Visoki, Kosovo

Long but tidy beards, pony tail, black robe. The popes of the Visoki monastery seem like little soldiers, each one resembling the other. At eight o’clock in the morning Visoki’s courtyard is already bustling. Some workers are preparing the stage. They have to make small repairs to the external walls. The monks scamper here and there, commuting between the monastery and the church, which rises a few metres away. We go and visit it. It is a gem. Everywhere there are frescoes, Christs and Madonnas covered in gold. There is an air of mysticism and devotion, which one cannot avoid; not even the profane. The Serbian Orthodox faith plants its roots in this monastery and in the nearby Cathedral of Pec (Peja in Albanian), which, respectively, mark the longest era of power of the medieval Serbian state and the birth of Serbian autocephalia, arisen in 1219, when Sava, brother of the prince Stefan Nemanja, separated himself from the Constantinople patriarchy, choosing Pec as the seat of the patriarchy. Still today the Serb patriarch (the metropolitan Belgrade) is nominated in the elegant Cathedral of Pec.

Kosovo, cradle of the Serb civilisation

The origin not only of the church, but also of the Serb nation, was in 1219. Autocephalia and nation are in fact two concepts that in these countries of the Orthodox tradition often coincide. Greeece, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania: each of these countries has its own national church. The Serb one, as mentioned, was born under the monarchy of the Numanja, consolidating itself further on, through territorial victories, during the reign of Stjepn III and Dusan (his son). It was Stjepan III himself who wanted Visoki to be built. It was in the year 1327. Still today, the relics of the penultimate Sovran of the Nemanja dynasty (after Dusan the Serb state was shreaded under the blows of the Ottoman Empire, ndr) are preserved in the Visoki monastery.

Overlooked by the imperious shadow of the mountains which separate Western Kosovo from Montenegro and Albania, the monastery, which rises in the nearby settlement of Decani, is a formidable example of architectural and artistic preziosismo. Father Ilarion, who accompanies us on our visit, underlines how Visoki, which also boasts a vast library, mainly composed of manuscripts transcribed by amanuensi, is the most important religious museum in the Balkans; as well as a place of pilgrimage. There are many followers who, organised in comities, reach Visoki from Belgrade, Novi Sad, Bis and other Serbian cities. Their offerings represent an important voice in the equilibrium of the Visokian popes, who make their living producing wine, religious icons, candles and rakija, a type of grappa, often aromatised with fruit (in a special way using prunes) which in the Balkans is a real institution.

The extra-territorial question

Life within the monastery flows smoothly. The same cannot be said for what happened “outside” the walls of Visoki. The point is that the area of Decani, stronghold of the ex-commander of the UCK (The Kosovan Liberation Army) Ramush Haradinaj, now under trial in Aja for war crimes, has been the stage for a certosina work of counter-ethnic cleansing, which forced the Serbs, ground down, threatened and downtrodden, to emigrate after the bloody two-year period of ’98-’99. Visoki is like a dot in the ocean, it is a small Serbian bastion sinking right in the middle of ethnically pure and monolithic territories. This entails particular attention on the part of the Italian military of the KFOR, the NATO contingent. Our soldiers, stationed in the “Italian Village”, at the gates of Pec, guard the entrance to the monastery, minute by minute.

Already on several occasions Albanian nationalists have thrown mortar fire on the surrounding wall of Visoki. Problems of ethnic intolerance, of contraband (the monastery “obstructs” the way to the mountain passes which lead into Montenegro and Albania) and of extra-territoriality. This last concept represents one of the cardinals of the relationship established a few months ago by Martii Ahtisaari, ex UN special envoy for Kosovo, in charge of negotiating the future socio-political organisation of the province, formally still Serbia, according to the meaning of resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council. Ahtisaari has provided extra-territorial status for Serbian churches and monasteries, similar to those given to embassies. An instrument capable of protecting the artistic and cultural patrimony of Kosovo from Albanian rage and of guaranteeing that Serb popes can continue to spread their word, even in a foreign land (the Ahtisaari plan supports the independence of Kosovo).

The point is that on more than one occasion the ex-guerrilla fighters of the UCK have vandalised Serbian religious buildings in Kosovo. One only need think back to the uproars of 17 March 2004, ignited in Mitrovica and spread all over Kosovo. In that instance, the Albanian nationalists used a mournful event (the death of two children in Mitrovica, who drowned in the Ibar river) to launch a bitter offensive against the Serb minority. In hindsight, that event seemed to be more planned out: the accusation that the Albanians had revolted against the Serbs, considered the real executors of the drowning of the two young Albanians, it was not supported by convincing evidence. It remains to be the case that in all of the settlements in Kosovo, the nationalistic rage reigned down on the Serb enemy on that fateful 14 March. The outcome of that day was tragic: a dozen of Serbs lost their lives and over twenty religious sites, including churches and monasteries, were burnt to the ground. The extra-territoriality granted to Visoki and other orthodox sites in Kosovo (there are hundreds) therefore has the aim of embanking possible devastations. But, by respecting the principles of multi-ethnicity, also has the function of guaranteeing free worship, a fundamental requisite to build a tolerant and modern Kosovan state, which respects the Serb minorities, still today ghettoised in the enclaves, protected by the military of the peace-keeping contingent.

Albin Kurti against the popes

This is not how Albin Kurti sees things, historical guide from Vetevendosje (Self-Determination), a Kosovan activist group, sworn enemy of the UN mission and of the monasteries. On several occasions Kurti has explained – he has also done so for the Italian magazine Limes – that the extra-territoriality would allow Serbia to preserve its own sovereignty on Kosovo. Belgrade, according to Kurti-thinking, would point towards using the monasteries as arm deposits and as logistical centres, to continue controlling Kosovo and to prevent the Albanians from the freeing themselves from the external Serbian ties. In this battle of his, Kurti, ex student leader, has dragged himself behind a discrete platoon of ex fighters of the UCK, who on several occasions, looking to provoke, have organized demonstrations of protest at Decani, against the extra-territoriality of the monastery of Visoki and ipso factor of all the Serbian religious buildings in the region.

According to calculations of the number one of Vetevendosje, if extra-territoriality were to be conceded to churches and monasteries, 9 per cent of the Kosovan territoty would remain in the hands of Belgrade. Judging from the previous ill-omened 14 March 2004, Kurti’s reasons piddle all over the place. Kosovo needs multi-ethnicity and tolerance. Of course, if he were dealing with a “normal” state it would not resort to extra-territoriality. But in Kosovo, clove of the Balkans, only as big as Abruzzo, resentments and crossed vetoes, trawling hatred and walls, prevent any dialectic between the Albanian majority and the Serb minority. Tolerance, in other words, has to be imposed. Extra-territoriality serves this purposes. Despite Kurti’s theorem.

Translation by Sonia Ter Hovanessian