The name of St. Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirović; 1880–1956), an ardent zealot, an amazing ascetic and preacher of our days, “the greatest Serb of the 20th century,” also called the “Serbian Chrysostom,” is now well known here in Russia.

The Monk Justin (Popovich), appreciating the high hierarchical dignity and power of the prophetic insight of Bishop Nicholas, boldly compared his role in his people with the role of Saint Sava of Serbia himself. And moreover, in a sermon delivered after a memorial service for his teacher in 1965, the Monk Justin noted: “Every word of his is a small Gospel.”

And indeed, the scale of his personality, the talents received from God and his truly encyclopedic education make it possible to place St. Nicholas of Serbia on a par with the great fathers of the Church. Meanwhile, the Bishop is especially relevant and great for us today also because of his fiery love for his family, which in our relaxed age has already become something forgotten. St. Nicholas of Serbia, like many other outstanding ascetics of the New Age, was distinguished by a heightened perception of time and a lively reaction to what was happening. The Monk Paisius the Svyatogorets, reflecting on the peculiarities of a virtuous life in the modern world, wrote in this regard: “In the old days, if any of the reverent monks spent time worrying about the state of affairs in the world, then he had to be locked in a tower, but now it’s the other way around: a reverent monk should be locked in a tower if he is not interested in and does not root for the state that has prevailed in the world.”

There is also no doubt that Saint Nicholas (Velimirović) was revealed to the Serbian people for consolation and strengthening during one of the most dramatic periods of their history, when the Serbs suffered under the yoke of the atheistic power of Josip Broz Tito, and the rest of the Orthodox Slavic world experienced the grave consequences of the loss of God’s anointed one, holding back, according to the word of the apostle, the world from the final reign of evil. In this regard, the attitude of St. Nicholas of Serbia towards our martyr Tsar Nicholas II, whose veneration began in the Serbian Church already in the late 20s, is very indicative. last century. Assessing the feat of the holy sovereign and Russia in protecting the Serbs in the First World War, the saint will say this about him and about the Russian Golgotha: “Another Lazarus and another Kosovo!” As is known, the sacrifice of the holy noble prince Lazar of Kosovo, who blocked the path of the wicked Hagarians (Turkish conquerors) on the Kosovo field in 1389 and suffered martyrdom for the Orthodox faith and his people, is interpreted by the Serbian tradition not just as a feat, but also as a great sacrifice made to atone for the collective sin of the Serbian people. So, the highest praise that can be heard from Serbian lips. And also - firm hope in the coming resurrection of Orthodox Russia and the Russian Kingdom...

Nikola Velimirović, the future Bishop of Ohrid, was born on December 23, 1880 (according to the new style - January 5, 1881), on the day of St. Naum of Ohrid, in the mountain village of Lelić in western Serbia. The eldest of nine children in a peasant family, he was sent by pious parents to school at the Chelie monastery. In the 12th year of his life, Nikola becomes a student at the Valevskaya gymnasium, from which he graduates six years later as the best student. Then he enters the theological seminary in Belgrade.

During his studies in the Serbian capital, the young man lives in the most difficult financial conditions, but even here he turns out to be one of the most brilliant students. According to the rules of that time, after graduating from the seminary, Nikola was assigned to a village as a teacher. The young theologian humbly accepts this assignment, works conscientiously in this field, achieving considerable success. And then suddenly the news comes that he has been awarded a scholarship to study abroad. When Nikola arrived in Belgrade from the village where he taught, he was received by the king himself. Nikola receives a scholarship and an order to begin studying at the Old Catholic University in Bern, as the most acceptable educational institution for Orthodox students. A decent scholarship allowed him to travel outside of Switzerland, and he attended lectures by the best theology professors at various universities in Germany.

Having passed his final exams in Bern, Nikola defended his doctoral dissertation there at the age of 28 on the topic: “The faith of the apostles in the Resurrection of Christ as the main dogma of the Apostolic Church.” Then he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford, and defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Philosophy of Berkeley” in Geneva in French. After this, Nikola returns to his homeland. Upon arrival in Belgrade, he buries his brother, who died of dysentery, and becomes infected himself. After three days in the hospital, the doctor declared that his condition was such that he could only rely on God. And so, after a six-week severe illness, he fully recovers and firmly decides to fulfill the vow he had made - to become a monk. On December 17, 1909, in the Rakovitsa monastery, he took monastic vows with the name Nikolai. Two days later he becomes a hierodeacon, and then a hieromonk.

On the day of remembrance of the Holy First Martyr Archdeacon Stephen, Hieromonk Nicholas delivers his first sermon in the Belgrade Cathedral. The walls of the cathedral church had never heard anything like this before. People crowded into the crowded church, trying to absorb every word of the new preacher; the elderly King Peter I Karadjordjevich himself listened with bated breath. So great was his oratorical and preaching gift that at the end of the sermon the people with one mouth exclaimed: “Zhiveo!”

Metropolitan Dimitri, who favored Nicholas, blesses the young hieromonk to go to Russia. After the first academic discussions with students and professors, the young Serbian scientist and theologian, Hieromonk Nikolai, became known in St. Petersburg. The Metropolitan of St. Petersburg personally petitioned the government to provide the talented Serbian listener with free and unhindered travel throughout the Russian Empire. Nicholas, who had long dreamed of seeing vast Russia and its main shrines and getting to know the life of ordinary Russian people, took advantage of this opportunity with great joy.

In May 1911, by telegram from Belgrade, Hieromonk Nikolai was urgently summoned to his homeland. Soon after his return, a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church took place, at which the opinion was expressed that this man, adorned with many virtues and filled with the wisdom of God, was worthy of the episcopal rank. It was decided to elevate Hieromonk Nicholas to the chair of the Nis diocese, which was empty at that time. The main initiator was Metropolitan Dimitri himself, and even earlier people started talking about it. However, Nikolai unexpectedly refused. Following the leadership, even ministers and representatives of the royal court tried to persuade him, but he continued to stand his ground, since he considered himself unworthy of such a high honor, especially in his young years. At the same time, Nikolai also rejected tempting offers from Switzerland, where he was well remembered and closely followed all his speeches and publications. He was offered the position of associate professor and - at the same time - editor of the journal Revue internactionale de Theologie. He returns to the Belgrade Seminary again as a junior teacher. He writes a lot and gives sermons in the capital's churches.

In 1914, the First World War begins. Belgrade became a front-line city, and the entire population rose to defend the Serbian capital. Hieromonk Nikolai, whom the war found in the Kalenic monastery, urgently returns to Belgrade, renouncing his salary in favor of the state until complete victory over the enemy. And then, although he was not subject to mobilization, he volunteered to go to the front, where he not only encouraged and consoled the people, but also personally, as a regimental priest, participated in the defense of the city (see: Chislov I.M. Apostle of Europe and the Slavs // Works of St. Nicholas of Serbia (Velimirovich). Biblical themes. M.: Palomnik, 2007).

In the fall of 1915, a new, large-scale enemy offensive began. The Serbian army retreated with bloody battles, and columns of thousands of refugees left with it. Even earlier, Hieromonk Nikolai was summoned to Niš, where the Serbian government moved with the beginning of the war. Prime Minister Nikola Pasic sends him on a special diplomatic mission to England and America. A brilliant orator, fluent in English, a European-educated philosopher and theologian, Hieromonk Nicholas alone replaced an entire team of professional diplomats. I performed five to six times a day, with virtually no sleep. He gave lectures at high schools and universities, communicated with scientists, church leaders, and politicians; attended social salons and diplomatic receptions. He was the first foreigner to speak at St Paul's Cathedral in London. The commander-in-chief of the British army once said at a meeting with Serbian officers: “You have nothing to worry about the outcome of the war, because you have three armies: your own, we, your allies, and Father Nicholas.”

In America, Hieromonk Nikolai debunks the false theses of anti-Serbian propaganda, also speaking to representatives of the large diaspora with an appeal to help the bleeding homeland. All local Serbs repeated his speech, delivered in Chicago, where already in those years the largest Serbian colony in the New World existed. Thanks to his efforts and with the support of the famous scientist Mihajla Pupin, significant material assistance was collected for Serbian refugees; Thousands of Serbs from America volunteered for the Thessaloniki Front to take part in the liberation of Serbia from the occupiers in the ranks of the Serbian army.

On March 25, 1919, Hieromonk Nikolai was elected Bishop of Zhichsky. The news found him in England. This time he could not refuse ordination: the post-war devastation, a lot of economic and administrative problems, including external church ones, the solution of which required a lot of experience and energy, and special knowledge. The first years of his episcopal service (since the end of 1920, Bishop Nicholas headed the Ohrid diocese) were mainly associated with various diplomatic missions.

In the period between the two world wars, as a missionary of the Serbian Church, he had the opportunity to visit the West a lot, primarily in England and America, as well as in the neighboring Balkan countries, in Constantinople, and most of all in Greece, where he invariably visited the Holy Mountain and contributed to the renewal communal order in the Serbian monastery of Hilandar. In 1937, Bishop Nicholas came to the defense of the Serbian Church when it was threatened by a concordat between the Vatican and the Stojadinovic government, which was nothing more than an attempt to achieve union with Rome. However, thanks to Saint Nicholas, these plans failed.

Soon the Second World War began, when Serbia, for the umpteenth time in history, shared its fate with Russia. Hitler, who found loyal allies in the Croats, naturally assumed his opponents in the Serbs. Developing a plan for the invasion of Yugoslavia, he ordered his commander of the Southern Front, in particular, the following: “Destroy the Serbian intelligentsia, behead the top of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and first of all, Patriarch Dozic, Metropolitan Zimonich and Bishop Nikolai (Velimirovic) of Zic.” Soon, the Bishop, together with Patriarch Gabriel of Serbia, found himself in the notorious Dachau concentration camp - the only church officials of this rank in Europe who were taken into custody. Here the Bishop wrote his famous book “Through the Prison Window” (“Speeches to the Srp People kroz tamnichki prozor”).

