| In 1919, he was one of five Serbian Orthodox priests who participated in the Second All-American Sobor, held in Cleveland, Ohio in February 1919, at which time it was recommended that the Serbian Church in Belgrade advance him to the episcopacy to organize a Serbian Orthodox Diocese in America. Unfortunately, at this most chaotic time in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, it was impossible to secure the written blessing of Patriarch (now Saint) Tikhon of Moscow. Later in 1919, Archimandrite Mardarije returned to Belgrade, where he was assigned as head of the Rakovitsa Monastery and principal of its monastic school. Subsequently, Bishop (now Saint) Nikolai (Velimirovic) of Ohrid was sent by Patriarch Dimitriye to administer the fledgling diocese. Having likewise returned to America, Archimandrite Mardarije served as St. Nikolai’s deputy for two years, and continued to administer the diocese after the latter’s return to Belgrade. On April 26, 1926, Archimandrite Mardarije was consecrated to the episcopacy in Belgrade. Prior to his episcopal consecration, he had carried out most of the actual work of organizing the Serbian diocese. He also served as parish priest in Chicago and purchased with his personal funds the land for St. Sava Monastery in suburban Libertyville. From the moment of his return to America, Bishop Mardarije undertook a wide range of ministries. He did not spare himself, nor did he fear work, although he knew that he was gravely ill with an advancing case of tuberculosis. In 1927, he convened the first National Church Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox American-Canadian Diocese to address a variety of organizational issues. At a clergy conference held in Youngstown, OH in 1931, he renewed his appeal for all to work for the unity and good of the diocese. His kindness, patience and reluctance to use punitive measures resulted in a great measure of unity within the diocese by the time of his repose on December 12, 1935 at the age of 46 years. He was interred at Libertyville’s St. |
| Thousands join pilgrimage procession in Montenegro to celebrate St. Basil of Ostrog Moscow, May 12, 2017 Photo: balkaninsight.com The annual procession to Ostrog Monastery, near the town of Niksic, Montenegro, began on Wednesday, culminating in the liturgical celebrations in honor of St. Basil of Ostrog today. Around 2,000 people began the 25-mile trek from the capital of Podgorica on Wednesday, being joined by thousands more throughout the night and on Thursday, reports Balkan Insight . The monastery, perched high up on a Montenegrin mountain, is the most popular Orthodox pilgrimage site in the region, attracting hundreds of thousands of people ever year. Many come to pray at the holy site and at the miraculous relics of St. Basil which are kept in the monastery, seeking healing. Even non-Orthodox and non-Christians are known to visit the monastery, trusting in the saint’s prayers. St. Basil and his monastery are the pride and joy of Serbian Orthodox Christians in Montenegro. In a statement on the site of the Serbian Church in Montenegro, Fr. Predrag Specanovic stated, “Other cities in Europe may have their pilgrimage sites but only St Basil can gather such a large number of believers from different regions.” The monastery was founded in the seventeenth century by St. Basil of Ostrog, who died there in 1671. Two cave churches remain after a fire in the 1920s, which are the main areas of the monastery today. The upper church, dedicated to the Presentation of the Lord, sits nearly 3,000 feet up the mountainside. The lower church, of the Holy Trinity, dates to 1824. St. Nikolai Velimirovich writes about St. Basil in his Prologue from Ochrid : Saint Basil was born in Popovo Polje, a village in Hercegovina, of simple and God-fearing parents. From his youth he was filled with love for the Church of God and when he reached maturity he entered the monastery of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in Trebinje and there received the monastic tonsure. As a monk he quickly became renowned because of his genuine and infrequently-found ascetic life. |
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| On the one hand, hagiography and hymnography of the Orthodox Church guilelessly distills down the historical perspective on Constantine to that of a great saint called explicitly to an apostleship directly by God. “Like Paul, he received a call not from men,” reads the troparion for his feast. Eusebius, who personally associated with Constantine, insists that he was “adorned with every virtue of religion.” In the Prologue of Ochrid , compiled by the newly glorified St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Constantine conquers Maxentius having followed an iron processional cross (rather than the Chi-Rho symbol on shields) and is immediately afterward, rather than on his death-bed, catechized and baptized by a Bishop Sylvester prior even to the Council of Nicaea! Confident that his role in Church history is divinely inspired and pleasing to God, the Orthodox Church, with Christ-blessed childlike faith glorifies Constantine and joyfully overlooks all personal weaknesses he may have had. He is our brother in Christ and, knowing our own sinfulness and spiritual sloth; we gladly disregard his faults and