Nikolai Velimirovic
Encyclopedia
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich of Ohrid and Žiča or Nikolaj Velimirović (Serbian Cyrillic: Николај Велимировић; – ) was bishop of Ohrid
and of Žiča
in the Serbian Orthodox Church
, an influential theological writer and a very gifted orator, therefore also known as The New Chrysostom.
His birth name was Nikola. As a young man, he came close to dying of dysentery
, and decided that he would dedicate his life to God if he survived. He did survive, and was tonsure
d as a monk under the name Nikolaj. He was also ordained into the clergy, and quickly became an important leader and spokesperson for the Serbian Orthodox Church, especially in its relations with the West. When the Germans
occupied Yugoslavia
in World War II
, Nikolaj Velimirović was imprisoned and eventually taken to a camp in Austria
. After being liberated by the Allies
at the end of the war, he chose not to return to Yugoslavia (which had a Communist government
by that time). Instead, he spent some time in Europe and moved to the United States
in 1946, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Velimirović strongly supported the unity of all Orthodox churches and established particularly good relations with the Anglican and Episcopal Church
.
, Valjevo
municipality in Western Serbia
, on the day of the feast of Saint Naum
of Ohrid, whose monastery would later be his episcopal see. He was the first of nine children born to the family of pious farmers. Being very weak, he was baptised soon after his birth in the Ćelije monastery
, where his relics are now placed. He was given the name Nikola because Saint Nicholas
was the family's patron saint.
The first lessons about God, Jesus Christ, the lives of the saints and the holy days of the Church year were provided to him by his mother, who also regularly took him to the Celije monastery for prayer and Holy Communion.
, where he - apart from the usual subjects - was studying many significant texts of both Eastern and Western authors. He graduated in 1902 with great success.
As an excellent student, he was chosen to continue his studies in Russia and Western Europe.
. He decided to become a monk and devote his life to God if he stayed alive.
At the end of 1909 his health got better and he was tonsured a monk, receiving the name Nikolaj. He was soon ordained a hieromonk
and then elevated to the rank of Archimandrite
.
and obtained his doctorate of divinity from the Old Catholic Theological Faculty at the University of Berne
. He received his doctorate in Theology in 1908, with the dissertation entitled Faith in the Resurrection of Christ as the Foundation of the Dogmas of the Apostolic Church. This original work was written in German and published in Switzerland in 1910, and later translated into Serbian.
His doctor's degree in philosophy was prepared at Oxford and defended in Geneva, in French. The title was Berkeley's Philosophy.
After his return to Belgrade, in 1911 when he was thirty-one years old he was appointed to the University of Belgrade
's Academy of Theology, teaching philosophy, logic, history and foreign languages, and it was from that point in his career that he rapidly became celebrated. His talks and sermons, printed and distributed were read avidly throughout Serbia. It was partly because his exposition of the Christian faith was inspired by the life of St. Sava, the national patron saint of Serbia. In the Church itself he had only the authority of his words and personality: he was just a monk, but even so he seemed destined to exert great influence. It was not surprising that in 1915 he was entrusted with a mission to Great Britain in order to gain the co-operation of the Church of England in educating the young students who had been evacuated when the Austrian, German and Bulgarian forces threatened to overwhelm the country. One of his students in Belgrade was Justin Popović
.
Velimirović had been in England in 1910. He studied English and even then was capable of addressing an audience and making a strong impression on his listeners. For that and for other reasons he was sent by his government shortly after the beginning of Wold War I on a mission to Serbs in the United States. In 1915, as an unknown Serbian monk, he visited most of the major U.S. cities, where he held numerous lectures, fighting for the union of the Serbs and Sout Slavic peoples. This mission was successful and America sent over 20,000 volunteers to Europe, most of whom fought on the Salonika Front. During that visit occurred the great retreat of the Serbian Army through the mountains of Albania. He started home again (1916); but since his country was now in the hands of the enemy, he went to England instead. Pure circumstances had brought him there; but his own eloquence and the striking force of his character made him a kind of unofficial spokesman of his people. His success was such, that not only he fulfilled the mission, but was also awarded a Doctorate of Divinity
honoris causa from the University of Cambridge
. Also, his presence in England during the years of the Great War did much to strengthen the friendship of the Church of England
with the Eastern Orthodox churches in general and the Serb Church in particular. His original Christian eloquence made a deep impression and his warm personality won him many friends. As the Bishop of London wrote at the time:
Father Nikolaj Velimirović by his simplicity of character and devotion has won all our hearts.
He gave a series of notable lectures at St. Margaret's, Westminster
, and preached in St. Paul's Cathedral as well as in other cathedrals and churches throughout the land. He also preached in the Episcopal chapel, where his practical discourse attracted many hearers. Velimirović became justly celebrated. At the same time he was active in the promotion of the Serbian Relief Fund and was successful in obtaining a university education for Serb students, several of whom, including Bishop Irinej of Dalmatia, took their degrees before they returned to their own country after the war. In London, Professor Pavle Popović, a literary historian and critic, was in charge of Serbian schoolboys and undergraduates who, after Serbia was overrun by the enemy, were brought to England in the summer of 1916 through the generosity of the British people and the enterprise of the Serbian Relief Fund, founded by Lady Paget, the wife of Sir Ralph Paget
.
In 1918 Velimirović came back to America, for a second visit, but as a celebrity who was to address the American people as a whole on behalf of Serbian relief. In 1919 he received another Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Glasgow
. From Glasgow his repute as a theological scholar and preacher spread throughout the United Kingdom. After the war, he returned to Belgrade in April 1919.
Of course the revolution and the destruction of the Orthodox Church in Russia struck a devastating blow at Slav Christianity and left the Serb Orthodox Church sadly isolated. A revival of European idealism following the defeat of Germany failed to occur because a group of atheistic adventurers of low morality and mentality calling themselves Bolsheviks had seized "Holy Russia," the largest, most influential and most devoutly Christian state on the planet, and extinguished the star in the East. The Russian revolution began to dominate history and such small states as that of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were left to develop as best they might. There was no such thing as a "Marshal Plan" to help them. The Southern Slavs had most encouragement from France; and the Anglophiles, even Father Nikolaj, had less influence than would have been the case had Christian Russia not disappeared.
