St. Nikolai Velimirović: We Have Trampled Underfoot Everything That Was Sacred to Our Fathers

 

My brethren, we sinned and were subsequently purified. We offended our Almighty God, and for this we were punished. We defiled our souls and washed away every sin of ours with our blood and tears.

We trampled underfoot everything that was sacred to our fathers, and for this we ourselves were subsequently trampled underfoot.

Our destruction was to be expected, since our schools were without faith in God, our politicians were without integrity, our army was without patriotism, and our rulers were without the blessing of God. Thus our schools, our army, and our entire state were destroyed.

For twenty years we showed no respect for our traditions, and now foreign peoples have deprived us of the light by means of their darkness.

For twenty years we mocked our forefathers, who through their piety attained the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet with the measure by which we judged God and our forefathers, by that same measure we too were judged.

Nevertheless, God forgave us.

Our blasphemous thoughts, words, and deeds—our endless offenses against Almighty God during the period of the two World Wars—initially condemned our people to death. The sentence was carried out, and one in every eight Serbs was executed during the first two years of the German occupation of our country.

Thereafter, the executions ceased, and the sentence was reduced to lifelong enslavement. We were condemned to remain forever subject to the Germans.

Only when our poor people, with their weakened hands, began to light candles and pray did their prayers move the angels and saints to intercede for God’s mercy. Then the All-Merciful God once again reduced the sentence—from lifelong enslavement to two years. The Serbian people were sentenced to two years of captivity, though they had lived a sinful life for twenty years. Is this not mercy? Is there any earthly king who would endure being insulted and mocked for twenty years and still forgive his people? Never and nowhere. Only our God possesses such mercy.

My brethren, what then are we to do now? Let us do anything other than what we did during those twenty years.

Let us not sin, lest we suffer again.

Let us not offend God the Almighty again, lest we incur an even greater punishment.

Let us not defile our souls with sins, lest we have to purify them once again with our blood and tears.

Let us not trample underfoot the sacred things of our forefathers, lest we ourselves be trampled underfoot.

Let us build schools founded upon faith; let us have honorable rulers, a patriotic army, and a state that possesses the blessing of God.

Let each of us return to God and to his own true self. Let no one remain far from God, lest he lose his light beneath the onslaught of the terrifying darkness of foreign peoples with their “beautiful” names and “showy” garments.

Let each of us strive to attain the Kingdom of Heaven. Only in this way will our state endure upon the earth for a longer time. If we are righteous, Heaven will watch over our state. In the heavenly Kingdom reign righteousness, faith, love, truth, mercy, wisdom, and purity....

Consider whether you possess these virtues; and if not, strive all the more to acquire them all. Thus you will become perfect, even as your great heavenly Father is perfect.

Thus you will withstand the dark powers of Hades, which struck our state and tormented us like a nightmare—and will continue to torment us for many years.

Armed with the virtues, you will prove your love for your homeland and show yourselves worthy of the name of Orthodox Christian. May the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit help you unto the ages of ages. Amen.

(Messages to the People from the Concentration Camp at Dachau)

 

Greek source: https://katanixi.gr/agios-nikolaos-velimirovits-podopat/