remember his virtue in hope of the same merciful treatment. On the other hand, Constantine has been attacked consistently by those considering his personal flaws as proof of his manipulation of Christianity for personal and political gain. We see this occurring as early as 498 with the publication of that “implacable enemy of the Christian name” Zosimus” Historia Nova and continuing until today. “For a long time scholars interpreted [the panegyrist of 310] to mean that Constantine had professed some sort of Apolline faith…the strongest indication that Constantine was pagan….” Many Christian historians and authors themselves seem to approach Constantine’s conversion with such uncertainty that he is either glossed over quickly, as do Ware (five paragraphs), Meyendorff (beginning only with the Edict of Milan), and Chadwick (“It was a military matter.”) Of contemporary Orthodox authors, Schmemann appears to make the greatest effort to synthesize the ambiguities of Constantine’s conversion. Without an accurate context, many of Constantine’s words and actions are easily criticized. |
| Patriarch Athenagoras made statements full of emotion and daring, and gave the impression that a new category of ecumenists had appeared in the Orthodox world. In a testimony on Saint Justin, Irenaeus (Bulovic), one of his faithful disciples and one of the most active representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the ecumenical dialogue of our times, noted: “I feel that voices like that of Father Justin, often harsh and critical, have ensured that the course of events should not take a different direction. Father Justin, this is how I understand it now, after raising this issue with him often, never criticized the idea of dialogue, witness and love. He was himself an extremely open person. But he criticized the ideology of ecumenism, considered as a variant of the " new Christianity " , as an ecclesiological heresy. He felt it as a dangerous heresy and he even forged a new term, now widely used, that of the ‘pan- heresy’.” 23 But unfortunately in our times, men and groups who most often refer to this term are, as to their position, both theological and spiritual, well below of that of Justin Popovic. Those who hold the position that Justin Popovic was an anti-ecumenist s most often refer to his study Orthodox Church and Ecumenism . 24 However, as noted by his disciple and collaborator, Bishop Athanasius (Yevtic), who perhaps best understood his thought, “this book was not written specifically on that subject, but quickly redacted from the unfinished manuscript of Father Justin, who was then working on the third and final Book of Dogmatic, which gives a fuller and richer picture of Justin’s ecclesiology”. 25 According to Bishop Athanasius, Justin Popovic does not reject the term “ecumenism”, which in his writings is usually identified with the Roman Catholic and Protestant humanistic tendencies toward Christian unity, but following the methodology of the Church Fathers who transformed the terminology of pagan philosophy, he fills this term with a new meaning and content. |
| Bishop Irenaeus (Bulovic), “Сербская Церковь и экуменизм”, Церковь и время 4/7 (1998), p. 61-62 (in Russian). St. Justin Popovic, Православна Црква и Екуменизам , published in both Serbian and Greek in 1974 by the Serbian Monastery of Chilandar on the Mont Athos Greece. Available online on: (accessed on the 6 th of December 2012). Bishop Athanasius (Yevtic), “Introduction”, in St. Justin Popovic, Записи о екуменизму , Манастир Твдош, 2010, p. 2. Ibid. Vladimir Cvetkovic, “St. Justin the New (Popovic) on the Church of Christ” in Danckaert, Baker et al. (eds.), The Body of the Living Church: the Patristic Doctrine of the Church, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York, forthcoming. (Paper ceded by the author for consultation). (I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the author allowing me to consult and use his unpublished paper for the present article). St. Justin Popovic, “On a Summoning of the Great Council of the Orthodox Church”, letter addressed to Bishop Jovan of Sabac and the Serbian hierarchy on May 7, 1977, with the request to transmit this letter to the Holy Synod and the Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Available online on: (accessed on the 6 th of December 2012). St. Justin Popovic, The Inward Mission of Our Church: Bringing About Orthodoxy , Available online on: (accessed on the 6 th of December 2012). St. Justin Popovic, Православна Црква и Екуменизам , p. 7. Bishop Athanasius (Yevtic), “Introduction”, in St. Justin Popovic, Записи о екуменизму , Манастир Твдош, 2010, p. 2. Ibid. “On observe d’un côté chez nos trois auteurs (Bishop Athanasius including) l’absence d’une lecture approfondie et documentée de la théologie occidentale ; mais d’un autre côté, prévaut l’impression qu’une telle lecture ne servait qu’à confirmer une opinion déjà formée chez ces auteurs orthodoxes. Or, cette opinion avait été formée sous l’influence de la critique russe de la culture occidentale, ainsi que la théologie occidentale. |
