Expert Team of the Diocese of Raška-Prizren Visits the Endangered Hermitage of St. Peter of Koriša

With the blessing of Metropolitan Teodosije of Raška-Prizren, an expert team led by archaeologist Svetlana Hadžić, who is responsible for the preservation of spiritual and cultural-historical heritage within our Diocese, visited the Hermitage of St. Peter of Koriša near Prizren on March 14.

As the Diocese has already publicly stated, illegal construction activities have been carried out within this Special Protective Zone, organized by the Prizren Municipal Directorate for Economic Development and Tourism, with the engagement of the company Eurovia. The excavation of a road and the construction of a path leading directly to the hermitage have severely compromised the foundations and the surrounding terrain of this sacred site. These works were conducted without the consent of the Serbian Orthodox Church or the Implementation Monitoring Council for Special Protective Zones, as mandated by law, and evidently without any professional oversight.

Structural damage to the hermitage is already apparent, along with destabilization of the terrain, while the surrounding natural environment has been recklessly devastated, with scattered stone slabs and construction debris visible throughout the site.

The expert team of the Diocese of Raška-Prizren, which included architects previously engaged by the Serbian Orthodox Church in restoring and protecting Serbian Orthodox heritage in Kosovo and Metohija following the March 2004 pogrom, was able to directly assess the extent of the damage to the hermitage and the surrounding area. Their findings confirm that the integrity of this 13th-century medieval structure, which is under special protection, is now gravely endangered.

Accompanying the expert team were monks from Visoki Dečani Monastery, as well as photographers commissioned by the Diocese to document detailed video and photographic material. This documentation will be used to compile a technical report, based on which the Diocese will take further measures to protect this ancient Serbian Orthodox shrine. The expert mission was also conducted in the presence of a group of international representatives in Kosovo and Metohija, who were themselves able to witness the alarming state of the site firsthand.

The monks of Dečani served a brief memorial service (mali pomen) in the remains of the chapel where the disturbed grave of St. Peter of Koriša is located, praying for all the monks who once lived at this sacred hermitage.