Balkans: 'Serbian Orthodox Church to split' paramilitary group chief claims

Belgrade, 30 Oct. (AKI) - The commander of the paramilitary Tsar Lazar Guard organization, Hadzi Andrej Milic, on Tuesday predicted a split in the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC). His warning came ahead of the organisation's gathering on Wednesday in St Lucas Monastery in Bosnjani near Varvarin.

The meeting had been banned by police, because five bishops intended to set up a new Synod with a seat in Krusevac in central Serbia. The Tsar Lazar Guard will not respect the ban, Milic said.

Speaking at a news conference, Milic declined to name all five bishops, whom he claimed support the Tsar Lazar Guard.

He mentioned Banja Luka Bishop Jefrem, Vrsac Bishop Nikanor and Raska-Prizren Bishop Artemije.

Milic accused Sumadija Bishop Jovan of being "in alliance with Vatican", adding that he had asked the police to ban the gathering in Varvarin during which the Tsar Lazar Guard would call for a "new battle of Kosovo-Metohija [the Serbian name for Kosovo].

According to Milic, Bishop Jovan's requested ban of the gathering, which has been unofficially conveyed to him by the Varvarin police, is a sign of a "shameful compromise" between the Serbian government and the SPC.

However, Milic said that the support by five bishops was sufficient for the Tsar Lazar Guard, although they are aware of the fact that the [SPC] Synod would call them schematics.

Milic said that the Guard would on Wednesday not only declare "a state of emergency" but rather "an uprising against the authorities in Belgrade and against everyone in the Patriarchy" who stand in their way, with a warning that something "which the Serbian people does not want" could also start.

According to Milic, the Guard does not mean to wage a war against NATO. But if NATO sides with the Albanians "then, for us, this is a sort of a human shield, a Berlin Wall made up of humans."

"In case they stand against us, this means that it [NATO] will have declared a war against the Serbian people and we will wage a war against it," Milic said.

The self-styled Tsar Lazar Guard earlier this month threatened to go to breakaway Kosovo province to fight majority ethnic-Albanians if their leaders declare independence from Serbia

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