After the end of the war, Bishop Nicholas did not want to return to Tito’s Yugoslavia and remained in exile until the end of his life. After spending a short time in Europe, in 1946 he moved to the United States of America, where he continued his missionary work until the end of his days. In exile, Bishop wrote a large number of sermons and books, and was also a professor at Orthodox theological schools, taught at the Serbian Theological Seminary named after St. Sava in Libertyville, but more often found himself in the Russian environment - as a teacher at St. Vladimir Academy in New York, Holy Trinity seminary in Jordanville and St. Tikhon's in South Cannon (Pennsylvania), where he died on March 18, 1956. The bishop was buried at the Serbian St. Sava Monastery in Libertyville, and subsequently his remains were transferred to Serbia. The transfer of the relics of the Bishop resulted in a nationwide celebration. Now they rest in his native village of Lelic.

One of the central places in the spiritual heritage of the saint is occupied by the theme of Europe and its great God-given mission. Let us mention only some of the titles of his works about Europe, as well as about Serbian history, from among those that were addressed mainly to the Western European reader: “The Revolt of the Slaves”, “On Western Christianity”, “On the Spiritual Revival of Europe”, “Serbia in the World and darkness”, “On history”, “On Europe”, etc. However, he expresses many important thoughts on this topic in his other works, which are widely known today in the Orthodox world. Thus, in his book “Through a Prison Window,” he calls Europe the beloved daughter of Christ. Despite the fact that the bishop wrote this at the most severe time, when everything seemed to speak against Europe, he makes it clear that it is too early to give up on it, and all his denunciations are addressed largely not to Europeans.

Like the Russian Slavophile thinkers, who paid much attention to Europe and its fate, Saint Nicholas of Serbia unshakably believed in the special mission of the Orthodox Slavs in relation to other European peoples, being convinced that their example was capable of awakening Europe to repentance, allowing it to find its own Christian principles, thanks to which she, in the words of A.S. Khomyakova, was once a “land of holy miracles.” A similar vision was very close to I.V. Kireevsky, who soberly assessed the well-known misconceptions inherent in Western Europe, was still alien to the idea that it was irretrievably lost, and believed in the possibility of its healing and uprising. From this we understand his idea, already in the 20th century, fully shared by St. Nicholas of Serbia, that by thoughtlessly renouncing it, unambiguously equating it with the West of our days, we thereby renounce ourselves, our own great role and calling. A similar approach to the work of St. Nicholas of Serbia is typical both for leading Serbian researchers and major publishers of his works (Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radovich), Bishop Lavrentiy (Trifunovich), Bishop Afanasy (Jevtich), etc.), and for modern Russian researchers who are seriously studying problems of the spiritual heritage of the saint (I.F. Priyma, I.M. Chislov, I.A. Charota, etc.).

It is significant that St. Nicholas was also related to the Slavophiles by comprehensive European education. According to I.M. Chislov, a famous Serbian scholar and editor-in-chief of the complete works of Bishop Nicholas in Russian, “being fluent in the main European languages, St. Nicholas, like the apostles, addressed every nation with a sermon, clothed in the sweet sounds of his native speech, focusing on specific ideas, thinking and traditions of this people.
Traveling throughout Holy Rus', gaining spiritual experience and grace from its shrines, the Bishop was able to subsequently find the most intimate words of consolation for his flock of Russian White emigrants suffering and grieving far from their homeland. But the years of study at Swiss and German universities were also not in vain. Having comprehended both the “sharp Gallic meaning” and the “gloomy Germanic genius,” the saint revived the deathly rational and proud thought (ego et ratio), expressed in the previous verbs, so that he even forced unfaithful hearts to humble themselves before the Truth, caring for their salvation and fulfillment of God's righteousness."

Even mercilessly castigating the vices of contemporary Europeans (both Western and Eastern), Saint Nicholas always emphasizes that the Slavs are an integral part of the same Europe, often not recognized by it and arrogantly not noticed by Western Europe, which “philosophized” and “divided the Greco-Roman inheritance" at that time, while the Slavs ante portas repelled the invasions of the Huns, Mongols, Turkish hordes and "did not allow the Chinese yellow anthill to poke out from behind their wall." At the same time, the saint always reminded of the urgent need to recreate the former unity in the spirit of brotherly love between all Europeans, which would be the key to their healing and spiritual revival, since to this day they bear enormous responsibility for the destinies of the world. “Historically, Christianity was and still remains a religion mainly of the European race,” the saint wrote.

As already mentioned, at present, the importance of St. Nicholas of Serbia for us is extremely great, since his works give hope for finding the right traditional vector of our Slavic life, avoiding all kinds of temptations (for example, the notorious Eurasianism). It is no coincidence that today he is the most read Serbian author in Russia.

It is impossible to imagine a serious acquaintance with his literary heritage without a work that is small in volume but exceptional in its significance - the essay “The Serbian People as a Servant of God,” first published by the publishing house “Pilgrim” in 2004, translated and with a foreword by I.M. Chislov and repeatedly republished in Russian. It examines the key, fateful milestones of the entire Serbian history through the prism of serving God of the Serbian people, from its crowned rulers who created the Serbian state to ordinary peasants. This work is necessary for everyone who wants to get a clear understanding of the Serbian tradition, the role and place of the Serbian people in the family of Christian peoples. It is interesting that for all its originality and uniqueness, in its significance, depth and power of impact, this book can be compared with the outstanding work of its kind on Russian history by Metropolitan John of St. Petersburg and Ladoga (Snychev) “Russian Symphony”. St. Nicholas, with firm hope in God’s boundless mercy - following St. Seraphim of Sarov - predicts the future greatness of the Orthodox Kingdom, in which there will be a place for both the “kingdom of Holy Rus'” and the “kingdom of the Balkan peoples,” while simultaneously calling on us to apply our prayerful boldness and strong-willed an effort.

The name of Bishop Nicholas (Velimirović) of Ohrid and Žić was included in the calendar of saints of the Orthodox Church by a unanimous and unanimous decision at the Bishops' Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church on May 19, 2003. Saint Nicholas is commemorated on March 18, the day of his blessed death, as well as on May 3, the day of his transfer honest relics from America to Serbia.

Elena Osipova, candidate of philological sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of World Literature named after. A.M. Gorky, secretary of the Russian-Serbian Friendship Society

In western Serbia, in a peasant family with nine children. He was sent by his devout parents to a school at the monastery of Cheliye (“Kelia”).

After graduating from the gymnasium in Valjevo and the Belgrade Theological Seminary, Nikola Velimirović received a scholarship to study at the Old Catholic Faculty in Bern, where at the age of 28 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Theology. The topic of his doctorate was: “Faith in the Resurrection of Christ as the main dogma of the Apostolic Church.” Following this, Nikola Velimirović brilliantly graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford and is defending his second, this time philosophical, doctorate.

Thus Fr. Nicholas visited all the most famous holy places, got to know the Russian people better and never again parted spiritually with Russia. She became a constant subject of his thoughts. Since then, no country in the world has been perceived by him with such warmth and family love as Russia. In the 1920s, already as a bishop, he was the first in the world to talk about the need to honor the memory of the royal family. Behind the “indecisiveness” and “lack of will” of the last Russian emperor, about which much was said then among Russian emigrants in Serbia, he discerned other character traits of Emperor Nicholas II and a different meaning of the pre-revolutionary years of Russian history.

“The debt that Russia obliged the Serbian people in the year is so enormous that neither centuries nor generations can repay it,” Bishop Nicholas wrote in the year. - This is the duty of love, which blindfolded goes to death, saving its neighbor.... The Russian Tsar and the Russian people, entering the war unprepared for the defense of Serbia, could not help but know that they were going to death. But the love of Russians for their brothers did not retreat in the face of danger and was not afraid of death. Will we ever dare to forget that the Russian Tsar with his children and millions of his brothers went to death for the truth of the Serbian people? Do we dare to remain silent before heaven and earth that our freedom and statehood cost Russia more than us? The morality of the world war, unclear, dubious and contested from different sides, reveals itself in the Russian sacrifice for the Serbs in evangelical clarity, certainty and indisputability...”

Upon returning from Russia, Fr. Nicholas began publishing his serious literary works: “Conversations under the Mountain”, “Over Sin and Death”, “The Religion of Njegos”...

Realizing the danger of sectarian propaganda, which was already gaining strength at that time, Bishop Nicholas led the so-called “pagan movement” among the Serbian people, designed to attract simple, often illiterate peasants living in remote mountain villages to the church. The “Bogomoltsy” did not constitute any special organization. These were people who were ready not only to regularly attend church, but also to live every day according to the canons of their Orthodox faith, according to the Christian ways of their native country, captivating others with their example. The “pagan” movement, which spread through the efforts of the bishop throughout Serbia, can be called a popular religious awakening.

While in exile in America, Vladyka continued to serve and worked on new books - “The Harvests of the Lord”, “The Land of Inaccessibility”, “The Only Lover of Humanity”. His concern was also sending aid to war-torn Serbia. At this time, all his literary works in his homeland were banned and slandered, and he himself, a prisoner of a fascist concentration camp, was turned by communist propaganda into an “employee of the occupiers.”

Bishop Nicholas died peacefully on March 18 of this year in the Russian monastery of St. Tikhon in South Canaan (Pennsylvania). Death found him praying.

Reverence

From the Russian monastery, the body of Bishop Nicholas was transferred to the Serbian monastery of St. Sava in Libertyville (Illinois, near Chicago) and buried with honors in the local cemetery. The Bishop's last wish - to be buried in his homeland - at that time, for obvious reasons, could not be fulfilled.

