Diary of a Dečani Monk 1903-1906, language English

The diary also provides an interesting look at the relations between the Monastery and both the local Albanian Muslim population as well as with the Ottoman authorities, who, at the time, stationed a unit of soldiers in the Monastery to protect it from surrounding Albanian armed gangs who posed a very real danger to the monks.

Apart from Fr. Dionysius diary, we also present an excerpt from the writings of Mary Edith Durham, an English traveler who confirms events described in the diary and also provides us with her own testimony of the monks’ difficult situation.

While written at the beginning of the last century, both pieces have many parallels in the present situation and offer important insight into the chronic, cyclical nature of the problems which continue to plague the region, problems which started long before the most recent conflict in Kosovo in 1999.