Serbian Orthodox Church Raska-Prizren Eparchy reacted to yesterday’s TV Most report saying that “Bishop Tedosije known for his harsh criticism of the Serbian state representatives and the Serbs who do not think as he does,” has met “secretly” with the Kosovo Internal Affairs Minister, KoSSev portal reported. The Eparchy assessed such reporting “as obviously politically ordered news.”

The Eparchy underlined the meeting in question was not “a secret meeting” at all, but rather the talk held with the Minister of Internal Affairs from Pristina in the presence of the OSCE Mission on March 1 and related to the recent threats of deportation to some priesthood members of Raska-Prizren Eparchy.

“Given that representatives of the Serbs, who are still participating in the work of Pristina institutions, did not show so far a minimum concern for these threats, that the public was already informed about, the Bishop Teodosije in order to protect the monasteries’ brotherhood and priesthood requested a direct meeting with the Pristina minister, with the OSCE Mission mediation,” The Eparchy said in a statement.

It added, the aim of the meeting “was to enable a normal issuance of residence permits to those members of Raska-Prizren Eparchy who do not have Kosovo documents and to spare them from intimidation of deportation by the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

The Eparchy said in a statement the Bishop Teodosije is “a political target” while the Eparchy for several months “is being stained in the media” over its clear opposition against the division and recognition of Kosovo and Metohija policy. It was added that “the tabloid news of TV Most was published without any check with Eparchy’s representatives,” and “serves for cheap political settling, creating division among the people, and undermining the reputation of the Serbian Orthodox Church.”

KoSSev portal also reported it tried to get a comment from TV Most Editor-in-Chief, Ljiljana Jankovic related to the reaction of the Eparchy, however, according to KoSSev she did not answer several phone calls made prior to the publishing of this news. The portal added they also tried to contact her by email.