Date: 2026-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Religion and Nationality in Serbia

St. Nikolaj Velimirović

Royal Archives

2026

Copyright

The source text and this English translation are in the public domain.

The cover design is © 2026 Royal Archives.

Published by Royal Archives

First published 2026

Source: Religion and Nationality in Serbia

Edition identifier: urn:royalarchives:religion_nationality_serbia:en:1

Introduction

“Love first, and then logic,” says Dostoievsky. “First we understand, and then we can love,” is the watchword of ancient paganism.

The first of these watchwords leads to Christian humility and to general good; the second to worldly pride and general evil.

Five years ago I wrote in the Guardian upon the reunion of the Churches. The underlying idea of my article was the above-mentioned quotation from the great Russian thinker and poet. I subsequently read the controversy between Charles Kingsley and Cardinal Newman—the controversy on soul and logic—and I became still more confirmed in my belief that love, and not logic, must play the leading part in the reunion of the Churches. In other words, let us be united first in practical matters, in our daily, useful dealings with society and humanity, let us more frequently join hands in the charitable work in which we both share; for this will lead us to tolerance, and tolerance in its turn will build the bridge towards the finding of a common logical ground.

To-day I see with pleasure the Roman Catholic and English Churches in England working together in the same grand patriotic and national cause, united by the same inspiration, the same desire, and the same prayers.

The dogma that divides them lies three hundred years behind them, but the love that unites them in the same labours is with them now. And I see with joy how the representatives of both these Churches in England are united in sympathy and love towards others—towards ravaged Belgium and sorely stricken Serbia. The Bishop of London is president of the Serbian Relief Fund, Cardinal Bourne has permitted lectures on behalf of the Serbians to be given in Westminster Cathedral, and himself honoured these lectures by his presence. Divided in dogma, these two great Christian Churches are nevertheless united in work. Considering all this, I to-day insist more strongly on my thesis, that all Christian Churches have sufficient logical ground in common, on which they may range themselves side by side in the same work, the same mission, and the same charity. The differences in their points of view concerning transcendental formulae, unrealizable in life, can reasonably take a second place.

The Jugoslav Ideal

A proof of the above may be seen in the life of a whole nation throughout several centuries. I mean the Jugoslavs—Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes—who are one and the same nation in language, in blood, in destiny, and in their aspirations, and who to-day as one man desire to shake off the Austro-Hungarian yoke, and to build up a single undivided State with free Serbia and Montenegro. The proof alluded to consists in this, that in the great national struggle for national union and freedom which Serbia has now waged for a hundred years, her people have risen superior to all divergencies of creed between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, and have held fast only to that which unites, not to that which divides in religion.

That the Orthodox Church is the best spiritual medium of the national ideal is known throughout the world. The Serbian Orthodox Church has been this throughout the history of Serbia, from the days of St. Sava, her founder and organizer. St. Sava, the son of King Nemanja—the most famous of the Serbian kings and founder of the Serbian State—succeeded in setting upon it the seal of Orthodoxy for centuries to come. If the father endowed the Serbian State with a body, the son gave it a soul. And later on, when the body of the Serbian State was destroyed by the Turkish invasion, the soul lived on through the centuries, and suffered, and nothing remained unconquered in this soul but her faith, and the tradition of the freedom of the past. The monasteries were centres of trust and hope. The priests were the guides of the people, upholding and comforting them. The Patriarchs of Ipek were in truth patriarchs of the people, and, like the patriarchs of old, true representatives of the people and their protectors. When the tyranny of the Turks and Albanians overstepped all bounds in old Serbia, and the nation was in danger of being exterminated, the Patriarch Arsen Crnojević transferred thirty-six thousand Serbian families across the Save into Syrmia and Slavonia. Catholic countries were considered brother-lands in which these exiles could find shelter. In the eyes of the people both Orthodoxy and Catholicism were subordinate to the one name—Christianity, and contrasted under this single name with cruel and bloodthirsty Islam.