The glorification of St. Nicholas of Serbia, Zhichski as a locally revered saint of the Shabatsk-Valjevo diocese took place in the Lelic monastery on March 18 of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 6 of the year the name of St. Nicholas was included in the month book of the Russian Orthodox Church with the celebration of his memory on April 20 (the day of the transfer of the relics), as established in the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Prayers

Troparion, tone 8

Chrysostom, the preacher of the Risen Christ, the guide of the Serbian crusader family through the ages, the blessed lyre of the Holy Spirit, the word and love of the monks, the joy and praise of the priests, the teacher of repentance, the leader of the pilgrim army of Christ, St. Nicholas of Serbia and pan-Orthodox: with all the saints of the Heavenly Serbia, may the prayers of the One Lover of Man grant peace and unity to our family.

Kontakion, tone 3

Serbian Lelich was born, you were the archpastor of Saint Naum in Ohrid, you appeared from the throne of Saint Sava in Zhichu, teaching and enlightening the people of God with the Holy Gospel. You brought many to repentance and love for Christ, you endured Christ for the sake of passion in Dachau, and for this reason, holy, from Him you are glorified, Nicholas, God’s newly-minted servant.

Video

Documentary "St. Nicholas of Serbia" 2005

Essays

The collected works of the saint number fifteen volumes.

• Selected works on the website of the ABC encyclopedia: http://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Nikolaj_Serbskij/

Literature

• Biography from the book "Glory and pain of Serbia. About the Serbian new martyrs". Moscow Compound of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. 2002:

Used materials

• Priyma Ivan Fedorovich. A word about the author // Saint Nicholas of Serbia. Prayers by the lake. SPb.1995. Page 3-8
• Biography on the portal Pravoslavie.Ru:
• Magazine No. 53, journals of the meetings of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church dated October 6, 2003:
• Blog page of the priest.

Lord Nicholas (Velimirović) - this name appears on the literary works of St. Nicholas of Serbia, Bishop of Ohrid and Žić, theologian, philosopher, organizer of the popular so-called “pagan” movement, honorary doctor of several world universities, close to us, Russians, already in that he marked the beginning of the glorification of the martyr Tsar Nicholas II and his family. Hitherto unknown to the Russian reader, Vladyka Nikolai is the largest figure in Serbian spiritual literature of the 20th century. And not only the twentieth. Not since the time of Saint Sava has there been such an inspired and profound preacher and spiritual author among the Serbian people.

It is worth remembering that from its very first steps Russian literature was connected with Serbian literature: from there it drew its first literary techniques, canons, and metaphors. From there, from the region where the preaching of Cyril and Methodius was heard live and where they left their book school, the first lists of liturgical and theological texts came to us, and to this day, sorting through the ancient manuscripts of our libraries, we now and then come across the note: “ Serbian letter". In the Serbian edition, we received not only Serbian literary monuments themselves, but also many Byzantine literary monuments. Later, during the period of the Turkish yoke that fell on Serbia, the reverse process took place: the Serbs went to Russia for books, asked to send our teachers to them... The Serbs at the beginning of the 18th century were forced to turn to Russia for the liturgical texts themselves: and to this day the Liturgy in most Serbian churches it is performed in Church Slavonic in the Russian edition...

Nikolaj Velimirović, born in 1881, five centuries after the Battle of Kosovo, seemed to be called upon to show the world that the Christian literary tradition in Serbia is miraculously alive, resurrected, and resurrected fully and fruitfully: the literary heritage of Vladyka Nikolai, a world-famous theologian, includes 15 voluminous volumes containing the most diverse works in genre, among which are the pearls of world Orthodox literature. The appearance of another theological star on the Serbian horizon - Archimandrite Justin Popovic - only confirmed such a significant renewal of tradition.

Nikola Velimirović was one of nine children in the family of a Serbian peasant from the small mountain village of Lelic. His father, Dragomir, was famous among his fellow villagers for his literacy; he instilled a love of writing and his son. Nikola’s mother, Katerina (later nun Catherine), from an early age took her son to the nearby monastery Chelie (Kelia) for services and to receive Communion. When the boy grew up, his parents sent him to school at this monastery, after which his father was advised to send Nikola for further education, and he sent his son to a gymnasium in the city of Valjevo in Central Serbia. After high school, the young man entered the Belgrade Theology (that is, seminary), where he was immediately noticed as a gifted student. Soon Nikola already knew well the works of the great Serbian spiritual writer Vladika Petr Njegosh, was familiar with the works of Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Shakespeare, Dante and other European classics, as well as with the philosophy of the Far East.

After graduating from the seminary, Nikola was appointed as a rural teacher. At the same time, he helped the local priest, walking with him around the surrounding villages. The first publications of the young author in the Christian Messenger and other church and secular publications date back to this period. Soon he received a scholarship from the Minister of Education to continue his studies in Switzerland, at the Berne Old Catholic Faculty. There Nikola learned the German language well and studied diligently, listening to lectures on theology and philosophy, in addition to his own, at several other faculties in Switzerland and Germany. The topic of his doctorate is “Faith in the Resurrection of Christ as the main dogma of the Apostolic Church.”

After graduating from the Berne Faculty, he goes to England, quickly masters the English language and graduates from the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford. He defended his second doctorate - “Philosophy of Berkeley” - in France in French.

Returning to Belgrade and starting to teach foreign languages ​​at the Belgrade Seminary, Nikola suddenly becomes seriously ill. In the hospital, he makes a vow to devote himself entirely to serving God, the Serbian Church and his people if he recovers. Soon miraculously healed, Nikola immediately went to the Rakovica monastery near Belgrade, where he took monastic vows with the name Nikolai.

In 1910, Hieromonk Nikolai went to study in Russia, at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. When admitted to the Academy, he did not even mention the Western European faculties he had completed, but simply acted like yesterday’s seminarian. The modest student regularly attended lectures and remained unnoticed by his comrades until one academic spiritual and literary evening, when he literally amazed both students and teachers with his knowledge and preaching gift, and especially Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg, who obtained free money for him from the Russian Government. travel throughout Russia. This pilgrimage to Russian shrines deeply inspired Father Nicholas and revealed a lot to him. Since then, no country in the world has been remembered by them with such warmth and heartfelt love as Russia.

Returning from Russia, Father Nikolai published his literary works, the first of which were: “Conversations under the Mountain”, “Over Sin and Death”, “The Religion of Njegos”...

The First World War begins, and the Serbian Government sends Father Nicholas, by that time already a well-known spiritual author and preacher, to England and America to explain to the public of these countries what Orthodox Serbia is fighting for. For four whole years, from 1915 to 1919, Father Nikolai spoke in churches, universities, colleges, in a variety of halls and meetings, telling why the Serbian people, divided into several parts by their enemies, are fighting so decisively for the unity of their once great homeland. The commander of the British troops subsequently stated that “Father Nicholas was the third army,” fighting for the Serbian and Yugoslav idea.

It is noteworthy that, knowing perfectly well the European philosophy and science of his time, Vladyka Nicholas prophetically predicted the Second World War already at the beginning of 1920 and described in detail the weapons and methods that would be used in it by “civilized Europe.” He believed that the cause of the war was the removal of European man from God. The Bishop dubbed the godless culture of his time the “White Plague”... In 1920, Hieromonk Nicholas was ordained Bishop of Ohrid. In Ohrid, the ancient city of Macedonia, located near Lake Ohrid, one of the most beautiful in the world, he created a whole cycle of literary works: “Prayers on the Lake”, “Words about the All-Man”, “Ohrid Prologue”, “Omilia” and others.

Vladyka traveled around the diocese every day, preaching and teaching the people, restoring churches and monasteries destroyed by the war, and founding homes for orphans. Foreseeing the danger of sectarian propaganda, which was already gaining strength at that time, the Bishop organized the Orthodox people's movement (also called “pious”), which was composed of people who responded to the call of their Master and were ready to daily and firmly confess Christ the Lord with their pious life.

The Orthodox popular movement, which spread through the zeal of Vladyka Nicholas throughout Serbia, can be called a popular religious awakening, which led to the revival of monasticism, renewed faith in the simple, often illiterate people, and strengthened the Serbian Orthodox Church.

In 1934, Bishop Nicholas was transferred to the Zhich diocese. The ancient Žiča monastery required restoration and comprehensive renovation, like many other monasteries in that region, located in the very heart of Serbia. Vladyka Nikolai put his efforts into this, and soon the Zhichi shrines shone with their former light, the one with which they shone, perhaps, even before the Turkish invasion.

The Second World War began, when Serbia - for the umpteenth time! - shared the same fate with Russia, as a Slavic and Orthodox country. Hitler, having found reliable allies in the Croats, rightfully considered the Serbs to be his ardent opponents. He personally ordered his commander of the Southern Front to weaken the Serbian people: “Destroy the Serbian intelligentsia, behead the top of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and first of all, Patriarch Dozic, Metropolitan Zimonich and Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich of Zic...”

So Vladyka Nicholas, together with the Serbian Patriarch Gabriel, ended up in the notorious Dachau concentration camp in Germany - the only ones of all European church officials of such rank taken into custody!

They were liberated on May 8, 1945 by the allied 36th American Division. Vladyka Nikolai left the camp with a finished book - “Through Prison Bars”, in which he called on Orthodox people to repentance and reflect on why the Lord allowed such a terrible disaster to befall them.

Having learned that the atheistic, anti-Orthodox regime of Joseph Broz (Tito) had come to power in Yugoslavia by force, Vladyka remained in exile: having wandered around Europe for a long time, he lived first in England, then in America. There he continued his missionary and literary activities and created such pearls as “The Harvests of the Lord”, “The Unreachable Country”, “The Only Lover of Humanity”, from there he sent generous material assistance to Serbian churches and monasteries.

The last days of Vladyka Nicholas passed in the Russian monastery of St. Tikhon in Pennsylvania. On March 18, 1956, Vladyka peacefully departed to the Lord. Death found him praying.

