Official Statement

The Paraclete

Resava-Shumadia Eparchy, Serbian True Orthodox Church

Hayduchka Jaruga, Ralja, Belgrade

uteshiteljevo@gmail.com

Official Statement of the Serbian True Orthodox Church

 Concerning the Brutal Attack on Hieromonk Maxim

               Last night around 9 PM, three individuals wearing balaclavas burst onto the Serbian True Orthodox Church property “The Paraclete” in Ralja, near Belgrade, and beat up Hieromonk Maxim with metal rods, breaking his leg and inflicting other severe bodily wounds. The masked attackers also ransacked Fr.Maxim’s monastic hut and threw a Molotov cocktail on the wooden church, which only by a miracle of God did not burn down.

               In the year which we festively celebrate the signing of the Edict of Milan 1700 years ago, in which Emperor Constantine declared the freedom to choose and confess one’s faith for all the residents of the Roman Empire, including Christians, Fr. Maxim suffered exactly because he confesses the Orthodox Faith according the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church, and because he belongs to the Serbian True Orthodox Church – Orthodox anti-ecumenists and zealots for the preservation of pure faith.

               The attack on Fr. Maxim was preceded by verbal threats and attempts at intimidation that the representatives of the STOC reported to the police a month ago. The local clergy of the official Serbian Orthodox Church, with Bishop John of Shumadia at their head, have been publicly calling the people for months to drive the True Orthodox Christians out of their area. The Shumadia Eparchy of the Serbian Patriarchate has likewise put pressure on the Sopot municipality to stop the granting of a building permit - for which the documents were already given in order four months ago – along with demanding that all already-existing structures on the property be demolished.

               We expect the responsible state authorities to resist this kind of pressure, and to apprehend and justly punish Fr. Maxim’s assailants as soon as possible, to demonstrate that the free confession of faith in Serbia is not just an empty phrase.  We also ask for all the faithful to pray for the health of the courageous servant of God, Hieromonk Maxim.

Informational Service of the Serbian True Orthodox Church

January 24, 2013 (Civil Calendar)

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