In 1804, on the eve of the Serbian revolt against Turkey, priests were present at the secret gathering in Orašac, and the leadership of the rising was offered to one of them, Prota Atanasije; when he refused, it was offered to Karageorge. Both before and during the rising the Church suffered great hardships. Many priests were impaled near Stambulkapia in Belgrade, among them Iguman Paissi and his deacon Avacuna. In 1813, at the beginning of the second rising, another Iguman, Melentije in Takovo, blessed Prince Miloš, encouraged him, and accompanied him in battle. And when the Serbian forces gave way before the Turks at Ljubic, this same Melentije himself seized the drum and restored the courage of the soldiers. From this he was called “the Drummer,” and this nickname clung to him ever afterwards, even when he became Metropolitan of Serbia.

The Catholic Clergy as National Leaders

It is less well-known that the Catholic clergy in Jugoslavia have also proved themselves both nationalist and patriotic, but it is nevertheless an historical fact. In the struggle with the Turks the Catholic clergy followed in the steps of their Orthodox brothers, and on countless occasions sacrificed themselves for the nation. Several Ban-Bishops of Zagreb (Agram) organized the defence of Croatia against the Turks; many Roman Catholic priests in Croatia, sword in hand, defended their country against the enemy, such as (in the sixteenth century) the Canons Jurak and Fintić, and (in the seventeenth century) Frater Lika Imbrišinović in Slovenia and Father Marko Mesić in the Lika district of Croatia; and there were Franciscan monks who languished in Venetian dungeons because they dared to defend their country. It is still less known that through the whole of last century both Churches, the Orthodox as well as the Catholic, carried on an active propaganda for Jugoslav freedom and union, but this also is a fact.

In the eighteenth century the consciousness of the identity of the Southern Slav nations began to awake, whether under Turkish, Hungarian, German, or Italian rule. A Catholic priest from the Dalmatian islands, Don Andrew Kacić, composed poems in imitation of the Serbian national poetry. Dositej Obradović, an Orthodox monk, after acquiring a wider culture in his travels through all Europe, including Great Britain, began to write in the popular tongue. Lukian Musicky, an Orthodox Bishop, was also devoted to the Serbian and Slovenic cause. Ivan Raic, the Orthodox Archimandrite, wrote a history of the Serbo-Croats in the Serbo-Croatian tongue. Sundecić, an Orthodox priest, was read by all Jugoslavs in preference to many finer authors, simply because he, too, was inspired by the idea of national union, and because he went so far in his identification of Serbs and Croats that he had one of his books printed in Roman and Cyrillic characters side by side, and some others in Roman characters only, and this although he was an Orthodox priest. Valentin Vodnik, a Slovene Catholic monk of Napoleon’s time, was also inspired by the idea of a union of all Jugoslav peoples in one State, which was to be called Illyria, and Napoleon also had this idea. In 1811 Vodnik wrote his hymn to “Illyria Resurrecta,” by which he hoped to influence Napoleon to create the Jugoslav State.

Napoleon said: “Arise, Illyria.”

This poor Slovene monk had to pay dearly for his ideals. Cruelly persecuted by the Austrian authorities and cast from one prison into another, he finally died in 1819. And when the Croat, Ljudevit Gaj, in the ‘forties of last century, arose with his “Illyrian”—this was only another name for the Jugoslav ideals of to-day—he was enthusiastically welcomed and supported by the Catholic theologians of the seminary in Zagreb, who thenceforth became the most active champions of his ideals.

During the first forty years of the nineteenth century the idea of a united Jugoslavia so far materialized that the Orthodox Patriarch of Karlovci (Karlowitz) could install Jelačić, the celebrated Ban of Croatia, with the unanimous approval of all the Croatian Catholic clergy.

The following is a still more striking example of patriotism before clericalism. In 1848 the Catholic clergy of the diocese of Zagreb met in conference and passed a resolution including the following provisions:—

1. The union of Serbs and Croats.

2. Toleration of creeds.

3. The use of the Old Slav tongue in Divine service in the Jugoslav Catholic Church.

The Catholic priest Racki, one of the most eminent Jugoslav historians, was a great champion of these ideas of reunion, and endeavoured to introduce the “Cyrilitza” (Cyrillic alphabet) among the Croatians.