From the Russian monastery, the Vladyka’s body was transferred to the Serbian monastery of St. Sava in Libertyville and buried with great honors in the monastery cemetery. There could be no talk of transferring the relics of Vladyka Nicholas to his homeland at that time: Tito’s regime declared him a traitor and enemy of the people. The Communists publicly called the prisoner of Dachau, Vladyka Nicholas, “an employee of the occupiers”, belittled and vilified his literary works in every possible way, completely banning their publication.

Only in 1991, freed from the dictatorship of communism, Serbia regained its shrine - the relics of St. Nicholas of Serbia. The transfer of the relics of the Lord resulted in a national holiday. They now rest in his native village of Lelic. The church where they are kept becomes a place of increasingly crowded pilgrimage every year.

Troparion to Saint Nicholas of Serbia. Voice 8

Chrysostom, the preacher of the Risen Christ, the guide of the Serbian crusader family through the ages, the blessed lyre of the Holy Spirit, the word and love of the monks, the joy and praise of the priests, the teacher of repentance, the leader of the pilgrim army of Christ, St. Nicholas of Serbia and pan-Orthodox: with all the saints of the Heavenly Serbia, may the prayers of the One Lover of Man grant peace and unity to our family.

"Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate". 1999. No. 7 (abbreviated) Reprinted from the website of the Mgar Monastery.

Who is he, the person who wrote these inspired lines? Saint, philosopher and poet, spiritual warrior and confessor... A popularly beloved shepherd, who became an exile and died in a foreign land, but returned to his Holy Serbia with his holy relics... A heavenly intercessor and teacher of the faith, lovingly revered not only in his native land, but also throughout to the entire Orthodox world, especially in Russia.

* * *

Nikolaj Velimirović was born in 1881 into a large peasant family of Dragomir and Katerina Velimirović in the small Serbian village of Lelić. His mother subsequently took monastic vows.

After graduating from high school, young Nikolai Velimirović entered the Belgrade Theology (seminary), where he immediately showed himself to be a capable student. After graduating from the seminary, he began working as a rural teacher.

Later, thanks to his outstanding abilities and first brilliant publications, he received a scholarship to study in Switzerland and Germany, and then in England. Among other things, he successfully masters several foreign languages. Upon returning to Belgrade, the future Vladyka suffered a serious illness, which became the most important milestone in his life: on his sick bed he made a promise to God to devote his life to Him, the Holy Orthodox Church and his neighbors. This decision was soon followed by Nikolai’s miraculous healing from a serious illness. In the Rakovica monastery, near Belgrade, he took monastic vows with the name Nicholas, and then ordination.

“Don’t rush to talk about three things:

about God until you are established in faith;

about other people's sins until you remember your own;

and about the coming day until you see the dawn.”

In 1910, Hieromonk Nikolai was already studying in Russia, at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. He visits Orthodox shrines of the Russian land and, during this journey, acquires that love for Russia and the Russian people, which accompanies his entire future life.

Upon returning to his homeland, such works by Fr. Nicholas, as “Conversations under the mountain”, “Above sin”, “Religion of Njegos”.

In 1912, he arrives in Bosnia, which had recently been annexed by Austria-Hungary. There, in Sarajevo, his performances delighted the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Serb youth and the leaders of the Serbian national liberation movement. He utters the famous words that “with their great love and big hearts, the Bosnian Serbs annexed Serbia to Bosnia.”

This aroused the wrath of the Austrian occupation authorities, and Hieromonk Nicholas was removed from the train en route to Belgrade and detained in Zemun for several days. Later, the Austrian authorities did not allow him to travel to Zagreb and speak at the celebration dedicated to Njegos, but the text of the speech was nevertheless transported to Zagreb and made public. On the book of Father Nicholas “Conversations under the Mountain” the Mlada Bosnas (members of the militant patriotic organization of Serbian youth “Mlada Bosna”, which operated in Austria-Hungarian-occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina) took an oath, as in the Holy Gospel.

Even then, the future Bishop begins to become the actual confessor of the liberation Orthodox Chetnik movement. This high mission of his will be continued in the terrible years of the Second World War by spiritual cooperation with such great sons of Orthodox Serbia as the Chetnik governor Draza Mihailovic, the governor-priest Momcilo Djuic, and the outstanding statesman Dimitri Ljotić.

* * *

During the First Balkan War, Fr. Nikolai is at the front, with the active army. He conducts services, encourages soldiers, and cares for the wounded.

With the outbreak of the First World War, he was again in combat positions - confessing and giving communion to Serbian soldiers, strengthening their spirit with sermons. Until the very end of the war, he transferred all his salary to the needs of the wounded.

The Serbian army withstood several frontal attacks by the Austro-Hungarian troops, but the blow dealt in the back by Bulgaria turned out to be a disaster for Serbia. In order to avoid shameful capture, the remnants of the Serbian army, together with the elderly King Petar I, retreated, taking refuge on the icy mountain peaks of Albania. Young men of military age who were threatened with forced mobilization into the Austrian army and the terrible prospect of fighting against Russia also went there with them. In order not to shoot at their Orthodox Russian brothers, young Serbs climbed the Ice Golgotha, where hunger and cold claimed the lives of every third of them.

On instructions from his government, Fr. Nikolai goes to England and America. There he, fully using the gift of preaching given to him by God, explains to different layers of society in these countries the meaning of the struggle waged by the Orthodox Serbian people for the Cross and Freedom.

During the Vladyka’s stay in Great Britain, a certain English preacher named Campbell said in a newspaper article that “the Serbs are a small tribe from the Turkish Kingdom, which is engaged in petty trade and is characterized by sloppiness. Prone to theft." Already in the next issue of the same newspaper there appeared a note written by Fr. Nikolai Velimirovich:

“When I first arrived in London, a sign caught my eye: “Beware of pickpockets!” I decided that this sign was quickly installed specifically in view of my arrival. After all, I am Serbian. From a tribe prone to theft. However, when I took a closer look at the sign, my soul felt better. The sign is already several decades old. But in Serbia we don’t have such signs at all.”

Once, in one of the great cathedrals of London, a certain Englishman publicly asked Fr. Nicholas:

– Is there anything in your land that is similar to the masterpieces of our European architecture?

The future Lord immediately replied:

– In Serbia we have a unique masterpiece of Asian architecture. This masterpiece is called Chele Kula (Tower of Skulls). The history of its creation is as follows: when the Turkish army came to pacify the Serbian uprising, the obstacle to advancing to Niš was the fortress in which about five thousand rebels were defending. In the end, the Turks broke into the fortress, but the Serbs blew themselves up along with tens of thousands of punitive forces. On the site of the blown up bastion, the Turks built a tower and built a thousand Serbian heads into its walls. Which were already cut off from the dead.

An English historian who was present at this dialogue confirmed what was said by Fr. Nicholas, and the arrogant Western European who asked the question was embarrassed.

The performances of Hieromonk Nikolai (Velimirovich), which lasted from 1915 to 1919, took place in churches, universities, colleges, in a variety of halls and meetings, were so brilliant that subsequently one of the high military officials of Great Britain called Fr. Nicholas as the “third army” of fighting Serbia.

It is remarkable that immediately after the end of the First World War, Fr. Nicholas predicted the inevitability of a new tragic global military clash in “civilized Europe.” Knowing European philosophy and culture very well, he literally described in detail the methods that the “cultural West” would use in the next world war. He considered the main reason for the new war to be the departure of European man from God. The Lord called the advancing godless culture and worldview of “secular humanism” the “White Plague.”

* * *

In 1920, Hieromonk Nicholas became Bishop of Ohrid, in Macedonia. There, on the shores of the wonderfully beautiful Lake Ohrid, literally in the cradle of Slavic writing, where the holy enlighteners Cyril and Methodius preached, he wrote a number of his wonderful spiritual works, including the collection “Prayers on the Lake,” called by his contemporaries the second Psalter.

Such a case is known from the life of the Lord of that period. One day he addressed those preparing to receive Holy Communion:

– Let those worthy of Communion stand on the right, and those unready on the left.

Soon a lot of people were on the left side. And only four stood on the right.

“Well,” said the Lord, “now sinners will approach the cup with the Most Pure Body and Blood, but the righteous may not approach.” They are already sinless. Why do they need Communion?

Vladyka traveled to the most remote parts of his diocese, met with believers, helped restore churches and monasteries destroyed by the war, and founded orphanages.

To successfully attract people to the temple, Vladyka Nikolai did not shy away from even the feat of foolishness. One day he took a donkey and sat on it “barefoot and headless,” and even backwards. So he drove through the whole of Ohrid. His feet dragged in the dust, and his head, with tousled hair blown by the wind, dangled in all directions. No one dared to approach the Lord with questions. The people immediately began to whisper: “Nicholas has gone mad. I wrote, read, thought a lot - and went crazy.”

On Sunday, all of Ohrid was in the monastery for the Liturgy. It was interesting: what happened to the bishop?

And he served the Liturgy as usual. Everyone was waiting for what would happen at the sermon. At the end of the service, Vladyka stood before the people and, after a pause, spoke:

- What, did you come to see the crazy Nikola? Is there no other way to get you into church?! You don't have time for everything. It's no longer interesting. Another thing is to talk about fashion. Or about politics. Or – about civilization. About the fact that you are Europeans. What has today's Europe inherited?! Europe, which destroyed more people in one last war than all of Asia did in a thousand years!!?

Oh, my brothers, don't you see anything of this? Haven’t you really felt the darkness and malice of today’s Europe? Who will you follow: Europe or the Lord?

There is a well-known case when, in the presence of the Yugoslav King Alexander I, who arrived in Ohrid, Vladyka Nicholas threw a roast pig served to the royal table out the window with the words:

– Do you want the Orthodox sovereign to lighten up on a fast day?

The people in Ohrid fell in love with their primate. Ordinary people nicknamed him Grandfather-Vladyka; they dropped all their affairs and hurried to be blessed as soon as he appeared.

The bishop devoted all his free time to prayer and literary works. He slept very little.

