelic “Obraz” – The
Schema. Before all this we confessed truthfully for the first time, and after
the baptism we took the holy sacraments almost every day. Strengthened or even
better revived by the mercy of God, we decided to confess our cessation of
communion with the ecumenists by a public notice in which we explained the
reasons which led us to this decision. We sent the document to our ex-ruling
bishop Chrysostom of Banat and Zicha, archimandrite Venjamin, and the clergy of
Čačak.
Bishop Chrysostom was informed about what was happening in
the monastery before the document was handed to him, so his reaction was
unexpectedly fast and incredibly brutal.
The contents of the document follows:
“The
sisterhood of the monastery of Saint
John the Baptist – Stjenik.
We are informing the bishops, the clergy and monastics in
the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church that our monastery Stjenik (all
of the sisterhood) is putting an end to all communion of prayer with you.
We have not come to
this decision hastily or thoughtlessly. Bearing taken in mind the present
situation of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), as well as other local
churches, our Orthodox consciousness does not permit us further contact with
you. The reasons for this decision are as follows:
1. The anticanonical rule of “patriarch” German, on behalf of the
communist Tito government.
2. The Serbian Orthodox Church remaining as an organic member in the
antichristian heretical organization, the World Council of Churches, and
participating in the heresy of ecumenism (praying together with the heretics)
for several years.
3. Full eucharistic communion with the apostates from Holy Orthodoxy: the
sergianists (the Moscow patriarchate), the new calendarists, the new
paschalists, and also with the heretical Monophysites anathematised by four
Ecumenical Councils.
4. The lifting of the anathema of 1054
against the papist heresy, even though the Roman pope remained without
repentance for all his innovations. Also, the forming of a union between all
the Orthodox churches and the Catholic church. Complete acknowledgement of the
Catholic church as a sister church, as well as acknowledgement of its
sacraments.
5. Charging money for conducting Holy
Sacraments (simony).
6. Mutilation of the holy sacraments with
the Latin practice of pouring or sprinkling.
After a long search for a way out of your jurisdiction,
which has completely fallen into the heresy of ecumenism, having lost all hope
that it will get out of it, we have decided to join the only canonical and
Orthodox jurisdiction in Serbia – the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians
of Serbia under the omophorion of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece,
whose first-hierarch is his Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostom II of Athens.
Since the Serbian monasteries were obviously not built for
ecumenists – those who withdraw from Saint Savva’s way and Orthodoxy, but also
having in mind that monks and nuns are supposed to protect the sacraments, and
never put them into the hands of the enemies of God, we shall continue to live
in our monastery and will leave it only if some one forces us out of it.
We do not acknowledge the church court and we shall not
answer to its summons, nor will any verdicts of this court be valid for us.
With the help of God we are ready to die for our firm
determination to continue the confession of the holy Orthodoxy.
This notice is unanimously signed, without any duress or
personal motives, but with solid faith in the Lord, the Mother of God, our
patron Saint John the Baptist, Saint Sava, the holy martyred Deacon Habbakuk,
and the rest of the confessing martyrs of Stjenik.
(Below are the signatures of all eight sisters and the
monastery stamp)
In
the Holy Monastery of Stjenik, Year 2003.
Upon
the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSECUTION
The events
in chronological order
Monday, October 6th 2003. Conception of Saint
John the Forerunner
Brother Stefan, who had been baptized
together with his family and had joined the True Orthodoxy, went to the eparchy
to hand over the notice of the Stjenik nuns to bishop Chrysostom. On his way he
passed a delegation from the eparchy, which had been urgently sent to Stjenik
by Chrysostom himself. The delegation consisted of the following members:
eparchy secretary priest Toma, archimandrite Venjamin, abbot of the Preobraženje monastery, scorer priest Ljubiša from
Mataruška Banja and abbess Jelena from Žiča. The delegation
arrived at Stjenik almost at the same time as brother Stefan handed the notice
from the sisters to the bishop. After a brief talk, all four members of the
delegation decided that we should immediately be evited, even with the help of
the police if neccessary. They threatened, telling us that they would beat us
with sticks if we didn't repent and kiss the bishop's, as they said, »holy«
right hand (although we would be given a certain epitimia).
