The nun with a rifle

Nun Ilarija spent almost 30 years in Kosovo and Metohija in the Mushutishte monastery, and then she became the abbess of the Pokajnica monastery.

The monastery was under constant attack by Albanian terrorists, robbers and rapists.

After constant verbal and physical attacks and threats, numerous thefts of forests and cattle while the nuns of this monastery were helpless and had to defend themselves. They did not have any help from the state and state institutions such as the police.

The nuns in the monastery were in constant fear of attack and rape, so Mother Ilarija was forced to always carry a rifle with her, especially when she would go to the fields with other nuns to cultivate the land.

In addition, it can be freely said that she defended the monastery and the monastic community in this monastery on a daily basis, so she was the last bulwark of the defense.

The monastery in Mushutishte was unfortunately mined and only the bell tower remained.

A film about her was made in August 1980, but it was banned due to the realistic and true depiction of the situation in that place and the monastery. The documentary "Ilaria - Nun with a rifle" is a cruel story about the suffering of Serbs in Kosovo That film was not shown until the break-up of Yugoslavia and the demolition of this monastery.

There are no words to describe the courage of this nun and woman who was guided by the thought that man must be combative and that God has given us the mind to fight. She was not afraid of anyone or anything. Several times she had to physically deal with the attackers. So she spent 10 days in jail for hitting a man who cursed while complaining about excessive taxes.

Ilarija (1918 - 2003), was and remains the most famous nun of the Serbian Orthodox Church of recent times. Her photo with a rifle in her hand, in a black monk's dress, traveled all over the world and was remembered as a Serbian heroine. She heroically defended, bravely, as a woman of her caliber knows and knows how the Serbian monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija from Albanian terrorists. She was fear and trembling, a beacon and the last bulwark of the defense of Orthodoxy.