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Trump's advisor visits Decani Monastery

2026-07-06 17:57:51, Kosova & Bota CNA

The informal religious advisor to United States President Donald Trump, Pastor Mark Burns, is visiting the Decani Monastery - a medieval monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo.

According to a statement from the Serbian Orthodox Church, the abbot of the Deçan Monastery, Sava Janji?, introduced Burns to "the rich history of this shrine, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List."

Burns arrived in Kosovo on July 5, where, in the company of Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, he also visited the Patriarchate of Peja.

"I have not come to deepen divisions. I have come to listen, to pray, and to support peace, reconciliation, and healing throughout Kosovo and the Balkans. May God protect every family, every church, every monastery, and every community that strives to live in peace," Burns wrote on the social network X.

Otherwise, religious freedoms are also mentioned in the Economic Normalization Agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, known as the Washington Agreement, which was signed in September 2020 at the White House, in the presence of President Trump.

The agreement states, among other things, that "both sides commit to respecting religious freedoms, including the restoration of interfaith dialogue, the protection of religious sites, and the implementation of court decisions protecting the Serbian Orthodox Church."

Even in 2023, Kosovo and Serbia agreed on the Annex to the Implementation of the Agreement on the Path to Normalization of Relations, which also mentions the formalization of the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

That annex states that "Kosovo should provide an additional level of protection for the facilities and heritage of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo."

Although the Agreement on the Path to Normalization has not been signed, the European Union, which mediates the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, has declared that it is legally binding on both sides.

In August last year, several claims were published that the Serbian Orthodox Church was in negotiations with Kosovo institutions for a “fundamental agreement,” but the Diocese of Raska-Prizren denied those reports.

Before visiting Kosovo, on July 4, Pastor Burns was in Bratunac, in the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, marking the 34th anniversary of the killing of several Serbs in the Middle Podrinje and Biri region.

A day earlier, he also held a meeting at the Patriarchate in Belgrade with Serbian Patriarch Porfirije./REL