All of the nuns
and novices were present at this conversation with the delegation. We are
unanimously decided that we will consistently follow the Tradition of the Holy
Fathers, and none
of us have any dilemma wit regard to whether we should repent before any bishop
of the ecumenist Serbian Orthodox Church. Having taken such a firm position, we
were faced with insults, blackmail, together with the common ecumenist phrase:
”You can not be reconciled since you are not obedient”.
During this
conversation, if it can be called a conversation at all, a record was taken in
which everything we believe in was stated: from the part that we do not
acknowledge the church authorities of the official Serbian church nor her
blessing, up to the part that we have been properly baptised (not again!)
Each and every one
of us signed that document gladly, and soon the delegation angrily left the
monastery, threatening us that we wouldn`t see the morning. Being afraid that
they would defile the altar, which had already been consecrated and which
contained the Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, we didn't unlock the church for
them, which got them extremely upset. Honestly, we have never seen such hatred
and scorn, and especially not from people who were until recently our
shepherds.
Meanwhile, in the
heart of the diocese of Zicha in Kraljevo, brother Stefan, as we have already
said, was giving our notice to bishop Chrysostom. By the command of Vladika the
notice was read out to some preists who were there at that moment by the abbot
of Studenica. As he read on, his voice changed, and he could hardly finish
reading. Together with the notice was a photocopy from Vladika's latest book,
with which he presented himself to the diocese of Zicha, and where he also
recommends the papist calendar, whilst making fun of the Holy Father's
calendar. We had sent our notice to other eparchies as well, and at the end of
the day there came many phone calls from »soul-caring« priests and other
religious people from the eparchy, trying to convince us to change our minds
and repent.
Tuesday, October 7th 2003. First
martyr Thecla – the last peaceful morning in our monastery.
We started the day
with Liturgy, which was celebrated by father Akakije, and finished at dawn. The
Liturgy was very soul-stirring for all. We had the presentiment that we would
not stay in our beloved monastery for much longer. It was as if we were already
parting with the relics of the Stjenik martyrs, which were kept in the
monastery church. It was as if we were parting from our spiritual teacher,
mother Julijana, her grave and from all the holy things of Stjenik. And no
longer did anything earthly tie us to the ground, we were all facing the
heavens. The Epistle and Gospel of this day implied awesome events which took
place a few hours later.
While we were
enjoying our last moments after the Liturgy, the peace of mountain Jelica was
disturbed by the sounds of Cacak police cars,
carrying officers, but without their uniforms. They insisted the abbess
come with them to the Chief of police. Mother Efrosinija and one more nun took
our car and returned from this interview after about three hours. The confused
but friendly Chief tried to convince Mother Efrosinija to persuade the
sisterhood to change their attitude about parting from the official church.
Since the Chief did not understand the problems and reasons for the decision of
the sisters, who are even ready to be evicted from the monastery, after a long
conversation they went together to see the mayor Mr. Velja Ilić. He also
said that this was no time for changes or reactions to the policies of the SOC.
He begged mother Efrosinija to apologise to the bishop, and convinced her that
he would try to brighten up the bishop. Of course mother Efrosinija did not
accept this offer even after several hours of convincing. She turned back to
the monstery. When she stopped at the gas station, unexpectedly she was surrounded
by four cars, full of priests, yelling out loud and expressing their
dissatisfaction.
It seemed that the
diocesan Deacon Rados, who was among them, had the leading role and he was the
one everyone was listening to. This will come to light later on during the
brutal eviction of the sisters.
Mother Efrosinija
sat in the car and tried to get away from them, but she couldn't because they
followed her all the way to the monastery: with two cars in front and two
behind. When they arrived at the monastery the pursuit began. Those of us who
stayed in the monastery begged father Akakije to move deeper into the forest,
fearing his stay in the monastery could
be very dangerous. After a short urging, father Akakije and monk David,
a brother from the metochion of the Athonite monastery of Esphigmenou, hid in
the forest Jelica. Very soon a large
number of vehicles filled the not so small parking area in front of the
monastery. In the begining there were about 50 priests in the courtyard of the
monastery together with a hundred incensed laypeople. As time went by the
number increased to 200 bystanders. They insisted in coming inside the church
at once, which we allowed them to do immediately. They had all come to frighten
the eight nuns and make them change their minds, or to throw them out of the
monastery. 200 men vs 8 nuns! Almost all of them were convinced that they were
doing a good thing by evicting the nuns. From the start they provoked and were
aggresive to the small and unprotected sisterhood. They said that the church
had been desecrated by schismatics and had to be reconsecrated. This was never
done after joint prayers with the heretics or after papists and Anglicans
entered their altars. In the western world it is common to using the altar and
holy table with various heretics, without reconsecrating the desecrated table.
