January 14, 2007 -- A church in a Kosovo village of Gornja Brnjica near Pristina was robbed and looted by unidentified men who broke into the church on the eve of Christian Orthodox Christmas and stole church money, icons and then damaged the church.

"Two nights ago a side window was broken on the church through which criminals then entered. They stole the donations collected in the church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as well as taking a number of icons from the church," said village representative Dragi Djordjevic.

This is the second time the church has been broken into in the past two months. Last time the looters stole a part of the church bell.

"Since the end of the war this is the fourth time the church was been desecrated," said Djordjevic.

The church of the St Peter and Paul is built on an ancient foundation near the tombstones of legendary Serbian defenders of Christendom, brothers Jugovic, who were murdered by the Muslim army set to invade Europe in the 14th century through Kosovo.

Serbs in Gornja Brnjica, who are Christian, are surrounded by hostile Muslim Albanians that are openly harassing and threatening Kosovo Christians with violence and organized pogroms.

Coordinating Center for Kosovo vice-president Nenad Kostic said that the damage to the church is one in a series of many acts of vandalism that have befallen the Serbian people recently.

"We can only place our hope in god that better times await us, that after this incident similar ones will not reoccur," said Kojic.

Kosovo police spokesman Veton Elsani said that unknown persons broke a window on the church through which they entered the church and stole some money. According to Elsani, a police investigative unit and forensic experts went to the scene the same morning and have no suspects.

Kosovo Police Service which is dominated by Muslim Albanians sees no religious motives in the church break-in and insist that the reason for vandalism is theft of money.

Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren condemned the desecration of the church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul saying that this most recent attack on the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo also occurred at the time of the greatest Christian feast of Christmas.

"The message appears to be that they are supporting criminals and terrorists in Kosovo and Metohija. If the international community is fighting against terrorism everywhere in the world, why is it tolerating it Kosovo and Metohija? What is happening here is the most brutal form of terror that can be imaged," said Bishop Artemije.

Since 1999, over 200,000 Christians have been expelled by the dominant Albanian Muslims who seek to create an ethnically and religiously pure state out of the Kosovo province currently administered by the UN.