Religion in Peja District
Despite the numerous ethnic frictions in the region, its diverse religious groups have practiced their faiths openly and have largely lived in harmony.
[3] In the 12th century, Stefan Nemanja (Serbian Prince) conquered the region of Peja and donated it to the newly found monastery of Žiča.
Nonetheless, under the Serbian Emperor Stefan Dusan, Patriarch of Peć gained huge attention from orthodox population around Balkans, thus leading to the biggest rise of the aforesaid religion in this territory The dominance of orthodox and catholic religion in this region ended when Peja was conquered from Ottomans by the year 1455.
[7] The district of Peja, is very rich on art & archeology, counting numerous artifacts that date from the time of Illyrians.
[8] One of the most important artifacts found in the district of Peja is “Judeo-Christian sculpture built in the defensive wall of Patriarch of Peć”; this six point star has a diameter of 16 cm and is composed of two intertwined triangles.
More precisely, the six-point stare is located inside a rounded medallion, which very much resembles David's triangle, which can be found all over Jerusalem.
[10] Despite such pressures, in the following centuries, the patriarch was respected and treasured by people of various ethnicities inhabiting the region, including Albanians.
[11] In the 1980s’ however, Milosevic propaganda exploited the power of the Orthodox Church to attain his aims, which resulted in violent encounters and raising tensions between the Serbs and Albanians of Peja.
[12] Nonetheless, notwithstanding this essential religious dissection along the ethnicity lines, The International Crisis Group have appraised that religion was not the main contributing factor of the Serbo-Albanian conflict.
More specifically, 1913 and 1960 mark two years when Albanians received formal gratitude from the Serbian Orthodox Church for aiding in preserving the Peć Patriarchate.
In comparison to numerous Balkan countries where inequalities and laws favoring certain religious groups were found, US government reports state that Kosovo is doing well in the freedom of religion aspects.