Austrian Reaction

The reaction of 1849 brought with it a brutal suppression of all national agitation and aspirations in Austria-Hungary. Austria artificially created different nationalities in her provinces, and called into existence the Dalmatians, Croatians, Slavonians, Istrians, Carniolians, etc., as separate nationalities, even as—after the occupation of Bosnia—the new nationality of the “Bosnians” immediately arose in the world.

But the Austrian terror only succeeded in awakening the Jugoslav national consciousness in all these provinces, which are inhabited by one nation, homogeneous as the inhabitants of Northern and Southern France. And thus the Austrian plan of converting geographical conceptions into historical, national, and religious conceptions was frustrated. This was very clearly shown after the first Austrian defeat. One result of the battle of Solferino was the revival of the old agitation. The enlightened Prince Michael, who at this time ascended the Serbian throne, was not only an enthusiast for Jugoslav ideals, but strove actively towards their realization. At his own expense he sent many Slovenes, Croats, and Bulgarians to college for their education, thus preparing an entire generation for the realization of his plans—even the Bulgarians; for they, too, as represented by the best of their nation, were at one time enthusiasts for the Jugoslav cause.

In Slovenia the Catholic clergy were the strongest representatives and champions of the same cause. Among them Antun Aškerc and Don Simon Gregorčić undoubtedly distinguished themselves above all others. Both were poets; the former was the greatest Slovene composer of epic and ballad poetry. “My muse is a Spartan,” he said. “In one hand she holds the sword, and in the other a torch.” Simon Gregorčić was the greatest lyrical poet of his nation. His most beautiful poems are patriotic songs. In contrast to the warlike Aškerc he was a gentle-souled optimist, a pure anima candida.

Two Great Bishops

But above all the divines of Southern Slavdom the Orthodox Prince-Bishop of Montenegro, Peter II, Njegoš, and Strossmayer, the Catholic Bishop of Djakovo, tower as the mightiest champions of national union.

In all his writings Njegoš gave eloquent expression to his grief and bitter distress that religious tradition could break up a nation into separate fragments, each sick and unhappy without the other. In short, the sum of his experience is this:—

“Be a Serb and believe what you believe.”

Further on he says:—

“Do not ask how a man crosses himself, but whose the blood that warms his heart and whose the milk that nourished him.”

Njegoš did not speak thus from a lack of reverence, but rather because of his heartfelt piety. He conceived religion as a force for unifying, not for disuniting, and it grieved him to see in his country everywhere the destructive results of religious discord. To-day the illustrious Bishop of Montenegro is equally beloved by Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. This was made evident in Zagreb on the 1st of March, 1914, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. On that day Zagreb was gay with Serbian flags, and at a solemn gathering lectures about Njegoš were delivered by a Slovene, a Croat, and a Serb, successively. Catholics and Orthodox alike jointly celebrated their national hero. The Austrian authorities were plunged in consternation by this unexpected manifestation of brotherly solidarity between the very elements among whom they were unceasingly endeavouring to promote discord.

Bishop Strossmayer is probably better known to the Western world than the Vladika Peter. He was that great Bishop who so distinguished himself as a Catholic divine and orator at the Vatican Council in 1870. Equally great in his broad religious views and in his national ideals, Strossmayer was in very truth a God-sent blessing to his people. A son of the people, he lived and worked for his people. Everything great that Croatia to-day possesses in the way of national and cultural wealth is bound up with the name of Strossmayer; everything was created, revived, or amended by him.

But he was not unaided in his efforts and his ideals. He had the unfailing support of the entire Catholic clergy of Croatia at his back—as the fiery defender of true Catholicism in Rome; as leader of the propaganda of liberation for all Jugoslav lands from the Austrian yoke, and the union with Serbia under Prince Michael; as the founder of the Jugoslav academy in Zagreb, or as the tireless builder-up, stone by stone, of the material welfare of the Croatian people. He was in constant correspondence with Prince Michael, with Michael, Metropolitan of Belgrade, and with Gladstone. His political ideas were readily accepted by the Serbian Prince, and his love of peace and religious toleration earned him the friendship of the Orthodox Metropolitan. His broad-minded culture and sincere sorrow for his people deeply touched Gladstone, who, as is well known, did his utmost to help the cause of Jugoslav freedom.