Nikolaj was consecrated Bishop of Žiča
but did not remain long in that diocese, being asked to take over the functions of the diocese of Ohrid
and Bitola
, in Macedonia. Whether that was his own wish is not clear. It was in a way a mission post for the people of the lately-recovered Serbian territory were backward and there was still vestiges of the Ottoman days still prevailing in habit, pagan superstition and even black magic. The proportion of illiteracy was very high and the population was for the most part very poor. He had many difficulties there but a great number of humble folk became attached to him and felt that even to touch his hand was to receive blessing. For many years his seat was the ancient monastery of Sveti Naum at the south end of the Lake Ohrid. It was there he wrote his remarkable Ohridski Prologue. In 1920, for the third time, he journeyed again in the United States, this time on a mission to organize the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of North America.
The Outlook Magazine carried an interesting story about Bishop Nikolaj after visiting the United States in their 23 February 1921 issue (pages 285-286):
He is Bishop of Ohrid, near the Albanian border, and is a popular and beloved leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Last summer an American accompanied him on a journey into the mountians, where he was to preach in a remote village church. They found the roads lined for twenty-five miles with men, women and children, who had journeyed far on foot to greet him, and in the mountain church the densely packed people had been standing all through the night....
Finally, in 1927, he came to the U.S. once more, to speak before the Institute of Politics in Williamstown, Mass. A reporter covering the event, wrote:
His black monk's robe, his long black beard, and his dark, living eyes, set in an oval Slavic face, gave him an appearance which contrasted as strongly with that of conventionally dressed professors and diplomats as did his views of the common problems of world peace contrast with theirs. His charm and urbanity of manner, the completeness of his grasp upon international problems only emphasized the difference in his thought....Bishop Nikolaj, speaking from the point of view of a civilization in which men still are more important than institutions, points out that peace or war is a matter of the way men think and feel toward each other, and that all other things are only outgrowths of this. The greatest force for affecting men's attitudes toward each other he believes would be a reunited Christian Church (Living Age, Vol. 335-6, 1928-1929).
In 1935, he reconstructed the cemetery of the fallen German soldiers from World War I in Bitola
.
Velimirović would almost certainly have become ultimately Patriarch but for political considerations. During the Milan Stojadinović
administration when the Patriarchate became vacant (after the poisoning of Patriarch Varnava and the failed attempt at ratifying a Concordat
with the Vatican
) he was the obvious choice but he was too greatly identified with the democratic idealism of England and the United States of America (places he frequently visited) while Stojadinović leaned towards Germany and Italy.
Still, except for his unwavering opposition to Communism, there was very little that could be labelled "political" in Velimirović's ministrations and writings. The most that could be said was that he strove to keep Serbia alive after it had been merged in the larger state of Yugoslavia. He started a movement for the renewal and care of the old churches, shrines and cemeteries in South Serbia, now called Macedonia. It had been at his suggestion that the large illustrated volume South Slav Monuments was compiled and then published in London and when he was made Bishop of Ohrid he began that work of restoration which still continues to this day. For instance, the caves of the anchorites on Lake Ohrid shores became once more Christian cells with lamps burining and icons and attendant monks.
and not far distant from Lelić where he was born. At Žiča he started a movement for the revival of the Serb Church evoking the inspiration of its patron saint St. Sava. He seldom gave a sermon without mentioning the saint's name. Eventually in exile he wrote the only substantial biography of St. Sava which we have.
In the years preceding the outbreak of World War II Velimirović continuing his campaign for a Serb revival instituted what may be called a Society of Prayer and renewed the ancient custom of Christians gathering together to visit a friend's house for prayer, in that way making Christianity social rather than individualistic and solitary. This social prayer extended over a large area and drew national attention. It was described in the newspapers, and pictures of the benign and now almost apostolic countenance of Bishop Nikolaj appeared in Sunday editions. He became famous.
With the brilliant reputation that Nikolaj Velimirović had acquired in Serbia and elsewhere, he would probably have obtained some good preferment had he been on the powerful side in politics.
in 1941, as soon as the German forces occupied Yugoslavia, Bishop Nikolaj was arrested by the Nazis in the Monastery
of Žiča
, after which he was confined in the Monastery of Ljubostinja
. Later he was transferred to the Monastery of Vojlovica
(near Pančevo
) in which he was confined together with the Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo V of Serbia until the end of 1944.
On September 15, 1944 both Patriarch Gavrilo V of Serbia (Dožić) and Bishop Nikolaj were sent to the Dachau concentration camp, which was at that time the main concentration camp for priests arrested by the Nazis. Both Velimirović and Dožić were held as special prisoners (Ehrenhäftlinge) imprisoned in the so-called Ehrenbunker (or Prominentenbunker) separated from the work camp area, together with high-ranking Nazi enemy officers and other prominent prisoners whose arrest has been dictated by Hitler directly. In December 1944 they were transferred from Dachau to Slovenia
, together with Milan Nedić
, the Serbian collaborationist PM, and German general Hermann Neubacher
, the first Nazi mayor of Vienna (1938–1939), as the Nazis attempted to make use of Patriarch Gavrilo's and Nikolaj's authority among the Serbs in order to gain allies in the anti-Communist movements. Contrary to claims of torture and abuse at the camp, Patriarch Dožić testified himself that both he and Velimirović were treated normally.
Later, Patriarch Dožić and Bishop Nikolaj were moved to Austria
, and were finally liberated by the US 36th Infantry Division in Tyrol
in 1945. He was physically weakened by these vicissitudes and grew to look very old and frail. He was brought to England. Velimirović and Dožić were at Westminster Abbey
at the baptism of King Peter II of Yugoslavia
's son and heir, Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia. Velimirović preached a very moving sermon at the Serb chapel in the house in Egerton Gardens. But there was no place for him in England such as there had been during the First World War. Patriarch Gavrilo, being old and ill, returned to what then came to be known as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
, while Bishop Nikolaj opted to emigrate to the United States
.
