December 28, 2010
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Also present among the clergy were representatives from the Greek Orthodox Church, including monks from Mount Athos; representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church were also present. A great number of monks from many monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church also participated in this solemn act along with more than 1500 believers, mostly from Kosovo and Metohija, who had come to welcome their new Bishop. The Divine Liturgy was chanted by the church choir from Nis, together with the choir of students from the Prizren Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius, temporary transferred to Nis.
Addressing Bishop Teodosije and congregation, the Patriarch reminded those present of the suffering in Prizren of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija.
"This is a great day, the day of the enthronement of a bishop who must help the Serbian Orthodox Church pursue its history and life in Kosovo and Metohija, and instill history with a new hope, a new grace" Patriarch Irinej said.
He pointed out that the Church has chosen a man in whom it has complete confidence, hope and whom it believes will be able to live up to the tasks of the difficult and frightening time we and the Kosovo Serbs live in.
In his speech, Bishop Teodosije of Raska-Prizren, who had previously served as the head of the Visoki Decani Monastery, noted that the 19 years he has spent in Kosovo have been his best school of life.
Among officials who attended the enthronement ceremony and the reception in the new building of the Diocese in Prizren there were vice president of the Serbian government and Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic, Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic, Minister of Faith Bogoljub Sijakovic, as well as an envoy of the President of Serbia Mladjan Djordjevic. There were also representatives of Kosovo Serbs politicians from all parts of the Province.
The ceremony was also attended by international representatives of KFOR, UNMIK, EULEX and European offices in Pristina, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe. Present also were the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kosovo Dodë Gjergji with several of his associates, as well as representatives of the Muslim community in Kosovo and the Evangelist Church.
Today's ethronement ceremony of Bishop Teodosije marked at the same time a return of the seat of Diocese of Raska-Prizren to the city of Prizren after 11 years. The Cathedral church of St. George and the Diocesan court were burned in the March 2004 pogrom. Reconstruction of the church and Diocesan court have begun by the Council of Europe, and Bishop Teodosije has been appointed by the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church to be responsible for the process, along with the Commission for reconstruction.
