Orthodox believers from Sirinićka Župa, led by the parish priest of Uroševac, priest Trajko Vlajković, placed a new cross on the dome of the Church of St. Elijah in Kačanik, confirming the life of the Orthodox faith in an area where there are no Serbs after 1999.
“This is a great day both for this temple and for this church in which we find ourselves today, but also for all of us who witness that life is happening here, and the life of this church,” said priest Vlajković on the occasion of placing the cross.
The fact that the cross on the church was replaced with a new one on the day of its patron, the Holy Prophet Elijah, represents great joy for the priest and believers, they say.
The cross is a gift from the abbot of the Zosima Monastery, Archimandrite Teodosije.
“I take this opportunity to thank him, but I also thank the residents of Sirinićka Župa who put in really great effort, will, and desire for all this to be in its place today and for us to welcome today’s holiday in joy and love,” said priest Vlajković.
After the 1999 conflict, the church in Kačanik became overgrown with weeds, and traces of the ravages of time are visible on it.
Last year, the churchyard was fenced and the church was cleaned. Inside the church, only the fresco of Jesus Christ on the inner side of the dome has been preserved.
In the church in Kačanik today, the slava cake was cut for the second year in a row.
The believers gathered today in Kačanik previously attended the liturgy and cutting of the cake in the Church of St. Elijah in the village of Nekodim near Uroševac. Priest Vlajković called on the displaced believers from that village, as well as Grlica, Varoš, and settlements from Sirinićka Župa, to live in love with their neighbors and fellow citizens, both Serbs and Albanians, but also not to alienate their ancestral land.
“God loves it when we offer prayer together, because we are saved as a community. Brothers and sisters, do not sell, do not alienate property. Do not let neighbors come to me and boast about how they buy for peanuts. Do not. Leave it to some generation of yours. It is a curse that we inherited and to sell it. Many years have passed since that evil and bad day, but we pulled ourselves together. The Lord sent the sun, just as there was a drought from the curse of the prophet Elijah, so after the prayer of the prophet Elijah came rain — so also the Lord: when He sends you bad weather, all that passes, He sends us good weather. I understand that we all got a little scared. Let us not sell what we received. Let us leave it as an inheritance to our sons, to our grandsons. It is good when we received something, but what will we leave to our own? Only sins,” priest Vlajković said.
Until the 1999 conflict, about a hundred Serbian families lived in Nekodim, Grlica, and Varoš. Today there are none in these villages, nor in Uroševac.
MORE TOPICS:
FROM AMMUNITION TO DRONES: How Serbia became one of Israel’s most important partners in Europe!
Source: RTS; Photo: Printscreen RTS