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| Those who should protect not only human souls but equally their identity, are today the greatest danger to it. |
The destruction of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) is a calculated move in the West’s broader agenda to erase Serbian identity and fabricate a new "Kosovar" nation. Under international law, a minority that already has its own state has no legal right to seize the territory of another sovereign country. Yet, the forced assimilation of Serbs is well underway - official documents now label them as "Kosovars," stripping them of their national identity.
This strategy mirrors past efforts in Croatia, Bosnia, and North Macedonia. Today, Kosovo and Metohija are the targets, where plans to create a so-called "Kosovan Orthodox Church" aim to hijack Serbian heritage and rewrite history. It’s a deliberate, long-term campaign to permanently dismantle Serbian presence and replace it with a manufactured identity.
This agenda reflects the cold, calculated approach of those seeking to erase deep-rooted national identities, including the significance of Kosovo to the Serbian people. Whether one supports the Albanians or Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija is secondary; what matters is resisting the attempt to rewrite history and undermine fundamental truths. These actions are not isolated - they are part of a broader, ongoing effort to strip away human dignity, rights, and freedom. In a world shaped by such agendas, no one’s identity or sovereignty is secure, and no one is safe - not even in their own home.
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Written by: Ivan Maksimović – For the past 15 years, the sole independent Serbian journalist from Kosovo and Metohija
Since its establishment the Serbian Orthodox Church has been the cornerstone of the national and spiritual identity of the Serbs not only as a religious institution but also as a symbol of resistance against imposed external forces and an inexhaustible source of hope and teacher of patience Therefore any step taken contrary to these principles poses a serious threat to the survival of our people in these regions. This is why Bishop Hilarion has said about supporting the institutions of the self-proclaimed, so-called Republic of Kosovo is not merely a controversy but despite his explanations represents a serious danger to the essence of our national and spiritual identity as it calls into question the survival of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija.
In the Context podcast, released on the eve of Easter, Bishop Hilarion of Novo Brdo openly stated something that would have caused a strong public disturbance, if not a justified harsh condemnation, just a decade ago: Hilarion (Lupulović) openly admitted that he actively supports the institutions of a system that, for him, is not "so-called," but entirely regular - the Republic of Kosovo.
He also unprovokedly pointed out that he possesses a so-called "Kosovo ID card" and consciously lives as a "model citizen in the Kosovo system," as long as it does not "fundamentally" threaten his identity. Thus, fundamentally, and it seems to him that there are also "trinkets" of identity he is willing to sacrifice. In other words, anything that does not touch the "essence" of his identity can be subject to compromise - including recognizing institutions that were established on the basis of violence and injustice precisely against Serbs.
However, the matter is much different, even from the largely but not entirely open truth here. Namely, accepting personal documents issued by the institutions of the Kosovo Albanian system precisely means a fundamental renunciation of collective identity. When entering national affiliation, the term "Serb" has been completely removed from use, and exclusively "Kosovar" is used. And this unequivocally represents a fundamental threat to identity!
"This is a compromise we consciously accepted," he says. However - who is this "we"? When was anyone asked, or anyone represented by Hilarion, whether they want to sacrifice such a thing, more precisely - whether they are willing to accept this kind of capitulation? Yet, he openly admits that he sees it as a necessity.
"We, as the Serbian Orthodox Church, strive to be open and constructive. We have even been accused of being too open to cooperation with the international community, with Kosovo institutions because we feel it is a necessity. On the other hand, Kosovo Albanians see us as an outpost of Belgrade. We are now navigating between Scylla and Charybdis," says Bishop Hilarion.
The necessity he mentions - in unilateral cooperation with "Kosovar," i.e., institutions of the Albanian separatist system - is actually a facade he wants to use to simultaneously show what he is doing but also conceal the fact that he is consciously participating in a process that does not serve the interests of the Serbian Orthodox Church but, on the contrary - weakens it and destroys its position in Kosovo and Metohija, which is a typical form of media/political manipulation through deception and emotional pressure. Thus, he consciously decides to cooperate with institutions that have, in the past, and still do, have one main goal - to prevent the Serbian Orthodox Church from surviving in Kosovo and Metohija. That is the role he has now taken upon himself, or rather the institution he represents, and that is the Patriarchate in Belgrade, contributing to a process that threatens the integrity and future of the Serbian Orthodox Church, thereby destroying the foundations of the Serbian people's identity in this area while falsely presenting his actions as something "inevitable." What he is actually doing is cultivating an apparent consensus, which serves the interests of an unjust political agenda.
Therefore, it is paradoxical that a bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church - the institution that has been the pillar of preserving identity and the survival of the people - now openly advocates for a system based on the seizure of Serbian territory, cultural heritage, and, as we see, even monasteries, churches, and believers in the future.
Even more disturbing than the statement itself is the fact that it passes without any attention in leading media outlets, or even in any media - without analysis, without criticism, without warning. This speaks to how silenced, confused, or already accustomed the public opinion in Serbia is to what was unimaginable just yesterday: that a bishop works on strengthening the state of Kosovo!
