The physical condition of Josip Tikvicki, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, worsened last Sunday, April 27, when he "collapsed from pain and stress inflicted on his body," according to Seventh-day Adventist Church sources in Belgrade, Serbia.
The physical condition of Josip Tikvicki, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, worsened last Sunday, April 27, when he “collapsed from pain and stress inflicted on his body,” according to Seventh-day Adventist Church sources in Belgrade, Serbia. Before midnight on April 15, Tikvicki was seriously beaten by three assailants in front of his church in the city of Zrenjanin, 40 miles (65 km) northeast of the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
In the last few weeks, 10 Adventist churches were targeted by what is being viewed as an “orchestrated campaign against a religious minority” in a predominantly Orthodox country, church officials say.
“It’s all done by some religiously motivated militants who are interested in disrupting social peace and religious freedom in our country,” Dr. Radisa Antic, president of the Adventist Church in Serbia, said.
On Sunday, April 27, another Adventist church was vandalized, according to the regional Adventist Church president, Radivoj Vladisavljevic. Speaking in Novi Sad, where the church headquarters is located, he said that the church in Sivac “had all windows broken by unknown assailants,” a fury against the minority Christian denomination not seen previously.
“We are targeted and we don’t know which church or which one of us is next,” Vladisavljevic added.
Just before midnight on April 15, Tikvicki and his wife heard glass breaking. He went outside to investigate and confronted a group of three men who were throwing stones at the windows and vandalizing the church. He was then attacked. According to church sources, Tikvicki was kicked, hit, and then fell to the ground, losing consciousness. He was reported to have asked his attackers, “How long are you going to beat me?”
Church sources say he was found unconscious by the police, and was taken to the city hospital by an ambulance. Last week Tikvicki was moved to a smaller, “Sveti Jovan” (or, St. John) clinic close to his church, but his condition remains serious. He has a broken jaw, which is now wired shut, an injured knee, several fractured ribs and several minor injuries. The three assailants were arrested, according to local police.
Attempting a faint smile, Tikvicki said in a soft voice that his “assailants didn’t know what they were doing. I have forgiven them because that’s a Christian attitude to have.” He said how overwhelmed he is by the outpouring of love from his church in Zrenjanin and from other parts of the world.
“This incident has had a powerful effect on my church. They are more united than ever. I thank everyone for their prayers,” he said.
Seventh-day Adventists around the world have been praying for Tikvicki, and members of other Christian denominations in Serbia have also joined in, according to Miodrag Zivanovic, communication director of the Adventist Church in Serbia. Several minority churches have been subjected to attacks in recent years, including the Baptists, Nazarenes, and the Church of Christ.
The attack on Tikvicki was widely reported in the Serbian press and drew international condemnation. Protests against these “blatant acts of religious intolerance in our predominantly Orthodox country” are pouring in, said Zivanovic.
“[These attacks] are perhaps instigated by those who do not like the involvement of our church in making our country more tolerant, religiously diverse, and a better place to live. These are militants who may be religiously motivated. If religious hatred is cultivated, it attacks those who are of another religious persuasion.”
The thousands of Adventists in Serbia are highly concerned about these latest attacks and feel threatened and insecure. The Adventist Church in Serbia continues to appeal to the authorities to deal with what is termed as an “escalating and vicious campaign against the church.”
The influential Democratic Party of Serbia, whose Prime Minister, Zoran Djindic, was recently assassinated, issued a protest statement against the attack in Zrenjanin. The official statement said, “We strongly condemn the brutal attack on an Adventist pastor Josip Tikvicki, having in mind that this is not the first time, and potentially can endanger good relations in our multi-ethnic society.”
In a television interview, the Serbian Minister of Religious Affairs, Dr. Vojislav Milovanovic, condemned the attack on Tikvicki and stated that the situation will be dealt with.
These latest attacks on the Adventist Church are considered as the most intense in the last two years of violent acts against religious minorities. “Obviously these are not coincidences, but rather orchestrated attacks by some organizations targeting religious minorities,” said Dr. Antic, in an interview with the Adventist News Network.
The Public Affairs and Religious Liberty office at the Adventist world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, voiced a concern about the Zrenjanin attack. In an April 17 letter sent to Serbia’s ambassador in Washington, D.C., Ivan Vujacic, PARL director Dr. John Graz, said that Adventists do not understand “why they are the victims of such vicious and unprovoked attacks,” and expressed a conviction that the government of Serbia “will protect Adventist citizens and their churches, and all religious minorities against violent intolerance.”
Dusan Rakitic from the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Serbia said today during a visit of a delegation of the International Religious Liberty Association that there exist “low elements in our society attempting, for their political reasons, to destabilize social order in the country.” He repeated the condemnation of the violent attack on Pastor Tikvicki and stated that the local authorities will continue to deal with these regrettable developments.
There are 10,000 Seventh-day Adventist church members in Serbia, which is part of the church’s South-East European Union with headquarters in Belgrade. The Adventist Church is considered to be among the fastest growing mainstream Protestant denominations in Serbia.