Religious Affairs Analyst Says Vucic Preparing Removal of Bishop Teodosije, Used Vulgar Insults Against Him

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

A commentator on religious affair, Drasko Djenovic, said on May 25 that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was preparing the removal of Bishop Teodosije of Raska-Prizren Diocese, because the bishop hadn’t voted for the dismissal of Bishop Justin of Zica.

Kosovo’s public broadcaster RTV Dukadjini released on May 23 the recording of a telephone conversation between Vucic and an official of the Serb Ticket, Srdjan Popovic, intercepted by Kosovo intelligence services. During the phone conversation, Vucic accused Teodosije and the abbot of the Visoki Decani monastery in Kosovo, Sava Janjic, of attacking the state, using  vulgar insults against them.

In a comment on the recording, Djenovic said for BETA that it was heralding the removal of Bishop Teodosije, who did not vote for the dismissal of Bishop Justin of Zica, and of Sava Janjic, who had never liked the regime. He also said that the Serbian Orthodox Church would not react to Vucic’s insults because “the Church likes state money”.

“Vucic keeps the Serbian Orthodox Church under control. The Church will not speak out. It also remained silent when secret recordings were made during the election of Patriarch Porfirije at the Saint Sava Temple,” Djenovic said.

A theologian, Vukasin Milicevic, told BETA that after such insults, the entire Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church should resign from all positions. “Unlike Vucic’s regime, which ‘defends’ Kosovo Serbs through a destructive mixture of crime and nationalism, the monks of Decani are the only ones who have built living bridges between Serbs and Albanians – the one key to the survival of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija,” the theologian said.