He was allowed to spend the last years of his life in the United States of America, only returning once to England when he came to consecrate the Church of St. Sava in 1952, an occasion when Serbs in their thousands rallied from the mines and factories of England to the walls of the great church in Ladbroke Grove
. The sacred edifice was packed out and the overflow crowd streamed all the way to the London Underground
, the voice of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović sounding through the air on the loudspeakers.
Yugoslavia
, but after spending some time in Europe, he finally immigrated as a refugee
to the United States in 1946.
There, in spite of his health problems, he continued his missionary work, for which he is considered An Apostle and Missionary of the New Continent (quote by Fr. Alexander Schmemann
), and has also been enlisted as an American Saint and included on the icons and frescoes All American Saints.
He taught at several Orthodox Christian
seminaries
such as St. Sava's Seminary in Libertyville, Illinois
, Saint Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary
and Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary now in Crestwood, New York.
In June 1946, he was awarded for his an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Theology
from Columbia University
for "demonstrated compassion, holiness and great spiritual strength".
He was elected a dean and rector of the St. Tikhon's Seminary where he spent the last years of his life as an example in humility being an elder to the students and monastics at St. Tikhon's Monastery. He lived an unassuming life of an ecclesiastical hierarch when at his one-bedroom apartment in the South Canaan monastery and when he travelled in the United States or abroad lived as unostentatiously as possible, consistent with his teachings, and always of stainless integritry and blemish.
Nikolaj was greatly loved and esteemed by a great circle of friends, among his co-religionsits and others, and he lived to be recognized and honoured as a man whose opinion on theological subjects carried great weight.
at the Monastery of St. Sava at Libertyville in the state of Illinois
. This makes the Monastery of St. Sava a shrine for the Orthodox in America. The only regret of the Bishop in his latter years was that he was not likely to be buried in the earth of his beloved Serbia. For besides being a holy man and wise and wholly devoted to Christ he was a great patriot and had been so all his life, believing fervently in the destiny of his own people. He belonged to Serbia and was the greatest spiritual leader emerging from the Slavs in our time but in a larger sense he belongs to the world. In England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and America, and even in Germany where he was a prisoner the many who came in contact with him can now realize they had the rare blessing of having met a living saint.
Nikolaj's wish, however, did come true with the fall of communism; his remains were ultimately re-buried in his home town of Lelić on the 12th of May 1991, next to his parents and his nephew, Bishop Jovan (Velimirović).
recognized Bishop Nikolaj (Velimirović) of Ohrid and Žiča as a saint and decided to include him into the calendar of saints of Holy Orthodox Church (March 18 and May 13).
. He has been criticized for his writings in the book "Through the Prison Window" written while he was a prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp:
According to the social psychologist Jovan Byford, similar and although less violent remarks can be found in New Speeches under the Mountain, The Ohrid Prologue or Indian Letters
In his "Through the Prison Window", he was puzzled why the Europeans showed so much tolerance to the Jews and could not see through their "ploys". He also criticized European scientific achievements in the field of particle physics for being anti-Christian and possibly introduced by Jews. Further, he criticized the "mania for cleanliness" as being introduced by the Jews.
Despite the Anti-Semitism accusations, it is recorded that he protected and helped escape from Nazi-occupied Serbia one Jewish family. Ela Trifunović, born Neuheus, wrote to the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2001, claiming that she had spent 18 months hiding in Ljubostinja monastery where she was smuggled by Velimirović, guarded and later helped move on with false papers.
In a treatise on Saint Sava in 1935, he supported Hitler's treatment of German national church and is quoted as saying:
, a Serbian right-wing politician and German collaborationist. In an interview given in the United States in 1953, Velimirović claimed that he was the spiritual gray eminence behind the nationalist and collaborating extreme-right ZBOR
organization. The military arm of that organization (SDK - Srpski Dobrovoljački Korpus - Serbian Volunteer Corps) was fighting against both Partisans and Chetniks
in World War II and was responsible for numerous civilian executions in Serbia of both Serbs and other nationals (Jews, Roma, etc.) When the leader of ZBOR, Dimitrije Ljotić, was arrested in 1940 by the Yugoslav
government, Velimirović protested in a letter to the PM, Dragiša Cvetković
. Velimirović attended Ljotić's funeral in 1945 and spoke very positively of him even though it was already known that Ljotić was collaborating with the Germans. He spoke of Ljotić as of "ideologue of Serbian nationalism".
What Velimirović was saying is that Ljotić was not responsible for the Nazi-occupation of Yugoslavia. Knowing Ljotić as a Serb patriot in the past (the Balkan Wars and World War I), there was no reason whatsoever to question his loyalty at a time when chaos was in control!.
Amfilohije Radović points out that part of his success lies in his high education and ability to write well and his understanding of European culture. (Unfortunately, not all Europeans and North Americans understand Nikolaj Velimirović?)
He is viewed as less original by non-theological writers. Literary critic Milan Bogdanović claims that everything Velimirović wrote after his Ohrid
years did nothing more than paraphrase orthodox canon and dogma. Bogdanović views him as a conservative who glorifies church as an institution and its ceremony. Others have noted that Velimirović brought little novelty into Orthodox thought.
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...
and of Žiča
Žica
Žiča is an early 13th century Serb Orthodox monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia. The monastery, together with the Church of the Holy Dormition, was built by the first King of Serbia, Stefan the First-Crowned and the first Head of the Serbian Church, Saint Sava....
in the Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
, an influential theological writer and a very gifted orator, therefore also known as The New Chrysostom.
