Serbian Patriarchate Bishop Resigns over Sexual Abuse

NFTU
June 2, 2013

http://nftu.net/serbian-patriarchate-bishop-sexual-abuse/

Originally reported on in April 22, 2013, the Serbian Patriarchate has had to accept the resignation of Bishop Vasilije Kacavenda, a prominent Serbian Patriarchate Bishop in Bosnia. The resignation came after a graphic video surfaced of Bp. Vasilije engaged in immoral acts with men By the time of his formal resignation, Bp. Vasilije had already left off many clerical duties as allegations continued to emerge that he had used his office to, according to one source,”engage in sexual orgies involving young girls and boys.”

According the Spera News article:

According to VOA news, Bojan Jovanovic said he witnessed numerous sexual orgies provided by the 74-year-old Bishop Kacavenda that were attended by fellow priests, along with prominent businessmen. Jovanic is a former theological student in Bijeljina, the seat of Kacavenda’s diocese. According to Jovanovic, Bishop Kacavenda personally asked him to provide young children for perverted sexual pleasure, while also calling on church officials to organize sexual liaisons with young theological students.

“They tried on many occasions to put me in a compromising situation myself or to pull me into their circle,” Jovanovic said. “[The bishop] also suggested that I should use the school where I was teaching science to bring him children up to the age of 10, but of course I refused. I was also a witness when abbots from other monasteries would bring theology students who would spend the night with the bishop.

“One morning, one of them called me and asked me to unlock the bishop’s room so he could get his things. I said, ‘What are your things doing in the bishop’s room?’ He said, ‘Come on, it’s not like you don’t know. Don’t pretend to be stupid.’”

Mirko Djordjevic, a sociologist in Belgrade, says :

“Our church tried to push these things under the carpet. Or, once things could no longer be hidden, the civil courts have waited for the statute of limitations to kick in,” Djordevic says. “In the case of Bishop Pahomije, the state is simply waiting for the whole thing to get old, even though the phenomenon of pedophilia in the church and in society is widespread. The trouble is that in our country, except for some notable exceptions, the public is asleep or intimidated and doesn’t have the courage to face these problems.”

Additional reports are equally bad; in one case, a Muslim girl was forced to ‘convert to Orthodoxy’ and then raped by Bp. Vasilije. Many dismissed all the accusations in the past, but, in 2010 a photo surface with Bp. Vasilije with a Serbian male stripper, after which many began to give more credibility to the accounts. Bishop Vasilije has recently been laicized, and may face criminal and civil charges.

However, the Serbian Patriarchate has covered up other previous scandals, notably Bishop Pahomije, who in the late 90s was accused of similar matters. As evidence collects, one wonders how many additional bishops and clergy in the Serbian Patriarchate as well as other Patriarchates, will be accused of sexual misconduct; some of which ranges from the liasons and affairs with secretaries (as reported in the New York Post) to the truly horrific abuse of children and the young done by the Serbian Patriarchal Bishop.

But even the case of Bishop Pahomije’s abuse of children was stalled, as Serbian Patriarchal priest, Fr. Goran Arsic discovered. Or even the case of Fr. Ilarion the abbot of Hopovo monastery in Serbia, who got little more than a slap on the wrist (see above link). Yet, even in the case of Bp. Vasilije, despite documented evidence, the Patriarchate refused to admit any wrongdoing. It seems that Bp. Vasilije, though, may no longer enjoy his palatial estate.

Yet, it seems, that, the Serbian Patriarchate has enough time to persecute the True Orthodox of Serbia; apparently, when the Serbian Patriarchate bishops aren’t engaged in immoralities or covering them up, they are having all the time to have their goon priests beat up anti-patriarchate traditionalists.

Is it any wonder than the majority of Serbs no long trust the official ‘Patriarchal’ church?