"Then, just as
he suddenly agreed to work on the book after my prolonged prodding,
he also abruptly abandoned the idea (in 1987[?]). I never asked
him for the reason. Asked if he would wish to authenticate the text
of the conversations we had had to-date, he replied, "what
the Serbian Patriarch says out loud, is authentic."
And so, this article
is only a part of the confessions by a person who has for more than
30 years occupied the throne of Saint Sava, as the spiritual father
of Serbia and the Serbian people. Already in his mature years when
he became "the first among the equals" in the Serbian
Orthodox Church's Holy Synod, the time when many people start thinking
about retirement, Mr. Hranislav Djoric (Patriarch's native name)
started the most active part of his life.
In his time, Alexander
Rankovic said about Hranislav Djoric that he was the most talented
diplomat he had ever met. My impression, was however, that this
cunning "Moravian," an anti-Communist by his beliefs,
had been playing a masterful chess game with the Communists for
over 30 years. In this exhausting play, he had no assistants. But,
he was a thoughtful, lucid, distrustful and a cautious-to-high-heavens
lonely old man.
Who won this long,
"real life" chess game? You should look for the answer
in the text of "I and the Communists..."
P.S. Returning home
in June 1989, following the 600-year anniversary celebration of
the Battle of Kosovo, Patriarch fell in his office and broke his
hip. Now, almost 92, he has been in a coma ever since at the Military
Medical Academy in Belgrade. Unable to perform his duties, he was
recently succeeded by Patriarch Paul as the head of the Serbian
Orthodox Church.
According to the Serbian
Orthodox Church Constitution, which was newly (and wisely) modified
at Patriarch German's urging so as to prevent the Communists' meddling
in the selection of the Patriarch, the new Patriarch Paul was selected
by drawing a piece of paper out of a hat. As Patriarch German put
it, the Church selects three candidates it thinks are qualified
for the top spot. But, God makes the final choice...
- §
-
Translated Excerpts
Re. General wisdom/philosophy
Patriarch German:
I have already quoted St. Paul. He had spoken words of
great wisdom: "I am allowed to do anything, but not everything
(I am allowed to do) is useful to me." I have followed this
principle my whole life. And I can say today, in my 83rd year, I
have kept my head between my shoulders after all these years in
part because of this wisdom.
Conversation is like
a flooding river. You never know what it will drag along. Silence
is sometimes more painful that talking. The people who have survived
a cataclysm have the greatest feel for the future.
Re.
Josip Broz Tito and Serbia
Patriarch German:
You know what the Serbian nation thought of the Austro-hungarian
Emperor, Franz Josef, ever since his annexation of Bosnia and Hercegovina
(in the 1800s), through World War I, and all the way till present
times. You see, whatever (harm) which this powerful ruler wished
upon the Serbian people but could not effect it, Josip Broz managed
to do...
.All of us have been
asking ourselves after his death (in May 1980) how is it possible
that this Broz had ruled our lives for so long?! Yet, I hurt more
because of the fact that he had so many loyal followers among the
Serbian people. Just look at the Serbs who have held high or even
lower positions in government after the war (World War II). Considering
the circumstances, whether I wanted this or not, I have met the
majority of these people. As "the first among the equals"
in the Church, I have even had to work with some of them. I hope
that God will forgive me for saying this, but they were nothing
but chaff...
Re.
Serbian people/Yugoslavian state:
Patriarch German:
These Serbs (see the above paragraph) were the sons or the grandsons
of those Serbs who in World War I confronted Franz Josef at (the
river) Drina. I could never explain to myself how something like
that (i.e. such a deformation of character) was possible after just
one or two generations! A similar thought had also haunted Mr. Pimen,
the Patriarch of Moscow and of the all-Russian Orthodox Church.
Many people of note were interested in this subject and had secretly
discussed with me this great Serbian delusion.
Spasojevic: Are
we, the Serbs, one of the "great" nations?
Patriarch German:
Don't talk like that! Believing in things like that got us to where
we are (i.e., in trouble). We are a small nation, and everything
we own, can be pulled along in an ox cart. We could become
a great nation, and we have had many opportunities to become one.
But, we have not cashed in on any of them. Others have been forming
statehoods in the Balkans -- with our help. We are a very generous
people. We almost lost even our own state, despite all the sacrifices
we had made. Did you see the inscription above the Velika Drena
fountain?
Spasojevic: Yes
I have -- countless times. I do not recall it verbatim, but I know
that the basic message was that Serbia was always winning in
war time, and losing in peace time.
Spasojevic: Your
Holiness, you and I are "Moravians." Is it true, as some
people say, that we, as the center of "Serbianhood" do
not care enough about the fate of our own people in Yugoslavia?
Patriarch German:
This (question) stems from a flawed thesis that we are a great
nation. We are a nation which is surrounded by smaller nations,
and so we have lulled ourselves into believing that we are something
"big." We are so sure of ourselves and our greatness that
we waste ourselves without hesitation. That's a life, my dear Moravian,
without a national goal. And life without a national goal is doomed
to wandering aimlessly (just as Moses did in the desert?).