His birth name was Nikola. As a young man, he came close to dying of dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
, and decided that he would dedicate his life to God if he survived. He did survive, and was tonsure
Tonsure
Tonsure is the traditional practice of Christian churches of cutting or shaving the hair from the scalp of clerics, monastics, and, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, all baptized members...
d as a monk under the name Nikolaj. He was also ordained into the clergy, and quickly became an important leader and spokesperson for the Serbian Orthodox Church, especially in its relations with the West. When the Germans
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
occupied Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Nikolaj Velimirović was imprisoned and eventually taken to a camp in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. After being liberated by the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
at the end of the war, he chose not to return to Yugoslavia (which had a Communist government
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
by that time). Instead, he spent some time in Europe and moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1946, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Velimirović strongly supported the unity of all Orthodox churches and established particularly good relations with the Anglican and Episcopal Church
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
.
Childhood
Nikola Velimirović was born in the small village of LelićLelić
Lelić is a village in the municipality of Valjevo, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 568 people....
, Valjevo
Valjevo
Valjevo is a city and municipality located in western Serbia. It is the center of the Kolubara District, which includes five other smaller municipalities with a total population of almost 180,000 people...
municipality in Western Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, on the day of the feast of Saint Naum
Saint Naum
Saint Naum , also known as Naum of Ohrid or Naum of Preslav was a medieval Bulgarian scholar and missionary among the Slavs. He is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church.Information about his early life is scarce...
of Ohrid, whose monastery would later be his episcopal see. He was the first of nine children born to the family of pious farmers. Being very weak, he was baptised soon after his birth in the Ćelije monastery
Ćelije Monastery
The Ćelije Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery. It is located by the Gradac river, on the 6th km from the town of Valjevo, Serbia. It was founded in the late 13th century...
, where his relics are now placed. He was given the name Nikola because Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
was the family's patron saint.
The first lessons about God, Jesus Christ, the lives of the saints and the holy days of the Church year were provided to him by his mother, who also regularly took him to the Celije monastery for prayer and Holy Communion.
Education, First and Second Doctor Degree
His formal education also began in the Celije monastery, and then continued in Valjevo. Nikola applied for entrance into the Military Academy, but was refused because he didn't pass the physical exam. He was accepted in the Seminary of St. Sava in BelgradeBelgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, where he - apart from the usual subjects - was studying many significant texts of both Eastern and Western authors. He graduated in 1902 with great success.
As an excellent student, he was chosen to continue his studies in Russia and Western Europe.
Monastic life
In the autumn of 1909, Nikola returned home and became seriously ill with dysenteryDysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
. He decided to become a monk and devote his life to God if he stayed alive.
At the end of 1909 his health got better and he was tonsured a monk, receiving the name Nikolaj. He was soon ordained a hieromonk
Hieromonk
Hieromonk , also called a Priestmonk, is a monk who is also a priest in the Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholicism....
and then elevated to the rank of Archimandrite
Archimandrite
The title Archimandrite , primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise...
.
Studies in Russia
Archimandrite Nikolaj was chosen a professor in the Seminary of St. Sava in Belgrade. It was decided that he needed to accomplish Orthodox studies before becoming a teacher. As was the custom in those days he was sent to Imperial Russia to continue his studies. He had a gift for languages and soon possessed a good knowledge of Russian, French and German. From St. Petersburg he went to SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and obtained his doctorate of divinity from the Old Catholic Theological Faculty at the University of Berne
University of Berne
The University of Bern is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a broad choice of courses and programmes in eight faculties and some 160 institutes. The university is an...
. He received his doctorate in Theology in 1908, with the dissertation entitled Faith in the Resurrection of Christ as the Foundation of the Dogmas of the Apostolic Church. This original work was written in German and published in Switzerland in 1910, and later translated into Serbian.
His doctor's degree in philosophy was prepared at Oxford and defended in Geneva, in French. The title was Berkeley's Philosophy.
After his return to Belgrade, in 1911 when he was thirty-one years old he was appointed to the University of Belgrade
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
's Academy of Theology, teaching philosophy, logic, history and foreign languages, and it was from that point in his career that he rapidly became celebrated. His talks and sermons, printed and distributed were read avidly throughout Serbia. It was partly because his exposition of the Christian faith was inspired by the life of St. Sava, the national patron saint of Serbia. In the Church itself he had only the authority of his words and personality: he was just a monk, but even so he seemed destined to exert great influence. It was not surprising that in 1915 he was entrusted with a mission to Great Britain in order to gain the co-operation of the Church of England in educating the young students who had been evacuated when the Austrian, German and Bulgarian forces threatened to overwhelm the country. One of his students in Belgrade was Justin Popović
Justin Popovic
Saint Justin Popović was a theologian, a philosopher of the Eastern Orthodox theology, a Dostoyevski scholar, a champion of anti-communism, a writer, and a critic of the pragmatic church life...
.
Missions during World War I
In his lifetime, Father Nikolaj visited the United States of America four times and perhaps, of all Eastern Orthodox churchmen, was the best known to America.Velimirović had been in England in 1910. He studied English and even then was capable of addressing an audience and making a strong impression on his listeners. For that and for other reasons he was sent by his government shortly after the beginning of Wold War I on a mission to Serbs in the United States. In 1915, as an unknown Serbian monk, he visited most of the major U.S. cities, where he held numerous lectures, fighting for the union of the Serbs and Sout Slavic peoples. This mission was successful and America sent over 20,000 volunteers to Europe, most of whom fought on the Salonika Front. During that visit occurred the great retreat of the Serbian Army through the mountains of Albania. He started home again (1916); but since his country was now in the hands of the enemy, he went to England instead. Pure circumstances had brought him there; but his own eloquence and the striking force of his character made him a kind of unofficial spokesman of his people. His success was such, that not only he fulfilled the mission, but was also awarded a Doctorate of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
honoris causa from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. Also, his presence in England during the years of the Great War did much to strengthen the friendship of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
with the Eastern Orthodox churches in general and the Serb Church in particular. His original Christian eloquence made a deep impression and his warm personality won him many friends. As the Bishop of London wrote at the time:
Father Nikolaj Velimirović by his simplicity of character and devotion has won all our hearts.
