Archbishop Succors His Flock in Kosovo

KiM Info Newsletter 24-09-06
Bishop Teodosije and Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes distribute aid to Serbs in Novo Brdo
Vicar Bishop Teodosije (Sibalic) of Lipljan, accompanied by Archimandrite Nektarios (Serfes) president of the Decani Monastery Relief Fund from the U.S.A., Protopresbyter Bogomir Stevic and Presbytera Svetlana Stevic, president of the NGO Majka Devet Jugovica (Mother of the Nine Jugovices), visited the Serbs in Novo Brdo municipality on Thursday with the blessing of Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren to distribute collected financial aid to the most at risk families
Bishop Teodosije and Fr. Nektarios with the Savic family, which includes seven children (click on photo to enlarge)
KIM Info-ServiceDecani, September 22, 2006

Vicar Bishop Teodosije (Sibalic) of Lipljan, accompanied by Archimandrite Nektarios (Serfes) president of the Decani Monastery Relief Fund from the U.S.A., Protopresbyter Bogomir Stevic and Presbytera Svetlana Stevic, president of the NGO Majka Devet Jugovica (Mother of the Nine Jugovices), visited the Serbs in Novo Brdo municipality on Thursday with the blessing of Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren to distribute collected financial aid to the most at risk families.

The NGO Majka Devet Jugovica has been taking care of these Serbs for the past four years, ensuring the regular activity of the soup kitchen in the village of Prekovci which was founded by the blessing of Bishop Artemije. Visoki Decani Monastery, through the Decani Monastery Relief Fund and other donors, regularly assists the work of this kitchen, and the visit of Archimandrite Nektarios to Kosovo and Metohija represented another opportunity to visit these Serbs who are surviving under very difficult social conditions and who are almost completely dependent on the help of the Church and the people of good will who assist them.

Bishop Teodosije, Fr. Nektarios, Fr. Bogomir, Presbytera Svetlana Stevic and Edward Tawillwith Serbs from Novo Brdo who use the services of the public kitchen in Prekovci(click on photo to enlarge)

The soup kitchen in Prekovci prepares meals for 300 people a day, including 85 children. Some of the people come to the kitchen themselves while others have food delivered to them by car. A large number of the users are elderly people who have no other possibility for obtaining food. In addition to running the public kitchen in Prekovci Presbytera Svetlana Stevic and the NGO Majka Devet Jugovica help numerous other Serbs, including handicapped children throughout Kosovo and Metohija.

Bishop Teodosije and Archimandrite Nektarios took advantage of this opportunity to distribute monetary aid to the forty or so children they managed to see yesterday, which was collected by Orthodox faithful in the U.S.A. through the Decani Monastery Relief Fund. Funds were also distributed to the elderly and the poorest families. Fr. Nektarios also undertook the responsibility of providing funds for regular schooling for the poorest children, as well as a part of the money provided to heal the sick and to purchase the most basic household appliances and other necessities.

Bishop Teodosije distributes monetary contributions collected by the Orthodox in the U.S.A.(click on photo to enlarge)

VOICE AGAINST IMPRISONMENT OF ARCHBISHOP JOVAN OF OCHRID

Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes arrived three days ago from the FYR of Macedonia where he visited Bishops Marko and Joakim and the newly elected Bishop David of the Archdiocese of Ochrid. In a number of public statements for Macedonian media Archimandrite Nektarios issued a strong protest against the unjust imprisonment of Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid, who is serving a second sentence in Idrizovo Prison in Skoplje. In addition to assistance for Kosovo and Metohija, Archimandrite Serfes, a cleric of the Greek Orthodox Church in the U.S.A., heads a special fund to collect aid for the faithful and the clergy of the martyred Archdiocese of Ochrid, which continues to suffer persecution by the Skoplje authorities and the unrecognized, so-called Macedonian Orthodox Church.

Presbytera Svetlana (left) and Fr. Nektarios in front of the vehicle used to transport food daily from the public kitchen in Prekovci to needy Serbs (click on photo to enlarge)

Bishop Teodosije serves liturgy in Koncul Monastery near Raska

KIM Info-ServiceKoncul, September 21, 2006

Yesterday, on the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, Bishop Teodosije and Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes, with the blessing of Bishop Artemije who is presently visiting the U.S.A., served holy hierarchal liturgy in Koncul Monastery near Raska with the assistance of the clergy and monks of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren.

Mother Katarina (Vujasin), the abbess of the monastery, and her sisterhood have restored monastic life there in recent years and made this holy shrine, located almost on the very administrative line of Raska and northern Kosovo, one of the strongest centers of monastic life on the territory of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren.

Archimandrite Nektarios with Serbs from Novo Brdo (click on photo to enlarge)

Decani Monastery Relief Fund Board of Directors and addresses for sending donations
The Decani Monastery Relief Fund was founded in 1998 with the blessing of Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren and Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver. The Fund is supported by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and has received the special blessing of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.
Decani Monastery Relief Fund Board of Directors:
1. Very Reverend Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Metropolitanate of Denver), President2. His Grace Bishop Teodosije (Sibalic) of Lipljan, abbot of Visoki Decani Monastery, First Vice-President3. Protosyngel Sava (Janjic), monk of Visoki Decani Monastery, Second Vice-President4. Mrs. Gioia Maria Frahm, Treasurer5. Louis Fletcher, Secretary and Legal Representative (attorney)
Mailing address for sending checks - new address as of June 2006
Decani Monastery Relief Fund Inc. USAc/o Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes2618 West Bannock StreetBoise, Idaho 83702 USA
The Decani Monastery Relief Fund is a non-profit, humanitarian organization registered in Idaho, U.S.A. All donations from contributors are transferred from a local bank in Boise, Idaho to the account of Visoki Decani Monastery. The Decani brotherhood distributes monetary donations and provides documentation of distributed donations to the President and other members of the Board of Directors. All donations are tax deductible and donors on their request may receive a tax deductible report from the DMRF.
Since the summer of 1998 to June 2006 a total of 363,632.94 U.S. dollars have been distributed to the poor and to monastic brotherhoods and sisterhoods in Kosovo and Metohija through the Decani Monastery Relief Fund. Documentation regarding donated amounts and donors are regularly updated on the website of Archimandrite Nektarios, the President of the Fund, at www.serfes.org
The latest report on donations from January to June 2006 is available at
http://www.serfes.org/missionary/jan-june2006.htm
In order to provide assistance for the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija, in addition to the help it receives from the Decani Monastery Relief Fund Visoki, Decani Monastery also maintains active cooperation in implementing humanitarian projects with International Orthodox Christian Charities based in Baltimore, U.S.A., as well as the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Belgrade. In a number of smaller projects for Serb returnees, tractors, harvesters and other agricultural machines have been purchased that are necessary for the everyday life and work of returnees to Metohija.
The Board of Directors of the Decani Monastery Relief Fund and the administration of Visoki Decani Monastery would like to take this opportunity to once again express their sincere thanks to all donors and philanthropists with the prayer that God the Philanthropist reward their kindness with kindness.
Bishop Teodosije and Fr. Nektarios distributing aid to at risk Serbs (click on photo to enlarge)

Visit to the Savic family whose house was rebuilt three years ago by the Coordinating Center (click on photo to enlarge)

Canisters with food that is delivered by car daily to the most remote families (click on photo to enlarge)

HELP FOR SERBS FROM KLINA

Bishop Teodosije, Monk Petar (Rojevic) and UNMIK representative Louis Perezwith Serbs in Klina who receive regular assistance from Decani Monastery