Strossmayer’s generation and that which succeeded him, whether clergy or laity, fully appreciated his teaching. Nor did the Austrian Government fail to understand it, and they strove by every means in their power to uproot or to destroy the seed sown by the Bishop of Djakovo. But this seed germinated and sprang up in the field, tall and green, till both Germans and Magyars contemplated this dangerous crop with rage and envy. They inaugurated new terrors, new tortures, new inhumanities, new calumnies. Serbia was represented as the black plague-spot of the earth. But these calumnies were not well received by the Austrian Slavs. Then—especially since 1894—Austria began her Clerical propaganda; but this also failed to influence the souls of the Croats and Slovenes. Various attempts were made to supersede the Serbo-Croat language by the Magyar; but this only roused such vehement opposition that even those who had learnt Magyar from interest or curiosity ceased to use it. Then the Magyar Government endeavoured to influence the elections in Croatia in an anti-Slav sense by new political combinations, i.e. by an arbitrary redistribution of the electoral districts; but so far from being successful, this measure only resulted in a coalition between Serbs and Croats, who, under the influence of Austrian and Magyar intrigue, had hitherto always voted separately. This coalition has, in fact, during recent years been the dominant factor in Croatia.

The Legacy of Strossmayer

Strossmayer died in 1905, but his physical death only meant the resurrection of his ideals. Austria-Hungary rejoiced over his death, but her joy was short-lived. In 1908 Austria burdened her conscience with a further crime—the annexation of Bosnia. Instantly it became evident that Strossmayer still lived—indeed, that he was more than ever alive. For the annexation of Bosnia was a blow that fell equally upon Zagreb (Agram), Ljubljana (Laibach), Trieste, and all Dalmatia, no less than upon Serbia and Montenegro. The harvest that Strossmayer and Njegoš had sown was now ripe. Austria saw with sorrow that her prisons were too small to contain an entire nation; but she herself was a dark dungeon for the Jugoslavs, irrespective of creeds, for at this juncture she discovered that she could reckon as little on the Catholic clergy as the Orthodox.

Several Bishops sided with their clergy in the national struggle. Thus Ucellini, the Catholic Bishop of Kotor (Cattaro), translated the “Divina Commedia” and dedicated his translation to the Serbo-Croat nation, and because of his wish to introduce the Slav tongue into the liturgy, Archbishop Dvornik had to fly from his native town of Zadar (Zara) in Dalmatia to Constantinople, where he died. The Catholic clergy of Dalmatia especially distinguished themselves in this struggle against Austria, and in Zadar, where Archbishop Dvornik had lived and worked, another priest, Don Jure Biankini, preached Nationalism with religious fervour.

Then came the Balkan wars. From these wars Serbia three times emerged victorious—against the Turks, against the Bulgarians, and against the Albanians. In Austria-Hungary the Jugoslavs looked upon Serbia’s war as their war, and felt the Serbian victories as their own. Although themselves in servitude, they nevertheless contributed to these victories. Numerous doctors, nurses, volunteers, medical stores, and money were sent by the one brother-nation to the other, and Austria found herself compelled to close her Serbian frontier by a cordon of soldiers. But all in vain! Hearts were full to overflowing, and love waxed stronger than ever. Then came the World-war. All ties between Austria and her Slav subjects were broken. Austria’s declaration of war on Serbia was in many respects also a declaration of war to the Jugoslavs in Austria. Arrests, wholesale hangings, and shootings became the order of the day. All Orthodox and Catholic Bishops were placed under police supervision. Nikodim Milaš, Orthodox Bishop in Dubrovnik (Ragusa), suffered such gross ill-usage at the hands of the police that he died within a few days.