He gave a series of notable lectures at St. Margaret's, Westminster
St. Margaret's, Westminster
The Anglican church of St. Margaret, Westminster Abbey is situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, and is the parish church of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in London...
, and preached in St. Paul's Cathedral as well as in other cathedrals and churches throughout the land. He also preached in the Episcopal chapel, where his practical discourse attracted many hearers. Velimirović became justly celebrated. At the same time he was active in the promotion of the Serbian Relief Fund and was successful in obtaining a university education for Serb students, several of whom, including Bishop Irinej of Dalmatia, took their degrees before they returned to their own country after the war. In London, Professor Pavle Popović, a literary historian and critic, was in charge of Serbian schoolboys and undergraduates who, after Serbia was overrun by the enemy, were brought to England in the summer of 1916 through the generosity of the British people and the enterprise of the Serbian Relief Fund, founded by Lady Paget, the wife of Sir Ralph Paget
Ralph Paget
Sir Ralph Spencer Paget KCMG, CVO, PC was a diplomat in the British Foreign Service, culminating in his appointment as Ambassador to Brazil in 1918...
.
In 1918 Velimirović came back to America, for a second visit, but as a celebrity who was to address the American people as a whole on behalf of Serbian relief. In 1919 he received another Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
. From Glasgow his repute as a theological scholar and preacher spread throughout the United Kingdom. After the war, he returned to Belgrade in April 1919.
Of course the revolution and the destruction of the Orthodox Church in Russia struck a devastating blow at Slav Christianity and left the Serb Orthodox Church sadly isolated. A revival of European idealism following the defeat of Germany failed to occur because a group of atheistic adventurers of low morality and mentality calling themselves Bolsheviks had seized "Holy Russia," the largest, most influential and most devoutly Christian state on the planet, and extinguished the star in the East. The Russian revolution began to dominate history and such small states as that of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were left to develop as best they might. There was no such thing as a "Marshal Plan" to help them. The Southern Slavs had most encouragement from France; and the Anglophiles, even Father Nikolaj, had less influence than would have been the case had Christian Russia not disappeared.
A Bishop
In 1919, ArchimandriteArchimandrite
The title Archimandrite , primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise...
Nikolaj was consecrated Bishop of Žiča
Žica
Žiča is an early 13th century Serb Orthodox monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia. The monastery, together with the Church of the Holy Dormition, was built by the first King of Serbia, Stefan the First-Crowned and the first Head of the Serbian Church, Saint Sava....
but did not remain long in that diocese, being asked to take over the functions of the diocese of Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...
and Bitola
Bitola
Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...
, in Macedonia. Whether that was his own wish is not clear. It was in a way a mission post for the people of the lately-recovered Serbian territory were backward and there was still vestiges of the Ottoman days still prevailing in habit, pagan superstition and even black magic. The proportion of illiteracy was very high and the population was for the most part very poor. He had many difficulties there but a great number of humble folk became attached to him and felt that even to touch his hand was to receive blessing. For many years his seat was the ancient monastery of Sveti Naum at the south end of the Lake Ohrid. It was there he wrote his remarkable Ohridski Prologue. In 1920, for the third time, he journeyed again in the United States, this time on a mission to organize the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of North America.
The Outlook Magazine carried an interesting story about Bishop Nikolaj after visiting the United States in their 23 February 1921 issue (pages 285-286):
He is Bishop of Ohrid, near the Albanian border, and is a popular and beloved leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Last summer an American accompanied him on a journey into the mountians, where he was to preach in a remote village church. They found the roads lined for twenty-five miles with men, women and children, who had journeyed far on foot to greet him, and in the mountain church the densely packed people had been standing all through the night....
Finally, in 1927, he came to the U.S. once more, to speak before the Institute of Politics in Williamstown, Mass. A reporter covering the event, wrote:
His black monk's robe, his long black beard, and his dark, living eyes, set in an oval Slavic face, gave him an appearance which contrasted as strongly with that of conventionally dressed professors and diplomats as did his views of the common problems of world peace contrast with theirs. His charm and urbanity of manner, the completeness of his grasp upon international problems only emphasized the difference in his thought....Bishop Nikolaj, speaking from the point of view of a civilization in which men still are more important than institutions, points out that peace or war is a matter of the way men think and feel toward each other, and that all other things are only outgrowths of this. The greatest force for affecting men's attitudes toward each other he believes would be a reunited Christian Church (Living Age, Vol. 335-6, 1928-1929).
In 1935, he reconstructed the cemetery of the fallen German soldiers from World War I in Bitola
Bitola
Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...
.
Velimirović would almost certainly have become ultimately Patriarch but for political considerations. During the Milan Stojadinović
Milan Stojadinovic
Milan Stojadinović was a Yugoslav political figure and a noted economist.Stojadinović was born in Čačak in central Serbia, and went to school in Užice and Kragujevac. In 1910 he graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School, and gained a Ph.D. in economics in 1911...
administration when the Patriarchate became vacant (after the poisoning of Patriarch Varnava and the failed attempt at ratifying a Concordat
Concordat
A concordat is an agreement between the Holy See of the Catholic Church and a sovereign state on religious matters. Legally, they are international treaties. They often includes both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country...
with the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
) he was the obvious choice but he was too greatly identified with the democratic idealism of England and the United States of America (places he frequently visited) while Stojadinović leaned towards Germany and Italy.
Still, except for his unwavering opposition to Communism, there was very little that could be labelled "political" in Velimirović's ministrations and writings. The most that could be said was that he strove to keep Serbia alive after it had been merged in the larger state of Yugoslavia. He started a movement for the renewal and care of the old churches, shrines and cemeteries in South Serbia, now called Macedonia. It had been at his suggestion that the large illustrated volume South Slav Monuments was compiled and then published in London and when he was made Bishop of Ohrid he began that work of restoration which still continues to this day. For instance, the caves of the anchorites on Lake Ohrid shores became once more Christian cells with lamps burining and icons and attendant monks.