Hilarion warns that Serbs in Kosovo are ghettoized and calls for "community rapprochement." Indeed, it is sad that instead of criticizing the system that created that ghetto, he calls for life within that system without insisting on the immediate abolition of the ghetto wherever and as much as possible, instead accepting such a state as if he himself is a representative of the side that maintains those ghettos, all under the artificial condition that "identity is not threatened." But precisely such an approach, even thro ugh minor concessions and adjustments, leads to a gradual but entirely certain loss of identity.
The truth is that more and more citizens do not trust politicians and their media. But - is that enough?
The authorities have realized that people have lost trust in RTS, Pink, Informer... Therefore, the same narrative is now spreading not primarily through traditional media that serve "only" to convey information but through "new" media, through personalities of authority who act progressively, independently, rebelliously but in a negative context, giving a destructive tone. They present themselves as the voice of reason but only seemingly; essentially, their key role is to support the main line of the regime - recognizing illegal "independence," i.e., providing legitimacy to the seizure of Kosovo and Metohija and thereby permanently cementing the crime. Ultimately, such false, or at least illegitimate, authorities, along with the regime, NGOs, pro-Western media, and various other groups and individuals for the dismantling of Serbian statehood and identity, represent only an instrument of absolute submission to globalist centers of power. That is precisely why they are given space in the media. That is why the authorities tolerate their false, theatrical "rebellion" and "nationalist" outbursts from time to time to retain public trust to neutralize resistance to the destructive campaign.
This has been the essence of the strategy over the past decades, especially the most recent one: to create the illusion of choice while in reality executing everything that, if a true choice existed, would never receive the consent of the people. Those inevitably obvious negative steps are portrayed as a "necessity for improvement" - but only in the future, that is, abstract improvements, none of which, looking back, has ever brought any real benefit. Quite the opposite: further "modernization," "reform," "entry into the normal world," or "following contemporary global trends." In reality, it is nothing more than accepting a colonial status that leads to the regression of the entire society to the point of complete meaninglessness, causing the individual to flee from such a collective identity.
Perhaps the most symptomatic moment in the podcast is when the bishop says that "Serbs can be a blessing for Kosovo Albanians" and that it is good that there is "openness from the Church" towards them. But this sounds merely like religious legitimization of the concept of a multiethnic Kosovo - an idea that has often served as a façade for the systematic expulsion of Serbs and the erasure of their presence.
Moreover, this opens the door to something that, until just recently, seemed unthinkable: the creation of a Kosovo Orthodox Church - an institution that would be formally separate from the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) but would retain control over Serbian holy sites. That would mark not only the symbolic but also the practical end of the historical continuity of the SOC and Serbian identity in Kosovo and Metohija.
In his eloquence, Hilarion speaks emotionally about life in Dečani, about his spiritual path, and his connection with Kosovo. But behind those words lingers a spirit of submission, of accepting as reality the conditions that the Serbian people rightfully see and experience (on their own skin) as imposed, violent, and hostile. That "acceptance" is no longer Christian patience or principle - it is a clear sign of lost spiritual orientation and arrogant abandonment of core Christian values, above all. Let us not forget that this is a person who positioned himself as the spiritual leader of the Serbian people during one of the most historically difficult moments in its existence. And now we see where he is leading them…
The most important question remains: how is it possible that the voice of a bishop who supports the institutions of the illegally self-proclaimed "state of Kosovo" - a statement publicly made less than a week ago - has not provoked even the slightest reaction from the public?! Where are the other bishops? Where is the criticism, where are the intellectuals, where is public response? Or have we left it to those who present themselves as "the Church" to, without consequence, become the instrument of quiet acceptance of what we "officially will never recognize"?
Do we understand the full drama of the moment, in which a man who is not only a bishop but also the vicar of the Patriarch of the SOC himself - his closest assistant - can publicly, without consequences, call for the brutal dismantling of the values for which the Serbian Orthodox Church has stood for centuries, and even present it as inevitable and desirable? Can anything awaken Serbian consciousness if this cannot? Because this podcast was not just the testimony and opinion of one man - it was a litmus test for the state of our consciousness and conscience.
Criticism is no longer enough. It is necessary to unequivocally reject the imposed and destructive false alternatives and build - or rather return to - our own path, which has always been about wisely safeguarding the highest national values, above all sovereignty, and with it everything it rests upon - from uncorrupted faith to earthly integrity. Without that, we will continue to lose not only territory but also our soul. Of course, the path is difficult, but it is dignified. Just as it was in Kosovo in 1389 - then, as now, both soul and land are demanded of us. The difference is that then it was demanded by infidels and godless men, and today - no less than bishops of the SOC, wolves in sheep’s clothing! And speaking of which, it is symbolic that the surname of Bishop Hilarion - Lupulović - derives from the Latin word lupus, meaning wolf.
We may be a little late, but it is necessary to refuse to be victims of emotional vampirism, allowing ourselves to be easily deceived by appeals to our sympathy and to stop blindly following false authorities and familiar faces. We must recognize them by their deeds, as the Gospel warns us in the very words of the Lord.
When he says we are "navigating between Scylla and Charybdis," he is in fact using the phrase to say "we are choosing between two evils." But there is no "lesser evil" - evil is evil. Any choice of evil is fundamentally contrary to Christian principles.
* — For a more faithful depiction of Bishop Hilarion’s position, quotation marks are not used, although Kosovo and Metohija, despite everything, are not a state. However, this position requires the utmost seriousness in order to fully understand the danger it carries.