The Southern Slavs Under Austrian Terrorism

In Dalmatia, Croatia, Istria, and Carniola the prisons were filled to overflowing with Catholic priests. So far as voices from Dalmatia have been able to reach us, we learn that Ivo Separović, Ante Antić, Mate Skarica, and Ivo Lutić have been imprisoned in Dalmatia, and in Istria the following priests who are also national delegates: Luka Kirac, Anton Andrejčić, Sime Cervar, the canons Santić, Zavladal, Mandić, Matić, and two Franciscans; in Carniola fifteen priests of the Slovene Clerical party. About ten of the leading men of the nation—journalists, artists, and writers—both Catholic and Orthodox, fled to Serbia, England, Russia, and America. They fled but to repeat the smothered cry of tens of thousands of their brothers in Habsburg prisons. And this cry is all the more terrible because it rings through the twentieth century, as terrible as the cry that rang through the Catacombs and the Circus Romanus nineteen centuries ago. It is the cry of the priests of Christ, who preached the Way of Truth before God and man, the despairing cry of the martyrs of the nation, who are giving their life for the salvation of the people; the cry of the shepherd whose flock is being harried by the wolf; the cry of noble and enlightened men who open their eyes in vain to behold the light, for around them is only darkness: they open their mouths, but instead of bread, iron is placed upon their lips; they stretch forth their trembling hands, seeking the cheerful warmth of the fire, only to find instead the cold stones and mildew-covered walls of a dungeon; they cry for help, but their cry falls dead upon thick stone walls, and returns like an echo into their hearts. But, as Njegoš says:—

“From their blood will spring flowers For some far-off generation.”

Religion as a Unifying Force

The great fact, to which I have alluded at the beginning of this article, is the fact of the unifying influence of religion in the history of Jugoslavdom during the past century, and especially during the tragic happenings of the present war; Orthodox and Catholics found themselves united in the self-same practical work—in this case in one and the same idealistic struggle for nationality and in common suffering. In this common struggle and suffering they have realized that they are brothers, and were amazed to think that religion could even for one moment have divided them. They were amazed to think that such abstract details of religion as the dogma of the filioque could divide them, brothers, who shared so much common ground in their beliefs—the belief in the Trinity, belief in the Saviour, in immortality, in righteousness, in one Apostolic Church, in the Sermon on the Mount, in the beauty of self-sacrifice for others, and in suffering for what is good and ideal.

It may be objected that this may be so in the day of trouble, but that all may be different to-morrow, with the return of peace. For even in the early days of Christianity there was no division in the Church because of the common suffering, but as soon as persecution ceased, the spirit of sectarianism crept into the world.

On this point I venture to say that history will not repeat itself; what has been will never be again. No sacrifice of blood and human life has ever been made without causing a great stride in history and a great change in human life. The present World-war, which is calling for unprecedented sacrifices in blood and life, must mean a correspondingly great stride (forward let us hope) for humanity, and fundamentally change the aspects of history.

The nations will be drawn more closely together, with or without the approval of the Churches. But the Churches, too, should be drawn together, and ultimately be united. They will be united on those great matters, which they all have in common—evangelical, theological, and in the forms of Divine Service. The Churches, too, must learn their lesson from this war. They must be careful always to unite in practical work, which needs the inspiration of the Christian spirit and Christian love. For if the Catholic, English, and Presbyterian Churches in Great Britain, the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Germany, and the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in Southern Slavdom have in war-time found one another in the self-same charitable work and the same patriotic enthusiasm, surely they can be united in peace-time in the sublime work of human civilization.

You will object that there are differences. And I reply: “Certainly there are differences; but the individual differences between myself and my neighbour are much greater than those between the Christian Churches, yet nevertheless my neighbour and I meet in the same road, in the same work, and at the same table, and we live together under the same laws; we both rebel against the same evil, and we both defend the same good.” You will repeat, that there are differences. And again I reply: “As these differences could be forgotten in war-time, they can also be forgotten in peace-time.”

