Father Hristofor from Draganac: Man must conquer peace within himself

 

Peace must be within us, regardless of external circumstances. One must conquer peace within oneself!

On Monday mornings, after the Liturgy, the monastery is quiet. Only the birds continue their singing until the next service. Surrounded by forest, Draganac feels like a large, warm nest—a nest to which both birds and people return. Visitors come from near and far, and I ask Father Hristofor what Draganac means to everyone.

-It means something to everyone, both locals and newcomers, as a sacred place in itself. Outsiders tend to be more expressive about what Draganac means to them, which is natural. It always surprises me, though, how deeply they are moved and why. There’s also the hospitality we monks learned from Bishop Ilarion, which is a blessing for us. Everyone is welcomed, and the spirit of the monastery is present, but there’s also something mysterious we cannot fully grasp. Young people from nearby villages are deeply attached and help out, though they are naturally reserved and often don’t fully express their feelings.

There is a hospitality here that we monks were taught by Bishop Hilarion and which is a blessing for us to treat everyone who comes in this way. The doors are open to everyone, there is the very spirit of holiness, but there is also something we cannot fathom. The young people here, from the area around the monastery, they are somehow quite persistent in their attachment to the shrine and they come and help… But they are still a mystery to me, because they don’t express themselves enough, I guess the people here have such a mentality, that they are a little withdrawn by nature and never express enough what they feel and think.

Young people from Šilovo, Kusce, Koretište, and even Prilužje come to assist with visitors and monastery work. Their sense of responsibility and care reflects the true spirit of the place.

 

From Draganac with Love and Prayer

-Somehow, paradoxically, with the times we live in and which everyone rushes to criticize on various grounds, our churches are full of young people and more and more of them are coming to Kosovo. How can we explain that? What are these young people looking for?

– Churches, in general, in Serbia are full of young people, and more and more of them are coming to Kosovo. They are looking for meaning, and Kosovo somehow imposes itself…It was imposed on me. I also had no family ties to Kosovo. Kosovo is something completely irrational and it is the spirit of some defiance and vow and some idea that there is something much bigger and that transcends all of us. All the most beautiful things from our identity are woven into Kosovo, we certainly have something magnificent behind us. Tsar Lazar, Miloš Obilić, Toplica Milan, the Kosovo girl, St. King Stefan Dečanski, Gračanica, St. King Milutin… Somehow Kosovo imposes itself on the man of the 21st century today in an abundance of some offer of ideas, content…

When we come to Kosovo, in those first few steps, Kosovo shines much brighter than any other modern world. We realize, in the end, that we have returned – returned to ourselves. Everything else that the modern world can offer us reeks of mortality. You see that it’s for a short time, it’s just that part of your irrational being that intuitively feels that everything else you have to offer, materially, or some quasi-spirituality or some social progress, that it’s all for a short time, that nothing gives a final answer. None of it gives an answer to the question that it’s natural for a person to ask themselves, to say why I’m alive.

Of course, the church gives a clear answer that the example of the God-man is Christ as the only new and different thing ever in history. God who comes to die for people in order to reconcile with people, to redeem their sins, God who crucifies himself on the Cross and a religion that is not actually a religion. That is the Truth – that there is no Resurrection without death, that there is no joy without Golgotha! That is the paradox that we all feel deep down. And when we get to know the Church, when we enter it, then we see that we have found what we were looking for, without even knowing what it was. Because man is a complex being, if he could explain to himself what he is looking for, he would go to the first store and buy it.

Draganac’s Hospitality: A Blessing for the Faithful

How does Draganac open the hearts of so many people?

-There is probably something I am not fully aware of. We can say it is primarily God’s mercy, which we can never completely explain. It is, in a way, a divine miracle—certainly, especially knowing that we are a small, humble monastery. Another factor is the hospitality here. As Bishop Nikolaj says, if the Serbs learned anything from Christ, it is hospitality. We have all probably come to understand its significance, and it means something to the people who visit, and it is pleasing to God. I can say that all of us gathered here are far from being examples of perfect spirituality…

And we are far from some of the holy elders and spiritual guides that, thank God, exist in our Church. We are aware that we cannot always provide comfort through words or advice, and our prayers may not be as profound as those of some exemplary elders… But taking all of this into account, I believe that we witness by example, and perhaps that brings people comfort. When they see how much it means to us to be here, how we ourselves are transformed by living in the monastery, how unburdened we feel despite all responsibilities and pressures, I believe it touches them to witness that joy.”

