The Order of Saint Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is in prayer for our Orthodox brothers and sisters in Kosovo and Metohija as they are persecuted for their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has made life exceedingly difficult for Kosovo’s Orthodox Christians. Two-thirds of the prewar population of Orthodox Christians has been forcibly removed from their homes in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija. 40,000 Orthodox Christian Serbs have been driven out of the city Pristina, and many have been murdered.
Orthodox Christians have been attacked on buses and even while mourning their dead in cemeteries, and have been targeted economically. Over 150 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries, as well as other sites of immense cultural and religious significance, have been vandalized and set ablaze, and some have been destroyed entirely.
D. Hunter Haynes, the Founder and President of the Orthodox Christian Advocacy Institute (OCAI), reports that the Kosovar government “has nearly managed to rid itself of a 12-centuries-old Christian presence. More than 1,000 Christians have been killed, 250,000 displaced, and 150 churches destroyed. The Christian Serbs of Kosovo are fast becoming modern Europe’s non-people.”
The Order calls upon the United Nations, the United States government, and the global human rights community to take notice of this rapidly deteriorating situation, and act decisively to protect the Orthodox Christians and other groups, notably Jews and Romas, that are being targeted in Kosovo and Metohija.
A petition drive has begun, calling upon President Donald Trump to act on behalf of these embattled communities.
We pray to our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ that harmony and peace will be restored to the persecuted Orthodox Christians in Kosovo and Metohija.
Anthony J. Limberakis, MD
Archon Aktouarios
National Commander