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Medieval bastion of Serbian faith -- and extremism -- vows to hold out
Tuesday, June 22, 1999 By Philip Smucker, Special to the Post-Gazette
GRACANICA, Kosovo -- Serbian civilians fleeing skirmishes with rebels across Kosovo say they will make a stand in this ancient bastion of Byzantium against what they say are Albanian efforts to force them from their homes.
At the "1389 Café," named after another more famous defeat of the Serb nation, midday drunks joke that they flew to the Gracanica monastery "like angels from heaven." They warn that no more compromises will be made with people they call "Islamic terrorists."
Serbian King Milutin, a flamboyant Balkan monarch who culled his riches from nearby gold and silver mines, built the breathtaking monastery in the early 14th century. The king's marriage to the Byzantine emperor's daughter enmeshed Serbia forever in archaic Eastern ways which still linger.
Gracanica was partially destroyed during the "Battle of Kosovo" in 1389, and in the 17th Century the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Arsenije III, fleeing the Ottoman army, led thousands in his flock from its holy sanctum in what people here still remember as "the great Serbian migration."
This time, as the noose of Albanian hatred tightens around this island of religion and extremism, Serbian residents and refugees say they won't flee. While intellectuals in cities are packing their bags in fear of ostracism and attacks from Albanian extremists, Gracanica's war-hardened residents say they'll never surrender. The Belgrade government even sought to make the sacred town an example of tough-spirited Serbs who refuse to leave their homeland.
Bozidar Lezic, 58, sells plum brandy in a tiny kiosk by the side of the road. "Milosevic is our leader even though his power is slipping," said Lezic. "We'll stay and defend our homes even if Belgrade can't help us."
A handful of the Serbs in Gracanica appear to have come to terms with their latest historical defeat. Sister Theodora, a short Orthodox nun who peers up through thin netting and a black shawl while tending to the monastery's honeybees, says she is ready for a deal with the West.
"Our only political leader here is God," says Sister Theodora, casting aspersions on the Serbian leaders in Belgrade who she says sold the nation to the Albanians. "We want to live together now with them and we welcome NATO."
Inside the red brick walls of the monastery, considered by architectural experts to be one of the loveliest creations of the Orthodox Christian religion, nuns genuflect, polish glass-covered icons and look up at the "warrior kings" of Serbdom. Many of the ancient leaders have had their eyes symbolically expunged by Turkish invaders.
Bitter male refugees, with nothing more to do than follow the nuns as they carry out daily chores, denounce foreigners as "liars" and "killers."
"We are not the guilty ones," says Zoran, who fled the southern town of Suva Reka last week where another Serbian Orthodox monastery was burned to the ground.
The bustling cafes of Gracanica cater to persons Albanians suspect as "war criminals," some of whom have slipped off their green army fatigues and black masks to try to blend in with the local population. For now, they sip brandy and teach foreigners to drink like a Slav and to use three fingers to make the sign of the cross. Their guns are well hidden but they wear their anger on their shirtsleeve.
Yesterday morning, three young Serbian men severely beat two Albanian men who stopped to use the telephone at the Gracanica post office. The two men sought refuge and first aid next door in a former police station now controlled by British troops.
"I just went in to make a phone call and they grabbed me and took me out back for a beating," said Farush Murate, 58, who held two bloody bandages to his face.
The local British commander who couldn't yet pronounce the name of the town said the Albanian men were given taxi fare and safe passage out of Gracanica.
Though NATO's Kosovo commander announced yesterday an agreement by Albanian rebels to surrender their machine guns, Serbs in Gracanica say the announcement is a trick and a lie. They are well aware that the Western Alliance is unlikely to sanction house to house searches anywhere in Kosovo, including in Gracanica.
"NATO isn't offering the Serbs anything," said Dr. Ivan Filopovic, who sat with a group of men laughing at the prospect of today's visit to the region from President Clinton. "They are all imperialists interested in our gold and silver. No more."
Philip Smucker is a free-lance journalist who writes frequently for the Post-Gazette.
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