Here, one after another, such of his works as “Thoughts on Good and Evil”, “Omilia”, “Missionary Letters” and other wonderful works appeared.

* * *

The Bishop’s love for Russia forced him to correctly assess the personality of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and was the first in the world to speak about the need to honor the memory of the Royal Family. Behind the narrow-minded reasoning of the majority about the “indecisiveness” and “lack of will” of the last Russian Tsar, he discerned the true meaning of the martyrdom of this holy man and his family, the veneration of which has become an integral and wonderful feature of the modern Orthodox world.

The Bishop also pays close attention to the problem of infanticide and abortion, the legalization of which was then possible only in distraught Bolshevik Russia. Only the providence of the Lord can be attributed to the fact that he saw the terrible meaning and scale of this evil, which at that time was not yet acutely facing European society, but has now brought the peoples who were once Christian to the threshold of complete moral degeneration and physical extinction. Here, in particular, is what he writes to a woman who turned to him for spiritual help:

“You write that you are troubled by terrible dreams. As soon as you close your eyes, three youths appear to you, ridicule you, threaten and intimidate you... You write that in search of treatment you have visited all famous doctors and knowledgeable people. They told you: “Nothing, it’s nothing.” You answered: “If this is a trifle, spare me these visions. How can a trifle not give you sleep and peace?

And I’ll tell you this: the three youths who appear to you are three of your children, killed by you in the womb, before the sun touched their faces with its tender rays. And now they have come to repay you. The retribution of the dead is terrible and menacing. Do you read the Holy Scriptures? It explains how and why the dead take revenge on the living. Read again about Cain, who, after killing his brother, could never find peace anywhere. Read about how the spirit of the offended Samuel repaid Saul. Read how unfortunate David suffered for a long time and cruelly because of the murder of Uriah. Thousands and thousands of such cases are known - from Cain to you; read about them and you will understand what torments you and why. You will understand that victims are stronger than their executioners and their retribution is terrible...

Start by understanding and realizing... Do everything in your power for your murdered children, do deeds of mercy. And the Lord will forgive you - everyone is alive with Him - and give you peace. Go to church and ask what you should do: the priests know.”

In view of the danger of sectarian propaganda, which was already gaining strength at that time, Vladyka Nikolai headed the popular “Political Movement,” designed to attract simple, often illiterate peasants living in remote mountain villages to the church. The “Bogomoltsy” did not represent any special organization. These were people who were ready not only to regularly attend church, but also to live every day according to the canons of the Holy Orthodox Faith, according to the Christian ways of their native country, drawing others along with them.

Due to centuries-old persecution of Orthodoxy during the Turkish rule, not every Serbian and Macedonian village had an Orthodox church at that time. In such villages, Vladyka Nicholas appointed people's elders, strong in faith, who united the peasants for joint trips to church, and also gathered them in ordinary houses for peculiar Christian evenings, where the Holy Scriptures were read, divine chants were sung. Many of these songs, set to beautiful folk melodies, were composed by Vladyka Nikolai himself. Their simple, unsophisticated texts contain almost all of Orthodox dogma.

The “pagan movement,” which the Bishop’s works spread throughout Serbia, was a real popular religious awakening.

Many monasteries, including the Hilandar Monastery on Holy Mount Athos, were filled with novices and monks from among the “pagans” who revived the fading monastic life.

“Oh, Holy God, give me as friends those who have Your name engraved in their hearts, and as enemies those who do not even want to know about You. For such friends will remain my friends until death, and such enemies will fall to their knees before me and submit as soon as their swords are broken.”

In those years, events took place in Serbia that for a long time determined the future fate of the Orthodox Serbian people. The transformation of the Serbian state into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (SKS), and then into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, was a departure from the principle of Orthodox Serbism in favor of the supranational and non-religious, and essentially unspiritual principle of “Yugoslavism”. Subsequently, this ideology, which arose in the minds of people far from both faith and the centuries-old national spirit, did not pass the test of life. In the 20th century, Yugoslavism turned into innumerable sorrows for the long-suffering Serbian people, quite comparable to all the horrors of five centuries of Turkish oppression. And this tragedy is not over, it continues to this day, already in the new millennium.

Vladyka Nikolai later gave a harsh assessment of “Yugoslavism” as a vile betrayal of the shrines, history and interests of Orthodox Serbia. Here is what, in particular, he will write about this:

“Yugoslavia represented for the Serbian people the greatest misunderstanding, the cruellest writhing and the most shameful humiliation that they had ever experienced and experienced in their past.”

Already in those years, the Orthodox people of Serbia, who had resisted the onslaught of the heresy of “Catholicism” and bloody Islamic terror for centuries in the name of preserving the purity of Orthodoxy, began to reap the benefits of “Yugoslav” supra-religious internationalism. In 1937, the government of M. Stojadinovic concluded a concordat with the Vatican, which gave enormous advantages to the Catholic Church, which was thus placed in a privileged position compared to other faiths. The cynical agreement, which pursued utilitarian, foreign policy goals, was opposed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, which organized a grand religious procession in Belgrade on July 19, which escalated into bloody clashes with the police.

The first of the political figures to openly support was Dimitri Ljotić, an outstanding Serbian patriot who was a close friend of Vladyka Nicholas. St. Nicholas later gave his life and work the highest assessment, calling him an example of a Christian nationalist.

At the cost of great sacrifices (the death of Patriarch-Martyr Barnabas, poisoned by supporters of the concordat; bloody repressions against ordinary participants in protests) and thanks to the unity of Serbian society, the anathematized Stojadinovic wavered and backed down; the criminal agreement was never approved...

At this tragic time, we see Bishop Nikolai (Velimirović) in the forefront of active opponents of the concordat.

When presenting the cardinal honors to the nuncio in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Pelegrinetti, in December 1937, Pope Pius XI declared: “The day will come—I would not like to say it, but I am deeply confident of it—the day will come when many will regret that they did not accept with an open heart and in soul such a greatest good as that which the messenger of Jesus Christ offered to their country.” The ominous prophecy was fulfilled 4 years later...

The Vatican took terrible revenge for the failure of that concordat. During World War II, Croatian Catholic Ustasha fighters, with the open support of the Catholic clergy of Croatia and at its direct call, committed atrocities against the Serbs, before whom any atrocities committed by people and demons paled and will fade. The wholesale extermination of the Serbian people, accompanied by atrocities so indescribable that one cannot even imagine reproducing them, led to the destruction of more than two million Serbs who found themselves on the territory of Croatia, which received independence from Hitler’s hands. The Vatican, through the mouth of Pope Pius XI, will subsequently call the Ustashe leaders “good Catholics”, whom it will save from retribution by taking them out of Yugoslavia through secret “rat trails”, sheltering them and providing them with funds in third countries.

But all this awaits long-suffering Serbia in the near, terrible future, but for now, in 1934, Bishop Nikolai (Velimirović) was appointed Bishop of the Žić diocese, where he continues his ascetic labors. Soon, through the works and prayers of the Lord, the ancient churches were filled with the light of Grace, with which they once shone, back in the time of their ancestors.

He did not abandon his concerns for the suffering and disadvantaged. To this day, the home he founded in Bitola for orphans and children from poor families “Bogdai”, or “Grandfather’s Bogdai”, as it was also called, is well known to this day. For the pupils of “Bogdai”, Vladyka Nikolai wrote the following children’s song: “We are little children from Bito, orphans, our home is on the very edge, as if in paradise, in Bogdai, as in paradise, in Bogdai.”

Bishop Nicholas opened such charitable homes for children in many Serbian cities; in the pre-war years, about 600 children lived in them.

Vladyka Nikolai always clearly saw the relationship between the spiritual and material worlds. On the eve of the military events, the young king of Yugoslavia, Petar II, arrived in Žiča. They say that when they met, he arrogantly offered the now elderly Saint his gloved hand. Entering the temple, this eighteen-year-old youth never crossed himself, looked absently around, yawning demonstratively.

Six years later, in London, the exiled king Petar Karadjordjevic met with the Lord again. When the latter entered the room, the king jumped up and fell to his knees, falling at the Saint’s feet.

“Ah, Your Majesty,” said the Lord with tears, “it’s too late to kiss feet.” It's already late. And there’s no point. It used to be necessary to kiss. And not the legs, but the arm. If you had venerated the holy images in time, then now you would not have to venerate your boots.

* * *

The attack of Hitler's Germany on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was the impetus that released all the demons of hatred of Orthodoxy and Serbism, which had been hidden and matured for centuries in the heterodox tribes that now formed one state with the Serbs.

The ruthless enemy, who invaded the country with all his crushing might, was immediately supported by the internal enemy: Croats, fanatically committed to Roman Catholicism, Bosniac Muslims, Kosovo Albanians-Shiptars. Betrayed by national minorities, the already weak army of the small kingdom collapsed under the blows of the then invincible Wehrmacht. The country was captured by the enemy, and the “brothers of Yugoslavism” began a terror against Orthodox Serbia that was so insane in its scale and demonic cruelty that even the German and Italian generals cried out that what was happening was beyond the bounds of all human understanding.

But Hitler, who immediately recognized the Croats “belonging to European culture” as his own and always sincerely sympathized with Islam, literally gave the Serbs, whom he hated, to be torn to pieces by his Balkan allies. Hell has descended on the country.

The far-sighted Fuhrer did not forget Vladyka Nikolai (Velimirovich) personally. His directive for Serbia read: “Destroy the Serbian intelligentsia, behead the top of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and in the first row - Patriarch Dozic, Metropolitan Zimonich and Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich of Zic...”.