The Thirties
Early in the thirties he resumed his original diocese of Žiča, returning for the Monastery of Žiča is near ValjevoValjevo
Valjevo is a city and municipality located in western Serbia. It is the center of the Kolubara District, which includes five other smaller municipalities with a total population of almost 180,000 people...
and not far distant from Lelić where he was born. At Žiča he started a movement for the revival of the Serb Church evoking the inspiration of its patron saint St. Sava. He seldom gave a sermon without mentioning the saint's name. Eventually in exile he wrote the only substantial biography of St. Sava which we have.
In the years preceding the outbreak of World War II Velimirović continuing his campaign for a Serb revival instituted what may be called a Society of Prayer and renewed the ancient custom of Christians gathering together to visit a friend's house for prayer, in that way making Christianity social rather than individualistic and solitary. This social prayer extended over a large area and drew national attention. It was described in the newspapers, and pictures of the benign and now almost apostolic countenance of Bishop Nikolaj appeared in Sunday editions. He became famous.
With the brilliant reputation that Nikolaj Velimirović had acquired in Serbia and elsewhere, he would probably have obtained some good preferment had he been on the powerful side in politics.
Detention and imprisonment in World War II
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1941, as soon as the German forces occupied Yugoslavia, Bishop Nikolaj was arrested by the Nazis in the Monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
of Žiča
Žica
Žiča is an early 13th century Serb Orthodox monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia. The monastery, together with the Church of the Holy Dormition, was built by the first King of Serbia, Stefan the First-Crowned and the first Head of the Serbian Church, Saint Sava....
, after which he was confined in the Monastery of Ljubostinja
Ljubostinja
Ljubostinja is a Serbian Orthodox monastery near Trstenik, Serbia. Located in the small mountain valley of the Ljubostinja river. Monastery is dedicated to the Holy Virgin. The monastery was built from the 1388 to 1405...
. Later he was transferred to the Monastery of Vojlovica
Vojlovica monastery
The Vojlovica Monastery is a Serb Orthodox monastery situated in the Banat region, in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. It is in the Pančevo municipality...
(near Pančevo
Pancevo
Pančevo is a city and municipality located in the southern part of Serbian province of Vojvodina, 15 km northeast from Belgrade. In 2002, the city had a total population of 77,087, while municipality of Pančevo had 127,162 inhabitants. It is the administrative center of the South Banat...
) in which he was confined together with the Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo V of Serbia until the end of 1944.
On September 15, 1944 both Patriarch Gavrilo V of Serbia (Dožić) and Bishop Nikolaj were sent to the Dachau concentration camp, which was at that time the main concentration camp for priests arrested by the Nazis. Both Velimirović and Dožić were held as special prisoners (Ehrenhäftlinge) imprisoned in the so-called Ehrenbunker (or Prominentenbunker) separated from the work camp area, together with high-ranking Nazi enemy officers and other prominent prisoners whose arrest has been dictated by Hitler directly. In December 1944 they were transferred from Dachau to Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, together with Milan Nedić
Milan Nedic
Milan Nedić was a Serbian general and politician, he was the chief of the general staff of the Yugoslav Army, minister of war in the Royal Yugoslav Government and the prime minister of a Nazi-backed Serbian puppet government during World War II.After the war, Yugoslav communist authorities...
, the Serbian collaborationist PM, and German general Hermann Neubacher
Hermann Neubacher
Hermann Neubacher was an Austrian Nazi politician who held a number of diplomatic posts in the Third Reich. During the Second World War, he was appointed as the leading German official for the Balkans.-Austrian activism:...
, the first Nazi mayor of Vienna (1938–1939), as the Nazis attempted to make use of Patriarch Gavrilo's and Nikolaj's authority among the Serbs in order to gain allies in the anti-Communist movements. Contrary to claims of torture and abuse at the camp, Patriarch Dožić testified himself that both he and Velimirović were treated normally.
Later, Patriarch Dožić and Bishop Nikolaj were moved to Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and were finally liberated by the US 36th Infantry Division in Tyrol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...
in 1945. He was physically weakened by these vicissitudes and grew to look very old and frail. He was brought to England. Velimirović and Dožić were at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
at the baptism of King Peter II of Yugoslavia
Peter II of Yugoslavia
Peter II, also known as Peter II Karađorđević , was the third and last King of Yugoslavia...
's son and heir, Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia. Velimirović preached a very moving sermon at the Serb chapel in the house in Egerton Gardens. But there was no place for him in England such as there had been during the First World War. Patriarch Gavrilo, being old and ill, returned to what then came to be known as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
, while Bishop Nikolaj opted to emigrate to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
He was allowed to spend the last years of his life in the United States of America, only returning once to England when he came to consecrate the Church of St. Sava in 1952, an occasion when Serbs in their thousands rallied from the mines and factories of England to the walls of the great church in Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove
Ladbroke Grove is a road in west London, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is also sometimes the name given informally to the immediate area surrounding the road. Running from Notting Hill in the south to Kensal Green in the north, it is located in North Kensington and straddles...
. The sacred edifice was packed out and the overflow crowd streamed all the way to the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
, the voice of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović sounding through the air on the loudspeakers.
Immigration and Last Years
After the war he never returned to the CommunistLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia
League of Communists of Yugoslavia , before 1952 the Communist Party of Yugoslavia League of Communists of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Savez komunista Jugoslavije/Савез комуниста Југославије, Slovene: Zveza komunistov Jugoslavije, Macedonian: Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na...
Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
, but after spending some time in Europe, he finally immigrated as a refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
to the United States in 1946.
There, in spite of his health problems, he continued his missionary work, for which he is considered An Apostle and Missionary of the New Continent (quote by Fr. Alexander Schmemann
Alexander Schmemann
Alexander Schmemann was a prominent 20th century Orthodox Christian priest, teacher, and writer.-Early life:...
), and has also been enlisted as an American Saint and included on the icons and frescoes All American Saints.
