Croatian villages Vrnavkolo and Letnica, municipality of Vitina, Serbia, 1988. HRT - Croatian Radio Television
“I didn't think whether it was Latin or Serbian. I respect it, there is one God, there is one church. There is a Maria, candles are lit like in my Church of St. Dimitrije, and that's how I am there. I move in my own way, I pray to God in my own way. The priest says the prayer as it is in his book. I understand him. As, it was in Serbian. We respected each other. [...] Whether a person was in the Orthodox church or in the Catholic church, God is him, and you divide him into how many parts you want to divide him into. I said a little while ago that there were three generations of priests here in Letnica and in Vrnavokolo, they never said to me: 'Well, why do you cross yourself with three fingers?' No. I pray however it suits me. Like in my church. I keep my side. They have benches, chairs, I kneel. I don't sit, I stand like in my church. As long as the service is going on, I stand!“
— Serbian man from a nearby village of Vrbovac (b.1939)
Religious boundaries are crossed, as reflected in the transcribed statements, through leaving one sanctuary and embracing another marked by a different religious identity. In the excerpt, the speaker refers to one Church and one God, yet within that framework still draws a distinction between “mine” and “theirs”. Thus, while religious boundaries are transcended, each individual continues to preserve their own mode of worship.
