Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States

ment protection of Serbs in Kosovo.
Belgrade media focus on Kosovo.
1981 At the Croatian village of Medjugorje in
western Herzegovina, a group of children
announces through Franciscan priests
that they see daily a Croatian-speaking
Virgin Mary. The Medjugorje apparitions
draw crowds of pilgrims from whole
world to take part in what will become
the longest and one of most massive series
of Marian apparitions in history of
Catholicism. The Serbian Orthodox
Church perceives Medjugorje apparitions
as the work of Croat nationalists and as
a desecration of the mass graves of Serbs
killed in the vicinity of Medjugorje by the
Independent State of Croatia in World
War II.
1983 In Sarajevo, Alija Izetbegović and a group
of Muslim nationalists are tried in state
criminal court for “hostile propaganda”
and “spreading religious and ethnic hatred”
and sentenced to long prison terms.
September 1984 The Croatian Great Novena concludes
with a “National Eucharistic Congress.”
At the same time, the Serbian Orthodox
Church organizes a pilgrimage and liturgy
at the Jasenovac concentration
camp. The event commemorates Serbs
killed by the regime of the Independent
State of Croatia during World War II.
May 1985 A groundbreaking ceremony and worship
service is held at the Vračar hill in Belgrade
after Serbia’s government allows
the construction of the Saint Sava’s memorial
temple, commenced in 1935.
987 Slobodan Milosˇević rises to power in Serbia.
The Serbian Orthodox Church publishes
a volume containing maps and pictures
of medieval monasteries and
churches in Kosovo to repel Albanian
separatists and prove Serbia’s claims.
Church’s newspaper, Pravoslavlje, publishes
an editorial that urges the partition
of Yugoslavia into Catholic and Orthodox
parts.
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