| With each new cultural discovery, European man grows ever more mortified and dies. European man’s love affair with himself—that is the grave from which he neither desires to, nor, consequently, can be resurrected. Its infatuation with its reason is the fatal passion that desolates European humanity. The only salvation from this is Christ, says Gogol. But the world, throughout which “are dispersed millions of glittering objects that scatter one’s thoughts in all directions, has not the strength to meet with Christ directly.” The type of European man has capitulated before the fundamental problem of life; the Orthodox God-man has solved all of them, each and every one. European man has solved the problem of life through nihilism; the God-man, has solved it through eternal life. For the Darwinian-Faustian man of Europe, the main object of life is self-preservation; for the man of Christ it is self-sacrifice. The first says: sacrifice others for yourself! while the second says: sacrifice yourself for others! European man has not resolved the pernicious problem of death; the God-man has resolved it through Resurrection. Doubtless, the principles of European culture and civilization are theomachic. Long did the type of European man become what he is, until such a time as he replaced the God-man Christ with his philosophy and science, with his politics and technology, with his religion and ethics. Europe made use of Christ “merely as a bridge from uncultured barbarism to cultured barbarism; that is, from a guileless barbarism to a sly barbarism” (St. Nikolai [Velimirovich], “A Sermon On Everyman " ). In my conclusions about European culture there is much that is catastrophic, but let this not astonish you, for we are speaking about the most catastrophic period of human history—the apocalypse of Europe, the body and spirit of which are being rent asunder by horrors. Without a doubt, volcanic contradictions are implanted in Europe, which, if they are not removed, can be resolved only by the final destruction of European culture. Where does humanistic culture lead? |
| I’m repeating myself, but basically that’s it; I was surprised to learn (and it took me a long time to grasp this) that many Christians aren’t that interested in growing in union with Christ. In the West, that seems like something for over-emotional kooks, perhaps. Even though it happens independently of emotion, because it is happening in real life; like if it rains, it rains in real life, no matter what emotions you are having at the time. And a basic step of the path is getting self-control so that emotions don’t throw you around. It’s victory over emotionalism, because instead you’re watching and following Christ. St. Nikolai’s quote above summed it up for me; it’s all about experience, actual real-life experience. It just took me a long time to realize that not everyone is interested in that. (Mosaic icon of the Transfiguration from the apse of the church at the Orthodox monastery on Mt Sinai, from abt AD 550) [March 1, 2016] Tweet Donate Share Code for blog “Founded on Spiritual Experience” Frederica Matthewes-Green This is the main thing: “Our religion is founded on spiritual experience, seen and heard as surely as any physical fact in this world. Not theory, not philosophy, not human emotions, but experience.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovic I think that, for much of my life writing about eastern/... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. |
| 23 an-Najm: The Star 53:19–23. The three Goddesses worshipped in Arabia were: Al-Lat, Al-«Uzza, and Manat. 24 St. Nicholas of Serbia, (1880–1956) (Nikolai Velimirovich, Bishop of Ohrid and ZiCa, eminent divine and religious philosopher. 25 an-Nisa»: Women 4:56: “Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo! Allah is ever Mighty, Wise”. 27 an-Nisa»: Women 4:136: “Believe in Allah and His messenger and the Scripture which He hath revealed unto His messenger, and the Scripture which He revealed aforetime. Whoso disbelieveth in Allah and His angels and His scriptures and His messengers and the Last Day, he verily hath wandered far astray”. 28 Jinn, creatures known in popular belief in pre-Islamic Arabia and mentioned numerous times in the Quran, parallel to human beings but made out of fire rather than clay. 31 Revocation of religious rules is legitimized by Quranic acts and authentic hadith reports. Some revelations and rules, however, are not to be revoked. 34 “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God” (shahadah, witness). “(We take our) colour from Allah, and who is better than Allah at colouring. We are His worshippers” (al-Baqarah: The Cow 2:138). “Unto Allah belong the East and the West” (al-Baqarah: The Cow 2:142). “Whencesoever thou comest forth turn thy face toward the Inviolable Place of Worship” (al-Baqarah: The Cow 2:149). 35 Qiblah, direction Muslims face during prayer (towards the Kaaba in Mecca), or a prayer wall in the mosque into which the michrab (niche) is set, indicating the direction of prayer. 37 Sirat al-Mustaqim, al-, the right way; the straight path. The “right way” is also applied to the Quran itself, as it reveals broad moral directives, with some legal prescriptions, as guidance for humanity. 38 Greater-Bayram, feast of the Sacrifice (qurban). Also known as Id al-Adha. Celebrated at the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, on the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the month of pilgrimage. |
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