Date: 4/22/99 2:55:31 PM Central Daylight Time
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (NewsDesk)
Yugoslavian clergy have different view of war
April 22, 1999 News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{216}
NOTE: This report may be used with UMNS stories #217 and #218.
By United Methodist News Service
While much of the world is riveted by the plight of ethnic Albanians in
Kosovo, Serb civilians are living through horrors of their own as they try
to endure and understand NATO's constant pounding of their country.
The United Methodist Church is channeling what will soon be millions of
dollars in relief to help refugees fleeing Kosovo, and some members of the
denomination are providing hands-on help in Albania and Macedonia However,
the church is also present on the other side of the conflict, in Yugoslavia,
where pastors such as the Rev. Sjanta Jano have an entirely different view
of the war.
"We, as a church, are shocked and disappointed because of the brutal action
against Yugoslavia," Jano wrote in e-mail correspondence with United
Methodist News Service. "We didn't expect something like that from the west
Christian countries."
Jano leads a 20-member church in Vrac, in the northern province of
Vojvodina. There are 13 Methodist churches in Vojvodina, representing a
total of 400 members, Jano wrote. The United Methodist Church has 2,500
members in Yugoslavia and Macedonia, and serves a community of 5,000 in the
region, according to the World Methodist Council.
As of April 18, none of the churches in Jano's area had been damaged by
bombs. However, in Central Serbia and Kosovo, some Baptist churches and many
Orthodox churches have been destroyed, and monasteries have been damaged, he
said.
Jano and other Yugoslavians say they have been living in terror since NATO
began its bombing campaign on March 24. The attacks are aimed at crippling
President Slobodan Milosevic's military machine and halting Serbia's ethnic
cleansing of Kosovo. The NATO alliance wants to force Milosevic back into
negotiations to work out a settlement of the conflict, with the ultimate
goal of returning the hundreds of thousands of refugees to Kosovo.
Jano and other Yugoslavians say the Serb government is not the cause of the
violence in Kosovo. Jano cited instead the desire by Albanians to separate
Kosovo from Yugoslavia and join it to Albania. NATO is supporting Albanian
terrorists, he said.
The Rev. Martin Hovan, a superintendent of the Methodist Church in
Yugoslavia, also regards NATO's stated aim of providing humanitarian aid to
Kosovars with disbelief. Trying to explain "something like this (in) that
way is untrue and hypocritical," he said in an e-mail note relayed by Jano.
Hovan lives in Novi Sad, the capital of Vojvodina.
Jano agreed. "How (do) they plan to do this?" he wrote. "With the bombs,
rockets and missiles? What kind of humanitarian aid is this?"
Their skepticism is reinforced by NATO's April 14 bombing of a convoy of
Albanian refugees, along with the bombing of other civilian points. Jano
cited the destruction of bridges, hospitals, schools, civilian settlements,
roads, rail lines, factories. NATO later said the attack on the convoy was a
mistake.
Throughout the conflict, the local churches are ministering in whatever way
they can, according to Jano.
"We try to help our members during services," Jano said. "We try to
encourage them not to lose faith and hope in God, not to lose God's peace,
but to abandon themselves to God's will and leadership. We remind our
members that people in trouble and despair need them, and they can help
them. We have a duty to do that."
The church is involved in ecumenical humanitarian work, which includes
"psycho-social centers" with doctors and volunteers who are ready to help
people. A mobile team also is trying to help those in need.
In terms of food, medicine and supplies, "we share everything that we
receive (with) those in need," Jano said.
"After all this, we are expecting more difficulties, because we --
Protestant churches -- are known as churches from the West." He expects
increased pressure on the churches from extreme nationalists, along with
greater financial difficulties.
In the cities that have been bombed, the church is providing important
services, he said. "People around us are in despair." They are weighed down
by doubt and worry about the next bombings.
"As we see that NATO targets are enlarged to civilian objects, even
hospitals and because of the (duration) of this situation, we can predict
even more difficult psychological consequences for people in Yugoslavia,"
Jano said.
"Our services are praying time, and we are pleading and crying out for help
and mercy from God," he said. "We can't have even assemblies of the pastors
because of the dangers of bombing. They are bombing cars on the roads, too.
It is a horrible situation, really horrible.
"We, in the churches in Yugoslavia, are very disappointed because of the
blindness and deafness of the Christian countries to see and to hear what is
the truth and what is the lie about (the) situation in our country. We are
disappointed and shocked because of the behavior of their leaders who lie
(to) their nations shamelessly and without any fear of God's punishment."
Jano, who is in his mid-40s, has been in the ministry since 1978. He and his
wife have a son, who is almost 15, and a daughter, who is nearly 12. Both
play musical instruments and had been in the school orchestra. "They are
very talented, but now everything (has) stopped," Jano said. "They don't go
to school because of the danger of bombing."
In Yugoslavia, 30 nations - that is, ethnic or national groups -- live in
harmony, he said. "I am Slovak and my wife is Macedonian, and we have never
felt in danger."
Serbs and Albanians have lived together peacefully throughout the country,
he said. "We accept any nation -- Albanians, too. ... There isn't a place in
Yugoslavia where ethnic Albanians don't live.
"I assure you that Serbs and Albanians can live together but without
interference from outside," he said. The war will stop when NATO quits
bombing Yugoslavia and helping terrorists, he said.
"If we grant Kosovo to Albania and leave NATO ... to do what they want to
do, I suppose the war will stop, but Yugoslavia is not ready to grant Kosovo
to somebody. Are Americans ready, for example, to grant some part of their
territory to some terrorists, or to some neighbor country? I doubt (it)."
Hovan said all of the ethnic and national groups living in Yugoslavia have
equal rights as citizens. "Albanians want to clear Kosovo from Serbs,
Muslims, Turks, gypsies, Gorans, Egyptians... than separate it from
Yugoslavia and join to Albania. Our government can't let it because it will
be an injustice to the other (groups living in Yugoslavia).
"Otherwise, there aren't any conflicts between Serbian and Albanian nations.
It is political propaganda," he said. The Yugoslavian government wants
peace, but the United States is making that "impossible" to achieve, Hovan
said.
Constant reports have emerged from refugees and NATO of mass killings by
Serb forces in the Kosovo province, primarily of ethnic Albanian men. The
reports echo similar atrocities that have occurred in other conflicts in the
Balkans throughout the '90s.
"I assure you that there wasn't intentionally ethnic cleansing in Kosovo by
our government," Jano insisted. "Simply, it is impossible." However,
offering a glimpse into the complexity of Balkan history, Jano noted that
many Serbs were driven out of Kosovo after World War II by ethnic Albanians.
The Kosovars had autonomy but wanted to separate from Yugoslavia, and were
deaf to propositions from the government, he said.
"Serbs are angry because of the injustice toward them," Jano wrote. "They
were victims in Kosovo.
"We are all in despair because we can't prove that we are not guilty," he
said. The world media are reporting what Jano and others feel is a distorted
view of the facts, while NATO is bombing Yugoslavia's own radio and
television centers. "They are bombing us because we don't accept their truth
and rules," Jano said. "We feel like helpless animals in the cage, who are
beaten without chance to defend themselves."
Jano is appealing to Christians around the world to pray for Yugoslavia and
to urge their governments to stop the conflict. "If you can, please help us.
(Regardless of) who is guilty for this, nobody has the right to exterminate
us.
"We don't know what kind of future (is ahead for) us," he said. "We don't
know if we (will) survive this bombing.
"These days, our prayer is: may God save our souls."
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