He taught at several Orthodox Christian
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
seminaries
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
such as St. Sava's Seminary in Libertyville, Illinois
Libertyville, Illinois
Libertyville is an affluent northern suburb of Chicago in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is located west of Lake Michigan on the Des Plaines River. The 2000 census population was 20,742; the 2005 estimate was 21,760...
, Saint Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary
Saint Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary
Saint Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan Township, Pennsylvania, is one of three institutions of professional theological education in the Orthodox Church in America. The other two schools are St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, Yonkers, New York, and St....
and Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary now in Crestwood, New York.
In June 1946, he was awarded for his an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Theology
Sacred theology
Sacred theology is the name given to the theological degrees offered in a number of theological colleges, including the pontifical university system of the Catholic Church.It is offered at the following levels:*Bachelor of Sacred Theology...
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
for "demonstrated compassion, holiness and great spiritual strength".
He was elected a dean and rector of the St. Tikhon's Seminary where he spent the last years of his life as an example in humility being an elder to the students and monastics at St. Tikhon's Monastery. He lived an unassuming life of an ecclesiastical hierarch when at his one-bedroom apartment in the South Canaan monastery and when he travelled in the United States or abroad lived as unostentatiously as possible, consistent with his teachings, and always of stainless integritry and blemish.
Nikolaj was greatly loved and esteemed by a great circle of friends, among his co-religionsits and others, and he lived to be recognized and honoured as a man whose opinion on theological subjects carried great weight.
Funeral
He died on March 18, 1956, while in prayer at the foot of his bed before the Liturgy, at the Russian Orthodox Monastery of St. Tikhon in South Canaan Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania in the United States. When the news of his death had been announced in Belgrade all the bells of the churches in the city tolled simultaneously. There was grief and agitation even in public places, and a sense of great personal loss in every Orthodox Serbian home. What happened at Žiča, at Ohrid, and at Sveti Naum we do not know but can imagine. In the U.S. and Canada, we know, Serbs (Vlastimir Tomić, Petar Bizić, Milan M. Karlo, Risto Seslija, Mileta Milanović, Milutin Devrnja, Sava Vujinović, Jovan Bratić) and people of many denominations that he befriended through the years (Richard Felman, Charles Davis, and other U.S. airmen) followed his hearse to the grave. He was buried near the tomb of poet Jovan DučićJovan Ducic
Jovan Dučić was a Serbian poet born in Herzegovina, writer and diplomat.-Biography:...
at the Monastery of St. Sava at Libertyville in the state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. This makes the Monastery of St. Sava a shrine for the Orthodox in America. The only regret of the Bishop in his latter years was that he was not likely to be buried in the earth of his beloved Serbia. For besides being a holy man and wise and wholly devoted to Christ he was a great patriot and had been so all his life, believing fervently in the destiny of his own people. He belonged to Serbia and was the greatest spiritual leader emerging from the Slavs in our time but in a larger sense he belongs to the world. In England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and America, and even in Germany where he was a prisoner the many who came in contact with him can now realize they had the rare blessing of having met a living saint.
Nikolaj's wish, however, did come true with the fall of communism; his remains were ultimately re-buried in his home town of Lelić on the 12th of May 1991, next to his parents and his nephew, Bishop Jovan (Velimirović).
Canonisation
On May 19, 2003, the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox ChurchSerbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
recognized Bishop Nikolaj (Velimirović) of Ohrid and Žiča as a saint and decided to include him into the calendar of saints of Holy Orthodox Church (March 18 and May 13).
Anti-semitism
Some of Velimirović's writings are viewed as anti-semiticAnti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. He has been criticized for his writings in the book "Through the Prison Window" written while he was a prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp:
“[Europe] is presently the main battlefield of the Jew and his father, the devil, against the heavenly Father and his only begotten Son. […]
[Jews] first need to become legally equal with Christians in order to repress Christianity next, turn Christians into faithless, and step on their necks. All the modern European slogans have been made up by Jews, the crucifiers of Christ: democracy, strikes, socialism, atheism, tolerance of all faiths, pacifism, universal revolution, capitalism and communism… All of these are invention of the Jews and their father , the Devil.
According to the social psychologist Jovan Byford, similar and although less violent remarks can be found in New Speeches under the Mountain, The Ohrid Prologue or Indian Letters
In his "Through the Prison Window", he was puzzled why the Europeans showed so much tolerance to the Jews and could not see through their "ploys". He also criticized European scientific achievements in the field of particle physics for being anti-Christian and possibly introduced by Jews. Further, he criticized the "mania for cleanliness" as being introduced by the Jews.
Despite the Anti-Semitism accusations, it is recorded that he protected and helped escape from Nazi-occupied Serbia one Jewish family. Ela Trifunović, born Neuheus, wrote to the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2001, claiming that she had spent 18 months hiding in Ljubostinja monastery where she was smuggled by Velimirović, guarded and later helped move on with false papers.
Velimirović and Hitler
Adolf Hitler decorated Nikolaj Velimirović in 1935 for his contributions to the restoration of German military cemetery in Bitola in 1926. Contrary to some claims that the order was returned in protest at German aggression in 1941, some of Velimirović's supporters mentioned it as a way of pacifying Germans after Velimirović's arrest.In a treatise on Saint Sava in 1935, he supported Hitler's treatment of German national church and is quoted as saying:
However, a due respect is to be to the current German Leader, who being a simple craftsman and a man from the people, realized that nationalism without faith is an anomaly, a cold and insecure mechanism. And so, in the XX century, he came to the idea of Saint Sava, and as a layman undertook among his people that most important work, befitting a saint, a genius and a hero. And for us that work has been accomplished by Saint Sava, the first among the saints, the first among the geniuses and the first among the heroes in our history. He accomplished it perfectly, he accomplished it without fight and without blood, and he accomplished it not yesterday or the day before, but 700 years ago.