Finally when they came out of the church having finished the ceremony, and when
the provocation became vulgar, the nuns unanimously sang the beginning of
David's Psalter: »Blessed is the man….«
Hearing the nuns
sing, the priests went into the church to serve the All-night vigil which
lasted for half an hour. Afterwards they came out to the courtyard, lit their
cigarettes and started a new attack aimed at the nuns.
It seems they were
actually just preparing everything for the arrival of the bishop. Even though
there was only a few truly believing orthodox people with the nuns,
strengthening them, the Vladika was afraid to come, so the priests were
informing him what was going on in the monastery on cellular telephones. Their
fear was so great that they encouraged one police officer to ask the nuns if it
was true that they were armed?!!
Among the
civilians who came with the clergy, there were some suspicious characters. As
soon as thay found out that father Akakije was hiding they turned towards the
forest above the monastery. They were armed with chains with a big lock hanging
at the ends. A miracle of God miracle saved him. They searched the nearby
forest several times, searching for the two monks. Their readiness to take a
life was obvious at first sight, and it seemed they had permission for this.
The aggressive followers of the bishop pushed the nuns down the stairs whenever
they came upon them, and even shoved the severely ill nun Anisia. A couple of
hours later Vladika Chrysostom came. As he was getting out of his car,
surrounded by bodyguards, priests welcomed him in a bolshevik manner, with a
song and church bells. Having come out of the church, standing with a sceptre
in his hand, he asked for the abbess, insisting that no one else come near. The
priests roughly drew her away from the sisters and took her to the bishop,
making a human wall, so that no one could approach her. Mother Efrosinija was
standing alone, like a sheep brought to a wolf to be slaughtered. This
obviously upset the bishop, who asked mother Efrosinija whether she recognised
the Serbian Orthodox Church, and to the surprise of all present she said yes.
She also answered the second question whether she would be obedient affirmatively.
However, at that moment she was continuing to confess her recognition of, and
complete obedience to, the True Serbian Church, but not to their ecumenist
Serbian Church. She said she would not obey them, stating that the Genuine
Orthodox Christians of Serbia are the Genuine Serbian Orthodox Church and that
she would obey only the true Archbishop
Chrysostom of the Old Calendar Greeks. Then Vladika, full of fury, started
yelling: »Seize the monastery!« In ten minutes the monastery quarters were
invaded by Vladika's followers – laymen and the clergy. From that moment on
their living quarters together with their personal things could not be
approached by the nuns. They started singing »God have mercy«, happily and with
inspiration making the
sign of the Holy Cross.
A deacon from Žiča
approached mother and the nuns and told them to leave the monastery. Mother
said that they would not do such a thing unless they were shown some kind of a
legal document. Instead of the expected legal document, they received several
hours of torment, mental harassment, insults...
Meanwhile, the
personal belongings of the nuns were wrapped into sheets and thrown out of the
monastery courtyard. The sisters begged the pursuers to allow them to take some
of the belongings from the cells, like a pump for asthmatics, which one of the
sisters needs badly. Insulting them, they let them take their things,
controlling what they took. The sisters found their cells in chaos, things
taken out of the drawers, cupboards opened and everything thown all over the
place. By then the locals living near the monastery arrived. They cried as thye
watched 200 maddened people taking out their anger on eight poor confessors.
All the sisters
were on the field in front of the monastery, surrounded and without any
possibility of taking shelter. Continuously they answered to the provocations
of the mad aggressors, defending the Orthodox religion.
Soon a document
for their eviction was typed out, without a stamp only with the signature of
Vladika Chrysostom. With this so called document, the inspector of the police
came to the abbess and insisted the sisterhood leave the monastery. Neither the
police nor the town authorities could stop the lawless and aggressive eviction
of the nuns. Helpless in providing them with any legal protection, stunned by
the aggressiveness of the church leader and his servitors, the lawyer said he had never seen such
law-breaking and that he was not able to offer them legal protection.