What Can We Learn from the Community Around Draganac?

Community, says Father Hristofor, has a beneficial effect on a person. They have noticed, he explains, that a person performs the same job much more easily if several people do it than when he is in charge alone. The monastery mobs, to which many young people respond with joy, confirm this- Community frees a person, frees them from fears, most often irrational ones – from work, from life… So community has a beneficial effect on every individual. And as Nikola Tesla said, whoever works cannot fail. And the very etymology of the word joy is from the word work, so work is definitely related to joy. We all know how good it feels and how nice it is to rest after work, much nicer than just resting. The only difficult thing is taking that first step to kill that lazy person inside. Saint David of Wales told his monks to do small things.

Big plans and ambitions can paralyze us, but if we start little by little, we realize over time that we have accomplished a lot. Our traditional monastery gatherings are a perfect example: work is done together joyfully, not as a burden. Relationships deepen, bonds strengthen, and people connect more closely. Visitors often remember their monastery visits most vividly when they had a specific task or responsibility. They recall cleaning, harvesting, or tending to the church or farm.

Simply put, human nature binds us emotionally to events where we’ve given ourselves—what we give is truly ours.

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Conquering Peace Within

In preparation for Great Lent, a time for calm and introspection, Father Hristofor reflects on finding inner peace despite daily worries, especially for the people of Kosovo and Metohija.

-Peace must be within us, regardless of external circumstances. We must actively cultivate it. Many have said to me, ‘You went to the monastery; it’s quiet and peaceful there.’ Honestly, I experienced more external calm while living in the world, with fewer people and chosen comforts. But that kind of external peace isn’t the true goal. I found real peace here, in the monastery, because I discovered my purpose. Here, challenges arise from every side—people with different biographies, ideas, and flaws arrive daily…

Often I wanted to retreat or do something else, but it seemed that was not God’s plan. Amid the turbulence here, I found my true peace. My advice would be this: one must conquer peace within oneself! There’s a book, Elder Arsenije – Saint in a Camp, which I often mention. He was a Russian priest imprisoned in Bolshevik gulags in Siberia, suffering unimaginable hardships. Reading his life story teaches that peace is a matter of personal choice, grounded in faith in Christ.

Christ is Hope

The Acts of the Apostles say that through many trials we enter the Kingdom of Heaven. No one promised us peace or prosperity on this earth—quite the opposite. Life is full of challenges, the extent of which we cannot know—and it is better that we cannot. But what we can see is Christ before us. If we cling to Him, we are saved here and now, through Holy Communion and Confession, not only after this life.

Sweet God, Sweet Church

That the church is sweet, that God is sweet, he was taught by the people who, he says, often take from their own lack to bring to the monastery. Kosovars, Father Hristofor claims, are a patient people, who have awe for the sacred and believe that their patience and the fact that they know how to pay the price for being Christians will save them.

They have learned that the church is sweet and God is sweet. The people often give from their own scarcity to serve the monastery. Kosovars are patient, respectful of the sacred, and they believe that their perseverance and sacrifices as Christians will save them. I remember during the pandemic, how Mrs. Stojanka, an elderly woman from the village of Gornje Kusce, walked across hills and forests—some ten kilometers—hiding from the police to bring us fresh greens. On her way back, she tended our garden, fixed things quietly, and continued on to the Church of Saint Nicholas in Makreš, returning the same way.

We are greatly inspired and motivated  your organization, you young people from Kosovo Pomoravlje, sister Јovana from Markreš, and many other young people. Educated, with colleges, but also educated in the full sense, home-schooled, not just with diplomas, who stay here and who fight for a better tomorrow with knowledge. Truly, what the poet says – The homeland is defended by beauty – we have seen through you, and it is a special joy for us that you are here and that we can praise the Lord together and that we have someone to love, someone to pray for, and someone to hope in.

Interviewed by Marija Vasić
From Draganac, March 2024.