Another looted item returned to the Orthodox Church

(spc.rs) - The Catholic Church in Germany returned a looted gold cross to Serbia on Tuesday, 65 years after it was stolen from an Orthodox monastery by an unidentified German soldier.

Hans-Josef Becker, archbishop of Paderborn, handed over the cross at the Serbian embassy in Berlin, an embassy spokeswoman said.

The treasure is a gilded cross with a base so it can stand upright on a table and a hollow space for a religious relic.

It had been on display in the bishop's diocesan museum in Paderborn since after the Second World War. It had been looted from the 800-year-old monastery at Zica, south of Belgrade, at the end of the Second World War and taken to Germany by the soldier.

Germany has been stepping up efforts to recover its own lost art which was seized by the Soviet Union in reparation after the war, and has also been working to identify looted art on German soil so it can be sent home to other nations.

And Also...

(spc.rs) - His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch met yesterday in the Serbian Patriarchate His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Venice; Apostolic Nuncio Mr. Orlando Antonini and Archbishop of Belgrade Mr. Stanislav Hocevar. The reception was attended by Bishop Atanasije of Hvosno.

Cardinal Angelo Scola was a guest on October 19, 2010 at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade where he lectured on a theme Christianity in a dialogue with the modern world.

During his visit to Belgrade Cardinal Angelo Scola visited the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the St. Sava Memorial Catedral in Vracar, monastery of Rakovica and the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church.