Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej said that the burned and destroyed Serbian churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija spoke for themselves about the tragedy of the Serb people and that whatever bad happened to Kosovo affected him personally as well.

“Kosovo is my personal big wound. I can remember how it all looked like back in 1948 when I went to Prizren for education. Today, everything is different. Destroyed walls of churches and burned shrines in Prizren and in all other places are like gaping holes,” Patriarch Irinej said for the Sunday edition of the Belgrade-based Politika daily.

“The (Saints Cyril and Methodius) Seminary (in Prizren) was looted and burned, (the Church of) the Holy Virgin of Ljevis, a jewel not only of our own historical and cultural heritage but of the world's also, was burnt down and is in a deplorable condition, with scratched and damaged frescos dating from the 13th century,” Patriarch Irinej recalled.

“Today, only a few elderly people who are not allowed out of their houses and yards can be seen in Djakovica, Prizren, Urosevac and in Pec, once a crown of Serbian culture, with the Patriarchate in the city. Serbs in the north of the province are struggling very hard and I believe they will manage to get some kind of independence, but it is still only a small, symbolic part of Kosovo-Metohija,” he said.

Stressing that he was never in favor of a partition of Kosovo, Patriarch Irinej said much more should be done for Kosovo to always remain part of Serbia as a whole.