It was as if it had been ordered from some more powerful force. Those who
wanted to help the nuns had their hands tied. The mayor himself was called upon
by the Vladika to help him evict the nuns. During all this the police
officers were protecting the nuns from
being lynched, and if it wasn't for them who knows how this story would end!
The sisters moved
to a neutral area, across the creek, belonging to a public company Srbija
Šume, from where their pursuers could not chase them away. Evening had
already come, the sisters stayed on the field, while most of the people left
with Vladika. In the occupied monastery there remained only a few of the
bodyguards and priests who soon filled the gate of the monastery with cigarette
filters. They never stopped watching over the nuns, but mostly they nervously
walked through the gate, in and out of the monastery.
The nuns spent the
night reading the Psalter and singing spiritual songs by a fire they lit so
they wouldn't freeze. The temperature was about zero.
After midnight a
group of 15 true Orthodox Christians joined them led by priest Atanasije from
Smederevo. The occupiers of the monastery were stunned by this unexpected night
visit, so they called the police, who came at once. The police asked for the
documents of the newcomers, writing down the serial numbers of their cars. But
the visitors hadn't come to make chaos or take over the monastery, they had
come to support the nuns.
As the night grew
colder, the sisters worried about the fathers hidden in the deep mountain
forest. Praise the Lord, who hid the fathers form their pursuers in the forest
dark. At dawn, while dark was still covering mountain Jelica, father Akakije
showed up, trying not to be spotted by the police and pursuers. We begged him
to leave the mountain while it was still dark, and one of the brothers took him
to the city by car, leaving him at a safe place. As for monk David, we didn't
know where he was. We found out later that he hid in the forest caves for 48
hours. He was without food or water, dressed in thin clothes in the cold
mountain night.
Wednesday, October 8th 2003. Feast of Saint Ephrosinia
At dawn the group
of truly Orthodox Christians left the nuns with the blessing of father Akakije.
The sisters had not slept, singing the troparion to the saint Efrosinija. They
congratulated their abbess on her name's day, thanking God for such a beautiful
vigil under the stars. They split the feast cake themselves and shared it among
each other. It was the first meal they had had in 24 hours. They had never had
a better and more blessed feast. Never had
there been so many wanted and unwanted guests. All the sisters were filled with
happiness and peace. It is that kind of peace which Orthodoxy gives – peace
given only to those who follow the signs of the Tradition of the Holy Fathers.
On this day, the name's
day of our mother Efrosinija, in our monastery, the Liturgy was being served by
those who had sold their faith for dinner and not by the truly Orthodox. A song
could be heard coming form the church: »..Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake..« We sat under a clear sky and listened to the cynical
Liturgy of the orthodox ecumenists. We were only a dozen meters away and a small bridge was between us. The truly
Orthodox and the truly nonorthodox. On one side the truly Orthodox without
food, drink and shelter, praising their Lord Jesus Christ, and on the other
food, drink, cigarettes, Liturgy and the warm monastery quarters. And it
started to rain.
Suddenly we
noticed father David coming out of the forest walking towards the monastery,
not knowing anything about our eviction. The pursuers immediately went for him,
but he managed to escape and come to us. We created a human wall between him
and the pursuers. The above-mentioned Deacon Radoš openly swore in front
of everyone, and addressing Saint Simeon the myrrh-gusher said he would strangle father David with
his bare hands. We pulled out our icons and turned them towards Deacon
Radoš and his company. At that moment he turned to father David and said
that he was lucky this time, having the sisters to save him, but that he would
not get away the next time.
After this we moved to a bush near the
monastery, seeking shelter from the rain.