“They surrounded us from everywhere and want to drown us in death, because they want us to disappear. They laugh at You, don't you hear? They mock us because of You, don't You see? They are drunk on the smell of human blood and rejoice in the tears of orphans. The cries of the martyrs sound like songs to them, and the squeaks of crushed children are sweet music. When they gouge out people's eyes, the hyenas run away in terror, muttering to themselves: We don't know that. When they skin the living, the wolves howl: we don’t know how to do this. When they tear off mothers' breasts, the dogs bark: we are only now learning this from people. When they trample Your baptized people, the wild boars grunt: We don’t trample anyone’s crops like that. We hide our tears from people so that they do not laugh at us, and we hide our sighs so that they do not mock us. However, we cry and sigh before You, because You see everything and judge righteously.”

The heroic people of Serbia did not sit idly by and did not expect mercy from those who did not know it. Without despairing from the fall of the state mechanism of royal Yugoslavia, the Orthodox patriots of Serbia began an unequal and tragic struggle with the all-powerful enemy, standing to the death for their trampled shrines and suffering neighbors. In these terrible days, the ancient banner of the Chetnik struggle for the Honorable Cross and Golden Freedom was raised, which for centuries inspired the Orthodox peoples of the Balkans in the sacred struggle.

Wanting to completely share the fate of his flock, the Lord himself appeared to the occupiers and said:

– You are shooting my children in Kraljevo. Now I have come to you so that you kill me first, and then my children. Those who are your hostages.

The ruler was arrested, but they did not dare to shoot him, since Dimitri Ljotić and Milan Nedic warned the Nazis that if they executed a man whom many Serbs revered as a saint, then nothing would stop the people driven to despair from a general uprising.

It is known that during his stay under German supervision in the monastery, Bishop Nicholas saved a family of Jews, a mother and daughter, from imminent execution, and he even had to transport the girl in a food sack.

In 1941, the envoy of Colonel Draza Mihailovich from Ravna Gora, who did not surrender to the invaders, made his way to the Lyubostin monastery, where Vladyka Nikolai was initially kept under arrest, Major Palosevic. The Saint gave him a message in which he ordered Voivode Draže to organize the Chetnik movement in Bosnia and save the exterminated Serbian people.

Draza Mihailović, who soon became one of the greatest and now most revered heroes of Orthodox Serbia, carried this blessing of the Lord with honor through all the war years, waging a heroic, unequal struggle for the faith and people - right up to his martyrdom.

They raised an ancient flag of resistance, a black bariak with the symbol of Death and Resurrection - Adam’s Head and the motto “With faith in God - or death!” – and other heroes of the Orthodox people's movement of Serbia. And including the glorious leader of the Chetnik Dinaric division, the governor-priest Momchilo Djuich, who personally knew the Vladyka well.

How not to recall here the inspired words of the Serbian saint of the past, Metropolitan Petar Njegosh, spoken by him in poetic form about the struggle of Orthodox Christians against the Turks and “Poturchens,” that is, Muslim Slavs: “World, stand up for the Cross, for the honor of the youth, All who carries a bright weapon, All who hear their own hearts! We will baptize the bastards of the name of Christ with water or blood! Let us destroy the infection in God's flock! Let the fatal song ascend, the right altar upon the bloody stone!”

In 1944, Bishop Velimirović and Patriarch Gabriel Dozic were thrown into the Dachau concentration camp. Patriarch Gabriel and Bishop Nicholas are the only European church hierarchs held in this death camp.

In his book “The Unattainable Land,” dedicated to prisoners of Nazi concentration camps, Vladyka depicts the image of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the artistic image of a fighter of the Orthodox Serbian armed Resistance, martyrically enduring interrogations and torture in Hitler’s extermination camp.

There, the Saint makes interesting and important conclusions about the deep similarities between militant and Hitlerite Nazism.

"Gestapo man: You compare the Germans with the Turks and think that by doing this you will humiliate us. Meanwhile, I don’t consider this a humiliation, because the Turks are also a dominant race, just like us Germans. The only difference is that now the Turks, as the dominant race, are retreating, and the Germans, as the dominant race, are advancing.

Saved: That is why some observers pointed out that your National Socialist Party, having thrown aside, picked up the banner of Mohammed, released from the weakening Turkish hands. Perhaps your party will proclaim Islam as the state religion in Germany?

In the camp, Vladyka writes the book “Through Prison Bars,” in which he calls Christians to repentance and reflects on why he allowed such terrible disasters to happen to people.

Together with his people during the war, Vladyka Nikolai experienced terrible torment, but preserved him in these sorrows.

* * *

At this time (and, unfortunately, with the help of Soviet military power), the godless communists, led by the Serbian-hater Croatian Joseph Tito, came to power in the so-called Yugoslavia. The honor of the anti-fascist struggle launched by the Orthodox Chetniks was appropriated by the communist partisans; one of the leaders of the people's liberation movement, voivode Draza Mihailovic, was tried by a Tito court and executed on trumped-up charges. Repression fell on the patriots, and a long dark night of atheistic rule, led by the enemies of the Holy Faith and Serbianism, fell on the entire Orthodox people of Serbia. Everything nationally Serbian was persecuted, even the “Srpska Chirilica” - the Orthodox Serbian Cyrillic script - was abolished, and the Croatian Latin alphabet was introduced everywhere.

“When a person turns his face to God, all his paths lead to God. When a person turns away from God, all paths lead him to destruction. When a person finally renounces God both in word and in heart, he is no longer able to create or do anything that would not serve to his complete destruction, both physical and mental. Therefore, do not rush to execute the atheist: he has found his executioner in himself; the most merciless that can be in this world.”

Bishop Nikolai (Velimirović) was declared an enemy by the communists and in such conditions could not return to his homeland; he was simply not allowed there.

After considerable wanderings, Vladyka settled in America, where he continued his church and social activities, wrote, and again reflected on the fate of Serbism and Orthodoxy. He creates such pearls as “The Harvests of the Lord”, “The Unattainable Land”, “The One Lover of Mankind”, “The First Law of God and the Pyramid of Paradise”...

There he continued to communicate with the Chetniks, who, like him, found themselves in a foreign land, and in particular with the most famous of them, the priest voivode Momcilo Djuich.

Saint Nicholas sees the purpose of his native people in Theodulia, the service of God. In the constant struggle for the honorable cross and golden freedom.

“Everything is under the sign of the Cross and freedom. Under the sign of the Cross it means dependence on God, under the sign of freedom it means independence from people. And under the sign of the Cross it means to follow Christ and fight for Christ, and under the sign of freedom it means to be freed from passions and all moral rot. We do not simply say the Cross and freedom, but the honest Cross and golden freedom. So, not some crooked or some kind of criminal cross, but an honest cross, which means exclusively the cross of Christ; not some kind of freedom, cheap, dirty, worthless, but golden, in other words, expensive, pure and bright. (...) The cross banner is the Serbian banner. Under him they fell in Kosovo, under him they won freedom in the Uprising.”

The people of Serbia, who find themselves at the intersection of Orthodoxy and Catholicism, have the highest mission of preserving the purity of Orthodoxy and fiercely opposing militant heterodoxy:

“The Serbs did not finish the fight against the Turks in Kosovo. We didn’t finish either in Smeredeva or Belgrade. They never stopped it anywhere - from Kosovo to Orshanets, from Lazar to Karageorgi, just as they did not stop from Karageorgi to Kumanov. And after the fall of Smeredev and Belgrade, the struggle continued, terrible and stubborn, for centuries; it was carried out from Montenegro and Dalmatia, from Udobin, from Hungary, from Romania, from Russia. The crusader Serb was everywhere - and to the end, the main champion of the war against the Crescent.

In the last years of his life, the Saint foresaw the tragic events for the Serbian people that would follow the fall of communism and the collapse of the artificial and harmful Yugoslav state formation for Serbia. He said that the West and the papacy would not hesitate to once again support the eternal enemies of his people and Orthodoxy, and now it is necessary to think not about high politics, but about how to arm the Serbs so that they can defend themselves in these coming terrible times.

The Lord writes and preaches until the last hour of his earthly life.

Always distinguished by his great love for the Russian people, he ended his journey in this world in the Russian monastery of St. Tikhon in Pennsylvania. He departed to the Lord during cell prayer on March 18, 1956. The Vladyka’s body was transferred to the Serbian monastery of St. Sava in Libettsville and buried there.

On the day of his death, despite communist persecution, bells were ringing throughout Serbia.

* * *

Popular veneration of him as a saint, which began during his lifetime, continued and intensified after his death.

The church glorification of St. Nicholas of Serbia took place in the Lelic monastery on March 18, 1987.

After the communist regime in Yugoslavia became a thing of the past, Vladyka returned to his native land. In 1991, his holy relics were transferred from the USA to his native Lelic.

The transfer of the Vladyka’s relics resulted in a nationwide celebration; the day of the transfer was included in the church calendar. The church where this great shrine is kept becomes a place of increasingly crowded pilgrimage every year. By the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 6, 2003, the name of St. Nicholas of Serbia was included in the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church, with the celebration of his memory on April 20 May 3 (day of transfer of relics).

Orthodox Christians turn to the Lord for prayer help all over the world, but especially in Serbia and Russia.

Now many lukewarm semi-Christians are imposing on the Church the opinion that it is necessary to fight evil by indulging it, absorbing it into oneself, in order to “assimilate” it, dilute it. Therefore, of the many posthumous miracles of St. Nicholas of Serbia, I would like to cite one that clearly demonstrates that the Lord, who during his earthly life, with the sword of truth, biblically cut off evil from good, filth from holiness, continues to do this, and being with God in the Kingdom of Heaven . Here is what they told about this to the researcher of the life of the Lord, Vladimir Radosavlevich:

“One guy from Valev, who was involved in drug trafficking, once brought a donation to the Lelic monastery. He prayed for a long time at the shrine with the relics of the Holy Bishop, and then took out a substantial sum from his pocket and placed it on the shrine.

Once outside the monastery gates, the dealer reached into his pocket to take out cigarettes. And then an icy wind flew through his bones: the money was again in his pocket. He ran back to the empty temple and saw that there was no money on the shrine. The money that the young drug dealer found in his pocket were the same bills.

