STOC Hieromonk Maxim beaten by Patriarchate thugs

[Maria]

Here is the report of the court victory:

http://www.portal-credo.ru/site/?act=ne ... &topic=797

Does anyone know how to get an English translation?

[Despotovac]

Official Statement of the Serbian True Orthodox Church Concerning the Brutal Attack on Hieromonk Maxim
http://www.serbiantrueorthodox.org/2013 ... ement.html

[Lydia]

The viciousness of the "official" Patriarchates against True Orthodox Christians grieves the heart. They send their goons to burn churches and monasteries and cripple and kill innocent people. How do they stand before Almighty God, performing The Mysteries with such black deeds on their souls.
Lord, have mercy, open their eyes and hearts.

Lord, strengthen and bless Thy confessors!

[joasia]

This is definitely a statement of hate towards the STOC. But, on a personal level, I think there is also a message to Hiermonk Maxim, from God. Nothing happens to us without a reason that God allows. This attack is a benefit for his salvation. What that message is only he will know and maybe one day he will share the teaching with others.

[Priest Siluan]

And there are still people who believe that MP and SP are "Orthodox", their own works are proving their iniquity all the time...

[Despotovac]

The Martyric “Paraclete”

(Traces of arson on the wooden church of The Paraclete)

As was threatened months in advance, sadly, on Wednesday, 23 January 2013, at about 8:30 PM it happened. A trio of masked attackers, wearing ski masks, burst onto the STOC property “The Paraclete” in Ralja, and in his monastic hut viciously beat up Hieromonk Maxim, whose obedience it was to take care of this just-established place of prayer. Afterwards they soaked the wooden church with gasoline and attempted set it on fire.
The attackers inflicted heavy wounds on Fr. Maxim - one leg broken, the other injured, numerous contusions all over the body – along with attempting to burn down the church. They disappeared into the deep of night just as hastily as they had appeared for their sinister, God-hating purpose under the cover of darkness. By a miracle of God, the church did not burn down; only the porch was singed.

(Fr. Maxim at the hospital examination)

(Bishop Akakije came to The Paraclete from Despotovac immediately that night)
Hieromonk Maxim, with severe bodily wounds, was taken that night to the Sopot health center and then to the state army hospital, where he received professional medical attention.
The investigation into this act of terror was conducted by Belgrade police inspectors stationed in Sopot. They photographed the traces of the assault, and during the investigation found parts from the metal rods which were used in an attempt to kill Hieromonk Maxim, along with an empty canister of gas used for the arson.
Bishop Akakije came to The Paraclete from Despotovac immediately that night, while Mother Abbess Efrosinia of New Stjenik, Fr. Stephan, and several faithful also arrived. With Bishop Akakije’s blessing a Liturgy of Thanksgiving was served there immediately in the morning, in gratitude to God that Fr. Maxim was preserved from even more serious injury, and that the fire to the church miraculously did not spread.
This year, when those in Serbia’s highest state and church positions declare they will worthily mark the 1700-year anniversary of the Edict of Milan, as a sign of remembrance of this legal Act with which the Holy Emperor Constantine gave Christians freedom of confession of faith, an attempt is made on the life of one monk, just because he belongs to the Church which has not abandoned the Patristic teachings and the Orthodox confession of faith. On the jubilee of the Edict of Milan, Serbian True Orthodox Christians are returning to a pre-Constaninian era. Last night they beat a monk at The Paraclete and attempted to burn down the church. What will tomorrow bring? What kind of coliseums and arenas are being prepared for the True Orthodox? To what wild beasts will they be thrown, to what tortures will they be put?
Disturbing news has come our way - not for us, True Orthodox Christians, for we, like many of our glorious predecessors, are ready to suffer for Christ and die for the Faith – but for Serbia, which is claiming to the world that it is building institutions that guarantee and protect human and religious rights for each citizen. This news tells us that the local priest of Sopot, Fr. Ljubisha, under the authority of Shumadia Bishop John (Mladenovich) and retired Zahumlje-Herzegovina Bishop Atanasije (Jeftich) have been agitating the people against the True Orthodox Christians who gather in prayer, and against Hieromonk Maxim who serves at The Paraclete in Ralja. These shameless men, who fear neither God nor the law, plan on duping the naïve with enormous lies, leading them against us in this annihilation of The Paraclete. The local police were also aware of this fact; and surely this was the only Orthodox church in Serbia which on the joyous night of Christmas Eve had to be protected by a police guard, who had received a tip that Ralja Serbian Patriachate church believers with their priest Fr. Slavisha in the lead would make an attack on the church that night. At that time, thank God, nothing happened. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were celebrated majestically and joyously, as should be the days which make merry every human heart. There was no “incident.”
This night, however, Hieromonk Maxim was alone at the monastery, and escaped death at the hands of these masked attackers only by the mercy of God.
We pray to God to bring reason to our enemies, and we call upon the Republic of Serbia’s institutions to uncover not only the names of the perpetrators of this terrorist act which happened in the middle of the night at The Paraclete, but also to release to the public the identity of those who ordered this masked attempt on Hieromonk Maxim’s life.

[Despotovac]

Video report:

PHOTOS: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1067 ... krmnoNypRw