Yugoslavia is too
big a meadow for the Serbs. Since we don't have the time
to work all of it, some of it is covered with weeds. Every day our
neighbors who walk by these weedy fields, they scheme of grabbing
them and taking them over from us; and of working them themselves.
A farmer must know what his strength is, so as to match the size
of the meadow to it. It is equally bad having too much land as not
enough.
It is the same with
nations and states. A small nation is happy in a small state; it
is unhappy in a big one. In a big one, a small nation feels diluted,
worried about preserving its national being. But, it is the same
type of a sin grabbing and destroying other peoples' national beings.
Perhaps I am sinning myself talking like this, but I would say that
the Serbs today have not chosen the meadow which matches their strength.
In the end, everything,
I believe, will find its proper place. It won't happen by itself,
but I think that the Serbs will quite quickly find the strength
and the wisdom to choose their real meadow, one whose size God had
intended for them. And so, every wandering, including our own, will
come to an end.
The Serbian question
(within Yugoslavia) can only be solved in a Serbian sovereign state.
We must build a state which is oriented toward the world, and not
one which is constantly consumed with internal squabbles.
I have said enough
things which a Serbian Patriarch should not have. But, these are
the times when silence about the truths is equal to crime. We've
had enough of silence, my brother! Who today, isn't haunted by the
question whether the Serbs and the Croatians can live in the same
state? You and I, and all of us on one side and or other; even if
we were shouting from the top of our lungs that it is possible,
nobody would believe us, not even those of us who were shouting.
Spasojevic: How
come there is so much fear and hatred within almost all of our neighbors?
Patriarch German:
Many years ago, I posed a similar question to Patriarch Pimen.
I will quote to you his answer, because my answer to you would be
similar. "We, the Russians, are the most numerous nation in
the Soviet Union," Mr. Pimen said, "but the discrepancy
in size isn't such that others would hide their hatred. The 'number
one' is always subject to envy, and there is but a small step between
envy and hatred.
Re.
Serbian "National Traits"
The love of freedom
is the soul of the Serbian people. Many are mistaken who believe
that our most important national trait is courage. I think
that the main characteristic of the Serbs is the endurance in
suffering. There is no nation on Earth with such an innate capability
to overcome its suffering. Just consider the times (we've endured)
under the Turkish or the Communist regimes. But, our nation has
an innate ability to recognize the limits of its suffering capability.
The Serbian people
had, in a way, betrayed their national traits during Josip Broz's
reign. But their national being had not changed much in substance.
Many realized that the Communists are nothing to kid about: they
arrested people, beat them up unconscious, sent them to lunatic
asylums... That is why the majority of the nation fled into silence.
The minority were the ones who heartily applauded Broz.
Re.
Albanians in Kosovo
Patriarch German:
I often think that the Albanians (in Kosovo) became greater
victims of the Communist ideology than were we, the Serbs. The Communists
were taking from us and giving to the Albanians. The Albanians were
receiving these gifts not realizing that the Communists were "Indian
givers." Today, the Albanians are finding it hard to part with
the gifts.
Re.
Serbian clergy and the Communists
Patriarch German:
Do you have any idea, Mr. Spasojevic, how many Serbian priests
were killed by the post-War Communist government?
Spasojevic: No,
Your Holiness.
Patriarch German:
That was a mass murder worse than that committed by the "ustashe"
or the Muslims. That's right, that's right... Worse... Pray to God
that it should never happen again. The fear which this instilled
in the Serbian Orthodox clergy was so powerful that even when the
Church was in the right it did not dare raise its voice.
Just think about how
much land the (Communist) government had confiscated from the Church.
Our relations with the government will be good when the State meets
its obligations toward the Church -- which means when it returns
all that it owes it.
Re.
Orthodox Church's democracy
Patriarch German:
Within the Church, we do not look favorably upon extremes
which result from one-mindedness. In order to go forward to a better
future, the Serbian nation must be led by the people who tend to
listen to others.
The Church respects
and practices a collective wisdom. For that reason, for example,
at Hillendar monastery (the original seat of the Orthodox Church),
every decision becomes effective only when the official stamp is
put together. Namely, the stamp is broken up into four pieces, and
each piece is given to a different monk. Only when all four agree,
can their decisions become effective.
Democracy was not
invented, as is widely believed, by the various regimes and their
ideologies. Democracy is an integral part of the Orthodox faith.
That is why we are not the slaves, at any price, of even of our
own traditions. The change in the Church's Constitution, vis-a-vis
the election of the Patriarch, for example, is, at the same time,
its democratization, its adaptation to the contemporary world.
Re.
Church's relationship with the Serbian people
Patriarch German:
The Serbian Church is the spiritual mother of the people. When
everybody was deserting them, she was the only one which stayed
with her people. Only a mother could have done a thing like that.
Re.
Serbs in the West
Patriarch German:
The Orthodox faith is the maker of its own history. Its humanism,
culture, and art were spread originally throughout the Byzantine
and the Russian empires. The October (Russian Communist) revolution
had dealt a terrible blow to the Orthodoxy, but at the same time
it did it a favor. It helped spread it from the East to the West.
The Russian people lost their theologians and spiritual leaders
who continued to spread the Orthodox faith throughout the West.
That's why today, there are Orthodox churches and parishes in Japan,
Africa, America and Australia.