Our things were still lying all over
the field. When the rain stopped, we moved inside a van one of our brothers in
Christ left parked in front of the monastery. At that moment it started
snowing. This was unbelievable, snow in October! Meanwhile, one of the brothers
of the official church came to visit us with his wife and children. We begged
him to take father David to Čačak, so he could escape another attack
of the beastly pursuers. He accepted, and as soon as they started for
Čačak, two eparchy bodyguards hurried after them. Brother Stefan, who
was with us all the time, frozen and sleepy, got in his YUGO and managed to get
in between the car in which father David was and the pursuers. Intentionally
slowing down he didn’t let them reach father David, and when father David’s car
was well out of reach, brother Stefan tried to get away himself, but the slippery
roads and lack of rest and sleep stopped him – the car overturned and brother
Stefan stayed unconscious. The woman and child came got out the car frightened,
and begged the pursuers to help brother Stefan. They did so, giving him
mouth-to-mouth first aid, and afterwards taking him to the hospital. While
brother Stefan was lying unconscious and suffocating with a brain concussion, a
car with archimandrite Benjamin passed him. He saw the very tragic situation
but didn’t stop to see if the man was alive, but waited until the people moved
him from the road and continued coldly full of contempt.
With him in the car were nuns from the
monastery of the Holy Meeting of the Lord, and as we found out later, they were
carrying food and beer for the new inhabitants of our monastery, who were
smoking and drinking in the monastery dining room. We heard in the van about
brother Stefan’s accident. Fear and uncertainty overcame us, since we did not
know how serious his injury was. Two sisters wanted to go with the monastery car
to the hospital, but the eparchy servitors wouldn’t let them. We begged them to
let the sisters visit brother Stefan and at last they let them. We stayed in
the van. We shook from fever and fear for brother Stefan’s life. There is no
heating in the van and it is very cold. All of a sudden we lost confidence. We
were not sure what had happened to father Akakije and David. Our souls shook
with uncertainty. This Wednesday was spiritually the hardest day in a series of
unpleasant events. The hours passed. We waited. At last the sisters come with
good news. Brother Stefan was alive and well, in hospital. The fathers were
safe and sound too. Again we were filled with inexplicable happiness. The
sisters brought food from the town, festal consolation. Later on we tried to
fall asleep, but we couldn’t since it was so cold. Our teeth chattered. We
could see new cars coming and going from the monastery. The archimandrite
Benjamin and Timotej from Studenica and of course the bishop’s assistant,
Deacon Radoš, were in charge of the new inhabitants. Monks from Studenica
have taken our monastery. Antonije from Studenica, Pajsije from Uvce and German
also from Studenica came to the monastery. Antonije was to be abbot. This was
the new brotherhood of the monastery. They all eat meat and drink, while the
abbot even smokes.
Late at night one brother in Christ
travelled a few miles to come and take us to a temporary hide out. One car with
priests followed us, but they stopped near the hospital, where we visited
brother Stefan, the true Orthodox Serb who condescended to give his life for
the truly holy Orthodoxy, protecting the Orthodox monk from his pursuers. On
our way we noticed one more eparchy loyalist following us closely.
Having come to our temporary hide out,
we finally rested from our small confessors’ accomplishment and suffering for
Christ’s Truth. We thank God, our Lord Jesus Christ, Saint John the Baptist,
monk-martyr John from Stjenik and all the other martyrs from Stjenik for
enabling us to confess our faith, our beloved Orthodoxy. And also to expose the
ones who ran away from the Tradition of Holy Fathers.
We hope with all our hearts that the
Lord will strength us, so that our lives don’t bring shame on Him, our Savior.
Because Thine is the kingdom and the power and glory of the Father, of
the Son, and the Holy
Spirit for ever. Amen.
“We shall never
give up on you, our beloved Orthodoxy!
We shall never be
unfaithful to our fathers’ piety!
We shall never
leave you, our mothers’ piety!
We were born in
you; in you we live, and in you we shall die.
If the time
demands it we shall die a thousand times for you!”
Composed in the name of sisters evicted from Stjenik
monastery,
by schema-nun Nina.
ADDITION
The Golgotha of the sisters continues
Saturday, October 11th St. Chariton the
Confessor.
The nuns have gained shelter in a
family house. Even though it allows them to rest for two days, and restore the
monastic way of life and circle of daily services, their temptations continue
with constant threats. The greatest occurred on Saturday night (October 11th
2003), when two priests tried to persuade the pursuers in a nearby inn to
approach the house where the nuns were hidden and try to set it on fire. After
a few hours they went away, while a car was parked next to the house, watching
over it all night. Today, Sunday October 12th, the nuns are
fearfully awaiting the carrying out of this threat. This is the last
information we have from them.