This meant only one thing: the holy Lord did not accept his dirty, albeit very impressive gift. He doesn’t accept it and clearly says that the saint will not protect and protect the drug dealer.

The guy was shaking all the way home to Valevo. And a month later he returned again to Lelich and confessed. There, in the monastery, he found a spiritual mentor, who, undoubtedly, was sent to the repentant thief by the holy Bishop. Soon the former dealer went to Mount Athos, to the Hilandar monastery.”

* * *

Troparion, tone 8

Chrysostom, the preacher of the Risen Christ, the guide of the Serbian crusader family through the ages, the blessed lyre of the Holy Spirit, the word and love of the monks, the joy and praise of the priests, the teacher of repentance, the leader of the pilgrim army of Christ, St. Nicholas of Serbia and pan-Orthodox: with all the saints of the Heavenly Serbia, may the prayers of the One Lover of Man grant peace and unity to our family.

The future saint was born on December 23, 1880 into a peasant family in the very center of Serbia. His home village of Lelic is located not far from Valjevo. The parents of the future bishop, peasants Dragomir and Katarina, were pious people and enjoyed the respect of their neighbors. Their firstborn, soon after birth, was baptized with the name Nikola in the Chelie monastery. His early childhood was spent in his parents' home, where the boy grew up in the company of his brothers and sisters, strengthening himself in spirit and body and receiving his first lessons in piety. The mother often took her son on pilgrimage to the monastery; the first experience of communion with God was firmly imprinted on the child’s soul.

Later, Nikola’s father took Nikola to the same monastery to learn to read and write. Already in early childhood, the boy showed extraordinary abilities and diligence in learning. According to the recollections of contemporaries, during his school years Nikola often preferred solitude to children's fun. During school breaks, he ran to the monastery bell tower and there indulged in reading and prayer. While studying at the gymnasium in Valjevo, he was one of the best students. At the same time, he had to take care of his daily bread on his own. In parallel with his studies, he, like many of his peers, served in the houses of the townspeople.

After finishing the 6th grade of the gymnasium, Nikola first wanted to enter the Military Academy, but the medical commission declared him unfit for officer service. Then he applied and was accepted into the Belgrade Seminary. Here Nikola quickly stood out for his academic success, which was a direct result of his hard work and diligence, so necessary for the development of his God-given talents. Always remembering how great a sin it would be to bury the talent of God, he worked tirelessly to increase it. During his studies, he read not only educational literature, but also became acquainted with many classical works belonging to the treasury of world literature. With his oratorical abilities and gift of words, Nikola amazed the students and teachers of the seminary. During his studies, he took part in the publication of the newspaper “Christian Evangelist”, where he published his articles. At the same time, during his seminary years, Nikola suffered extreme poverty and deprivation, the consequence of which was a physical illness from which he suffered for several years.

After graduating from the seminary, he taught in villages near Valievo, where he became even closer acquainted with the life and spiritual structure of his people. At this time, he was close friends with the priest Savva Popovich and helped him in his ministry. On the advice of his doctor, Nikola spent his summer holidays by the sea, where he became acquainted with the shrines of the Adriatic coast of Montenegro and Dalmatia. Over time, the impressions received in these parts were reflected in his early works.

Soon, by decision of the church authorities, Nikola Velimirović became one of the state scholarship recipients and was sent to study abroad. This is how he ended up at the Old Catholic Faculty of Theology in Bern (Switzerland), where in 1908 he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Faith in the Resurrection of Christ as the main dogma of the Apostolic Church.” He spent the next year, 1909, at Oxford, where he prepared a dissertation on Berkeley's philosophy, which he then defended in French in Geneva.

At the best European universities, he greedily absorbed knowledge, acquiring over the years an excellent education for that time. Thanks to his original thinking and phenomenal memory, he managed to enrich himself with much knowledge and then find worthy use for it.

In the fall of 1909, Nikola returned to her homeland, where she became seriously ill. He spends six weeks in hospital rooms, but, despite the mortal danger, hope in the will of God does not leave the young ascetic for a minute. At this time, he makes a vow that if he recovers, he will take monastic vows and completely devote his life to diligent service to God and the Church. Indeed, having recovered and left the hospital, he soon became a monk with the name Nicholas and on December 20, 1909, was ordained to the priesthood.

After some time, the Serbian Metropolitan Dimitri (Pavlovich) sent Father Nicholas to Russia so that he could become more familiar with the Russian church and theological tradition. The Serbian theologian spends a year in Russia, visiting its many shrines and becoming more closely acquainted with the spiritual structure of Russian people. His stay in Russia had a huge impact on the worldview of Father Nikolai.

After returning to Serbia, he taught philosophy, logic, psychology, history and foreign languages ​​at the Belgrade Seminary. His activities are not limited only to the walls of the theological school. He writes a lot and publishes his articles, conversations and studies on various philosophical and theological topics in various publications. The young learned hieromonk gives talks and lectures throughout Serbia, thanks to which he gains wide fame. His speeches and conversations are devoted, first of all, to various moral aspects of people's life. The unusual and original oratorical style of Father Nikolai especially attracted the Serbian intelligentsia.

Father Nikolai, who took an active part in public life, aroused surprise and respect among many. Not only in Belgrade, but also in other Serbian regions they began to talk about an educated interlocutor and speaker. In 1912 he was invited to the celebrations in Sarajevo. His arrival and speeches caused enthusiasm among the Serbian youth of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Here he met the best representatives of the local Serbian intelligentsia. The bright and bold statements of Father Nicholas could not go unnoticed by the Austrian authorities who ruled Bosnia and Herzegovina. On his way back to Serbia, he was detained for several days at the border, and the following year the Austrian authorities did not allow him to come to Zagreb to participate in celebrations dedicated to the memory of Metropolitan Peter (Petrović-Njegoš). However, his welcoming speech was nevertheless conveyed and read out to those gathered.

The works of Father Nicholas for the benefit of his people multiplied when, at the beginning of the 20th century, Serbia again entered the thorny path of liberation wars. During the Balkan and First World Wars, Hieromonk Nikolai not only closely followed the developments of events at the front and in the rear and gave speeches, supporting and strengthening the Serbian people in their struggle, but also directly participated in providing assistance to the injured, wounded and disadvantaged. He donated his salary until the end of the war to the needs of the state. There is a known case when Hieromonk Nikolai took part in a bold operation of the Serbian troops at the beginning of the First World War. According to the memoirs of General Djukic, in September 1914, the priest, together with Serbian soldiers, landed on the opposite bank of the Sava River and even briefly took command of a small detachment during the short-term liberation of Zemun.

However, as a diplomat and orator who speaks several European languages, Hieromonk Nicholas could bring much more benefit to the Serbian people in their unequal and desperate struggle. In April 1915, he was sent by the Serbian government to the United States and Great Britain, where he worked selflessly for the benefit of Serbian national interests. With his characteristic wisdom and eloquence, Father Nikolai tried to convey to the Western allies the true picture of the suffering of the Serbian people. He constantly gave lectures in churches, universities and other public places, thus making an invaluable contribution to the salvation and liberation of his people. He managed to ideologically unite not only the Orthodox, but also Roman Catholics, Uniates and Protestants, who were increasingly inclined to the idea of ​​​​the struggle for the liberation and unification of the South Slavic peoples.

Not least thanks to the activities of Father Nicholas, a considerable number of volunteers from abroad went to fight in the Balkans, so the statement of one English officer that Father Nicholas “was the third army” can be considered quite fair.

On March 25, 1919, Hieromonk Nikolai was elected Bishop of Zhich, and at the end of 1920 he was transferred to the Ohrid diocese. It was while heading the Ohrid and Žić departments that Bishop Nikolai fully developed his activities in all areas of church life, without abandoning his theological and literary works.

Without a doubt, ancient Ohrid, the cradle of Slavic writing and culture, had a special impression on Vladyka Nicholas. It was here, in Ohrid, that a deep internal change took place in the saint, which from that time on was especially obvious. This internal spiritual rebirth was manifested externally in many ways: in speech, actions and creations.

Fidelity to patristic traditions and life according to the Gospel attracted believers to him. Unfortunately, even now many enemies and slanderers did not leave the ruler. But he overcame their malice with his open heart, life and actions in the face of God.

Vladyka Nicholas, like Saint Sava, gradually became the real conscience of his people. Orthodox Serbia accepted Bishop Nicholas as its spiritual leader. The fundamental works of the saint belong to the period of the bishopric in Ohrid and Žić. At this time, he actively maintains contact with ordinary believers and the “Bogomoltsy” movement, restores desolate shrines, dilapidated monasteries of the Ohrid-Bitol and Zhich dioceses, puts in order cemeteries, monuments, and supports charitable endeavors. A special place in his activities is occupied by work with poor children and orphans.

The orphanage he founded for poor and orphaned children in Bitola is well known - the famous “Grandfather’s Bogdai”. Orphanages and orphanages were opened by Bishop Nicholas in other cities, so that they housed about 600 children. It can be said that Bishop Nicholas was a great renovator of the evangelical, liturgical, ascetic and monastic life in the traditions of the Orthodox Tradition.

He made a significant contribution to the unification of all parts of the Serbian Church on the territory of the newly formed kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1929 - the Kingdom of Yugoslavia).

Bishop Nicholas repeatedly carried out various church and state missions. On January 21, 1921, Vladyka again arrived in the United States, where he spent the next six months. During this time, he gave about 140 lectures and conversations at the most famous American universities, parishes and missionary communities. Everywhere he was received with special warmth and love. A special subject of concern for the bishop was the state of church life of the local Serbian community. Upon returning to his homeland, Bishop Nicholas prepared and presented a special message to the Council of Bishops, in which he described in detail the state of affairs in the Serbian Orthodox community on the North American continent. On September 21, 1921 of the same year, he was appointed the first Serbian bishop-administrator of the United States and Canada and held this office until 1923. The Bishop takes the initiative to build the monastery of St. Sava in Libertyville.