Velimirović and Ljotić
Velimirović had high opinion of Dimitrije LjotićDimitrije Ljotic
Dimitrije Ljotić was a Serbian politician and Nazi German collaborationist during World War II.Although born in Belgrade he spent most of his life in Smederevo. His ancestors came to Serbia from the village of Blace in what is today Greek Macedonia during the first half of 19th century...
, a Serbian right-wing politician and German collaborationist. In an interview given in the United States in 1953, Velimirović claimed that he was the spiritual gray eminence behind the nationalist and collaborating extreme-right ZBOR
ZBOR
Yugoslav National Movement "Zbor" , commonly known simply as ZBOR, was a Yugoslav fascist and conservative nationalist movement formed in 1935 by Dimitrije Ljotić. ZBOR's ideology was a blend of Italian Fascism, Nazism, and Serbian Orthodox Christian fundamentalism...
organization. The military arm of that organization (SDK - Srpski Dobrovoljački Korpus - Serbian Volunteer Corps) was fighting against both Partisans and Chetniks
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
in World War II and was responsible for numerous civilian executions in Serbia of both Serbs and other nationals (Jews, Roma, etc.) When the leader of ZBOR, Dimitrije Ljotić, was arrested in 1940 by the Yugoslav
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
government, Velimirović protested in a letter to the PM, Dragiša Cvetković
Dragiša Cvetkovic
Dragiša Cvetković was a Yugoslav politician.He served as the prime minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1939 to 1941. He developed the federalization of Yugoslavia through the creation of the Banovina of Croatia by an agreement with Croatian leader Vladko Maček...
. Velimirović attended Ljotić's funeral in 1945 and spoke very positively of him even though it was already known that Ljotić was collaborating with the Germans. He spoke of Ljotić as of "ideologue of Serbian nationalism".
What Velimirović was saying is that Ljotić was not responsible for the Nazi-occupation of Yugoslavia. Knowing Ljotić as a Serb patriot in the past (the Balkan Wars and World War I), there was no reason whatsoever to question his loyalty at a time when chaos was in control!.
Velimirović and Germans
In spite of accusations of collaboration leveled during Communist times, some of Velimirović's actions and writings were directed against the Germans who got suspicious of him when he supported the coup in April 1941. They suspected him of collaborating with the Chetniks and formally arrested him and kept him first in Ljubostinja Monastery in 1941 and then in 1944 in Dachau concentration camp. In Dachau, he was imprisoned in Ehrenbunker, together with other clergy and high-ranking Nazi enemy officers, and was allowed to wear his own religious clothes, having access to officer's canteen. It is claimed that he was never tortured and had access to officer's medical services. Contrary to the reports that Velimirović was liberated when American 36th American division reached Dachau, both he and Patriarch Dožić were actually released in December 1944, having spent three months in the camp. They travelled to Slovenia, from where Velimirovic continued first to Austria then to United States.Literary Criticism
Velimirović is universally recognised and affirmed among Orthodox theologians.Amfilohije Radović points out that part of his success lies in his high education and ability to write well and his understanding of European culture. (Unfortunately, not all Europeans and North Americans understand Nikolaj Velimirović?)
He is viewed as less original by non-theological writers. Literary critic Milan Bogdanović claims that everything Velimirović wrote after his Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...
years did nothing more than paraphrase orthodox canon and dogma. Bogdanović views him as a conservative who glorifies church as an institution and its ceremony. Others have noted that Velimirović brought little novelty into Orthodox thought.
Partial bibliography
- Моје успомене из Боке (1904)
- Französisch-slavische Kämpfe in der Bocca di Cattaro (1910)
- Beyond Sin and Death (1914)
- The New Ideal in Education (1916)
- The Religious Spirit of the Slavs (1916)
- The Spiritual Rebirth of Europe (1917)
- Orations on the Universal Man (1920)
- Молитве на језеру (1922)
- Thoughts on Good and Evil (1923)
- Homilias, volumes I and II (1925)
- Читанка о Светоме краљу Јовану Владимиру
- The Prologue from Ohrid (1926)
- The Faith of Educated People (1928)
- The War and the Bible (1931)
- The Symbols and Signs (1932)
- The Chinese Martyrs by Saint Nikolai Velimirovich (Little Missionary, 1934 — 1938)
- "Immanuel" (1937)
- Теодул (1942)
- The Faith of the Saints (1949) (an Orthodox CatechismCatechismA catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
in English) - Cassiana - the Science on Love (1952)
- The Only Love of Mankind (1958) (posthumously)
- The First Gods Law and the Pyramid of Paradise (1959) (posthumously)
- The Religion of Njegos (?)
- Speeches under the Mount (?)
- Emaniul (?)
- Vera svetih (?)
- Indijska pisma (?)
- Iznad istoka i zapada (?)
- izabrana dela svetog Nikolaja Velimirovića (?)
External links
- "Orthodox Christian Information Center": Life of St. Nikolai Velimirovich The New Chrysostom, Bishop of Ochrid and Zhicha
- "Orthodox America": Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich Serbia's New Chrysostom
- Prologue from Ochrid
- Prayers by the Lake
- Saint Nikolai Biography and Troparions
- A Documentary on Saint Nikolaj Velimirovic (on Serbian, with Romanian subtitles)
- Tel Aviv University on Serbian antisemitism
- Open University
- The New Chrysostom, Bishop of Ochrid and Zhicha
- Byford, J.T. (2004). Canonisation of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović and the legitimisation of religious anti-Semitism in contemporary Serbian society. East European Perspectives, 6 (3)
- Byford, J.T. (2004). From ‘Traitor’ to ‘Saint’ in Public Memory: The Case of Serbian Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović. Analysis of Current Trends in Antisemitism series (ACTA), No.22.
- Byford, J.T. "Canonizing the 'Prophet' of antisemitism: the apotheosis of bishop Nikolaj Velimirović and the legitimation of religious anti-semitism in contemporary Serbian society", RFE/RL Report, 18 February 2004, Volume 6, Number 4
- Изабрана дела светог Николаја Велимировића (Selected Works of St. Nikolaj Velimirović)