Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States

massive SDA convention under the green banners of Islam and Arab inscriptions
from the Koran took place in the western Bosnian town of Velika
Kladusˇa, with the sponsorship of the former communist official and local
business magnate Fikret Abdić, as a part of his bid for the office of Bosnia’s
presidium.
Up to the outbreak of the Bosnian war in 1992, the leaders of the Islamic
Community remained nonetheless less nationalistic and militant than the
Christian Churches. The Reis Selimoski took part in a joint prayer for peace
with Pope John Paul II and organized several ecumenical meetings and peace
vigils. Yet, after it became clear that Slovenia and Croatia were fighting for
secession while Milosˇević launched a war for Greater Serbia, in October 1991
the Rijasset in Sarajevo released a document in support of an independent
and sovereign Bosnia-Herzegovina. Muslim leaders established collaboration
with the Islamic Conference and urged this organization to watch closely
the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina and be prepared even for international recognition
of Bosnia as a sovereign state in case Milosˇević and Tudjman attempted
to dismember it.
In contrast to the cases of Croatia and Bosnia, where clerical support had
a palpable impact on the elections’ outcome, in Serbia and Montenegro, Slobodan
Milosˇević retained power without the Serbian Orthodox Church’s help
and even in spite of some criticism from the clerical rank and file. At the time
of the elections, the Church was without a patriarch. Germanus was on his
deathbed, and the new patriarch had not been elected yet. Many clerics in the
Serbian Church believed that Milosˇević was the long-awaited liberator and
unifier of all Serbian lands. Although Patriarch Germanus did not explicitly
mention Milosˇević’s name, even this cautious Church leader said (in the 1987
interview quoted earlier) that Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox church were
waiting for a national leader capable of defending Serbian interests and if necessary,
accomplishing partition of the country. 53 Some prelates, especially
those aspiring to replace the ailing Germanus at the patriarchal throne,
lauded Milosˇević in interviews with the secular press. Metropolitan Amfilohije
said in his 1990 interview with the Belgrade weekly NIN that “Milosˇević and
other leading politicians in Serbia should be commended for understanding
the vital interests of the Serb people at this moment. ...If theycontinue as
they have started, the results will be very impressive.” 54 According to Bishop
Amfilohije’s interview with the foreign press, “between 1987 and 1989, as it
was so clear during the jubilee of the Kosovo Battle, Serbia has demonstrated
a national unity, unseen probably since 1914.” 55 Another outspoken Milosˇević
supporter was the acting patriarch, Metropolitan Jovan of Zagreb. Nevertheless,
many Church leaders remained suspicious of Milosˇević because of his
communist past and nonattendance of Church services and jubilees, let alone
the issue of Church property, which he ignored.
The confused Serb episcopate held the elections for the new patriarch on
6 December 1990, one week before the multiparty elections in Serbia. Milosˇević
tried to secure control over the Church through his favorites for the
the second strife 143