The bishop visited the American continent later. In 1927, at the invitation of the American-Yugoslav Society and a number of other public organizations, he again came to the United States and lectured at the Political Institute in Williamstown. During his two-month stay, he again gave talks in Episcopal and Orthodox churches, at Princeton University and the Federal Council of Churches.

In June 1936, Bishop Nikolai was again appointed to the Zic diocese - one of the oldest and largest in the Serbian Church. Under him, the diocese is experiencing a real revival. Many ancient monasteries are being renovated and new churches are being built. The subject of special concern for him was the Zica Monastery, which has invaluable significance for the Serbian Church and history. Here, through the efforts of Bishop Nicholas, active reconstruction took place with the participation of famous specialists and architects. In the period from 1935 to 1941, the Church of St. Sava with a people's refectory, a cemetery church with a bell tower, a new episcopal building and many other buildings were built here, most of which, unfortunately, were destroyed during the bombing of the monastery in 1941.

Due to the policies of the Stojadinović government in old Yugoslavia, St. Nicholas was forced to intervene in the well-known struggle against the signing of a concordat between the Yugoslav government and the Roman Catholic Church. The victory in this struggle and the abolition of the concordat was largely the merit of Bishop Nicholas.

On the eve of World War II, the saint, together with Patriarch Gabriel of Serbia, played a significant role in the abolition of the government’s anti-people pact with Hitler’s Germany, thanks to which he was loved by the people and especially hated by the occupiers. In the spring of 1941, shortly after the attack of Germany and its allies on Yugoslavia, the saint was arrested by the Germans.

At the time of the attack by Germany and its allies and the subsequent rapid occupation of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Bishop Nicholas was at his episcopal residence in the Zica Monastery near Kraljevo. Immediately after the establishment of the occupation regime in Belgrade, German officers began to come to Zicza, conduct searches and interrogate Bishop Nicholas. The Germans considered the Serbian saint an Anglophile and even an English spy. Despite the fact that no direct evidence of the bishop’s collaboration with the British was found, the Germans forced him to submit a petition to the Holy Synod for release from the administration of the Zhich diocese. Soon this request was granted.

The very presence of Bishop Nicholas in Žiča caused concern among the Germans. On July 12, 1941, Vladyka was transferred to the Lyubostinu Monastery, where he spent almost a year and a half. The period of retreat in Lyubostin became quite fruitful creatively for Bishop Nicholas. Unwittingly freed from administrative duties, the saint directed all his energy to writing new creations. He wrote so much here that there was always a problem finding paper.

Despite the fact that the bishop was removed from administrative management, in Lyubostin he still had to participate in the life of the diocese. The clergy who came to the bishop informed him about the state of affairs and received instructions and orders from him. These visits aroused suspicion among the Germans. In Lyubostin, the Gestapo continued to interrogate the bishop. At the same time, the Germans tried to use the authority of the ruler for their own propaganda purposes, but the wise bishop rejected their crafty proposals and managed to remain not involved in their plans.

Despite house arrest, the saint did not remain indifferent to the fate of his beloved flock. In the fall of 1941, the Germans carried out mass arrests and executions of the male population in Kraljevo. Having learned about the tragedy that had broken out, Bishop Nicholas, despite the official ban, reached the city at the risk of his life and personally appealed to the German commandant with a request to stop the bloodshed.

A heavy blow for the bishop was the German bombing of the Zhicha monastery, when the entire western wall of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord was almost completely destroyed. At the same time, all the monastery buildings, including the bishop's residence, perished.

Due to the aggravation of the situation, the presence of Bishop Nicholas became increasingly problematic for the Germans. They decided to transfer the prisoner to a more remote and safe place, which was chosen as the Vojlovica monastery near Pancevo in northwestern Serbia.

In mid-December 1942, he was transported to Vojlovitsa, where the Serbian Patriarch Gabriel was also taken a little later. The regime in the new place was much more severe. The prisoners were constantly guarded, windows and doors were constantly closed, and it was forbidden to receive visitors or mail. The prisoners, including Vladyka Nicholas, were almost completely isolated from the outside world. Once a month, Captain Mayer, who was responsible for religious issues and contacts with the Serbian Patriarchate, came to meet with the prisoners. The Germans opened the church and allowed the Divine Liturgy to be celebrated only on Sundays and holidays. Only prisoners could attend the service. Despite the strict isolation, the news of Bishop Nicholas’s presence in the monastery quickly spread throughout the area. Residents of the surrounding villages repeatedly tried to get into the monastery for worship, but security prevented this.

In Voilovitsa, Bishop Nikolai did not abandon his work. He took up the task of editing the Serbian translation of the New Testament, completed at one time by Vuk Karadzic. Having provided himself with the most authoritative translations of the New Testament in other foreign languages, he began work together with Hieromonk Vasily (Kostich). Almost two years of stay in Voilovitsa were devoted to this work. As a result, the updated edition of the New Testament was completed. In addition to correcting the New Testament, the bishop filled entire notebooks with various teachings, poems, and songs, which he dedicated to various clergy and people dear to his heart. According to eyewitnesses, the bishop cut out obituaries of the dead with photographs from Belgrade newspapers and constantly prayed for the repose of their souls.

From those days, the “Prayer Canon” and “Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos of Voilovachskaya” written by Bishop Nicholas in one notebook have been preserved, as well as the “Three Prayers in the Shadow of German Bayonet” written later in Vienna.

On September 14, 1944, Bishop Nicholas and Patriarch Gabriel of Serbia were sent from Vojlovitsa to the Dachau concentration camp, where they remained until the end of the war.

On May 8, 1945, they were both liberated by American troops. After his release from the concentration camp, the saint did not return to his homeland, where the communists came to power. Moreover, he was recorded by the new authorities in the ranks of the people's traitors, his name became the object of dirty slander for many years.

Nevertheless, the Serbian people closely followed the activities of the saint abroad, lovingly listening to his spoken and written words. The saint's works were read and reproduced, retold and remembered for a long time. Wealth in God is what captivated the Serbian soul in the ruler. In his heart, the saint continued throughout his life to say warm prayer for his people and Motherland.

Despite his deteriorating health, Vladyka Nicholas found strength for missionary work and church work, traveled across the expanses of the USA and Canada, encouraging the faint-hearted, reconciling those at war and teaching the truths of the Gospel faith and life to many souls seeking God. The Orthodox and other Christians of America highly valued his missionary works, so that he is rightfully ranked among the host of apostles and missionaries of the New Continent. Saint Nicholas continued his writing and theological activity in America, both in Serbian and in English. He tried, as far as possible, to help the Serbian monasteries and some acquaintances in his homeland, sending modest parcels and donations.

In the USA, Bishop Nicholas taught at the Seminary of St. Sava in the Libertyville Monastery, the Academy of St. Vladimir in New York, and at the Russian seminaries - Holy Trinity in Jordanville and St. Tikhon's in South Canaan, Pennsylvania.

Bishop Nikolai devoted all his free time from work at the seminary to scientific and literary works, which represent the most outstanding and rich side of his activities during his stay in America. It was here that the talents given to him by God were best demonstrated: breadth of knowledge, scholarship and hard work. When getting acquainted with this side of the Bishop’s activity, one is struck by his extraordinary fruitfulness. He wrote a lot, wrote constantly and on various issues. His pen never rested, and it often happened that he wrote several works at the same time. The saint left a rich literary heritage.

At home, the Yugoslav communists did not forget about the ruler. It is known that when the new patriarch was elected in 1950, the name of the saint was on the list of those bishops who, in the opinion of the authorities, in no case should have been allowed to be among the candidates for the patriarchal throne. Along with other Serbian bishops, the bishop was listed as an ardent opponent of the communist regime. By decision of the communist authorities, Bishop Nicholas was deprived of Yugoslav citizenship, which finally put an end to the possibility of his return to his homeland. Nevertheless, the Holy Synod informed him annually about the upcoming Councils of Bishops, to which he could no longer attend.

Vladyka spent the last months of his life in a Russian monastery in South Canaan (Pennsylvania). The day before his repose, he served the Divine Liturgy and received the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The saint peacefully departed to the Lord early in the morning on Sunday, March 18, 1956. From the monastery of St. Tikhon, his body was transferred to the monastery of St. Sava in Libertyville and on March 27, 1956, he was buried near the altar of the temple in the presence of a large number of Serbs and other Orthodox believers from all over America. In Serbia, upon the news of the death of Bishop Nicholas, bells were rung in many churches and monasteries and commemorations were served.

Despite communist propaganda, veneration for Bishop Nicholas grew in his homeland, and his works were published abroad. Father Justin (Popovich) was the first to speak openly about St. Nicholas as a saint among the Serbian people back in 1962, and St. John (Maksimovich) of San Francisco called him “the great saint, Chrysostom of our days and the ecumenical teacher of Orthodoxy” back in 1958. .

The relics of St. Nicholas were transported from the United States to Serbia on May 5, 1991, where they were met at the airport by the Serbian Patriarch Paul, numerous bishops, clergy, monasticism and people. A solemn meeting was arranged in the church of St. Sava on Vracar, and then in the Zhichsky monastery, from where the relics were transferred to his native village of Lelic and placed in the church of St. Nicholas of Myra.

On May 19, 2003, the Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church unanimously decided to canonize Bishop Nikolai (Velimirović) of Zic. By definition of the Council, his memory is celebrated on March 18 (on the day of repose) and on April 20 / May 3 (on the day of transfer of the relics). The church-wide glorification of the saint of God, Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Ohrid and Zich, took place on May 24, 2003 in the Church of St. Sava on Vracar.

On May 8, 2004, the first monastery in honor of St. Nicholas of Serbia was consecrated in the Shabatsky diocese. In this monastery there is a museum of the saint and the “House of Bishop Nicholas.”

From , published by the Sretensky Monastery publishing house. You can purchase the publication in the store " ".