A Plea for Christian Charity

At least this must be the case with us Jugoslavs. During the last centuries we have passed through a repetition of the sufferings of the early Christians. Common struggle and common suffering have taught us to live under the Christian spirit, which animates both the Orthodox and Catholic faiths. The State for which Serbia is now fighting will include many Orthodox and Catholic members. The people of this State who have learnt, not from theories, but from life and suffering, will always know how to respect the faith of their neighbours in so far as it differs from their own, and to love it in so far as it coincides with theirs. And as the similarities between the Orthodox and Catholic faiths are in a proportion of 90 per cent., there will be 90 per cent. of reasons for mutual love inspired by faith, and only 10 per cent. scope for mutual tolerance as regards their “individual” differences. The future Jugoslav State will contain about fifty dioceses, half of them Catholic and the other Orthodox. All the inhabitants of all these dioceses are at this moment praying that Serbia and her allies may be victorious, even as the Bishop of London and Cardinal Bourne are praying. The people who were united in bondage will certainly not be divided in freedom, otherwise freedom would not be better than bondage, but rather worse. The people who learnt the lesson of love in bondage will surely continue in love in freedom, otherwise freedom would merely mean a worse temptation for them. The people who learnt tolerance in bondage will not forget to be tolerant in freedom. Therefore the Serbian Government was merely the mouthpiece of the Serbian people when, directly after the Balkan wars, it proceeded to place Serbia’s relations with the Catholic Church on a proper footing, because with the extension of Serbia the number of her Catholic inhabitants would likewise increase. In the midst of the war, the Skupština in Niš discussed the project of the Concordat with the Holy See and accepted it. It is known in the Vatican and elsewhere with how much sincerity and broad-minded goodwill the Serbians strove to meet the needs and wishes of Catholics living within the borders of Serbia. All future Governments in Serbia will be, we confidently believe, as sincere and broad-minded in religious matters as the Cabinet which has created the Concordat; and it behoves the Orthodox and Catholic clergy to be unanimous in upraising their people in cultural respects, even as during the dark centuries of slavery they were active in awakening the national consciousness and now are unanimous in suffering with their flocks and in the struggle for righteous ideals of freedom and unity.

All we Jugoslavs are sure that there will be harmony and unanimity between the two priesthoods, the two confessions, and the two Churches in the future Serbian State. It is very difficult for us to prove this beforehand. Whatever may now be said or written, people will reserve the right to believe nothing until they see it, just as they reserved their right to believe in Serbia’s physical strength until it could no longer be denied. But we have this conviction because we know ourselves. Our national watchword after this war will be “Love first, and then Logic!”

This watchword should be the watchword for all the Christian Churches, for it is true to the Gospel, to which all the world—now plunged into a terrible war because of logic without love—must eventually return. The fences set up between the Churches are incredibly petty. But it had to be that for a thousand years men lived isolated and secluded within these fences, and for a thousand years there was isolated labour and development, strife and discord, passionate reproach and logical recrimination, much blood and many tears, the sin of Cain, and the ever-repeated Crucifixion of Christ, and in the end the European War became necessary. All this had to be, so that Christian humanity might ripen and grow, and outgrow these petty fences, and that each man might behold his neighbour over the fence, that he might feel his heart, hear his lamentations, and might extend a helping hand over the fence and clasp him in a brother’s embrace. All this was necessary through thousands of years, till Christian men became convinced that the distance between man and his brother is not to be measured by miles, as he had imagined, but by inches! All this had to be, so that all Christian Churches, and all humanity, might repeat with conviction:—

“Love first, and then Logic!”

Colophon

Religion and Nationality in Serbia
by St. Nikolaj Velimirović.

This edition was produced by
Royal Archives.

The text is set in Palatino and Georgia.

The first edition of this ebook was released on
August 16, 2026.

Table of Contents

- Title Page
- Copyright
- Introduction
- The Jugoslav Ideal
- The Catholic Clergy as National Leaders
- Austrian Reaction
- Two Great Bishops
- The Legacy of Strossmayer
- The Southern Slavs Under Austrian Terrorism
- Religion as a Unifying Force
- A Plea for Christian Charity
- Colophon