War as Permitted by God, a Scourge, and a Remedy

Chorbishop Naum of Hvostan and Barajevo | September 5, 2026 | Gučevo, Serbia

 

In the following piece, we present the address delivered by His Grace Chorbishop Naum of Hvostan and Barajevo at the commemorative gathering held on Gučevo on September 5, 2026, marking the 112th anniversary of the Battle of Gučevo.

 

 

Honourable and venerable fathers, venerable sisters in monastic life, dear brothers and sisters,

Guided by love for God and our people, we have gathered again this year at this holy place to pay homage to the immortal Serbian heroes who laid down their lives for the honorable Cross and golden freedom in the glorious Battle of Gučevo. The feats of the Serbian army in the Great War were numerous, and the feat at Gučevo is one of the greatest and most glorious.

With prayerful trembling, we weave a wreath of flowers formed from words of praise and gratitude, lay it upon the Gučevo monument, and cry out from the depths of our souls: Glory and thanks to them!

Through their sacrifice, humanity, and heroism, the Serbian heroes of the Great War became beacons for the Serbian people and proclaimed the truth that heroism means defending oneself from the enemy, while humanity means defending the enemy from oneself. Indeed, the Serbian people’s struggle in the Great War was a righteous struggle against the enemies of the faith and the fatherland—that is heroism. In the face of the enemy’s atrocities, the Serbian soldier was not a beast but a Christlike man—that is humanity. Humanity and heroism brought us to the gates of victory, and the cross borne by our entire people, which we carried humbly and gratefully, opened them.

The Great War, that great madness of humanity and great tragedy, was for the Serbian people a defensive and just war against the force of evil. In it, we did not seize what belonged to others but defended what was our own. We defended our faith and sacred tradition, our churches and monasteries, our customs and culture, our literary creations and handicrafts, our fields and valleys, our forests and mountains, our rivers and lakes, our woollen coats and traditional leather shoes.

Let no one think that there can be no just war on earth. If there is a just war in heaven (see Rev. 12:7), why can there not also be one on earth? In that war in heaven, the good angels, led by the Holy Chief Commander Michael, defeated the utterly evil Satan and his evil angels and cast them out of heaven; in this war on earth, the Serbian people, led by Regent Aleksandar Karađorđević, defeated the evil Austro-Hungarian army and its allies and drove them out of Serbia. That blessed defensive war brought golden freedom to earthly Serbia and a host of nearly one million three hundred thousand New Martyrs to heavenly Serbia.

In the Great War, the Lord Himself determined the outcome. The Serbian people rose against the Austro-Hungarian Goliath and defeated him by the power of Christ, for God’s justice was on our side, and our people trusted neither in their army nor in their own wisdom, but only in God, the Almighty and All-Wise. One pursued a thousand, and two pursued ten thousand, for the Lord God fought for us (cf. Josh. 23:10). Courage is always with the righteous, and fear with the unrighteous.

Our enemies went to war against us because they had not first waged war against themselves, against their own passions and sinful desires. If a person does not wage war against himself, then he wages war against God and other people. Sin separates man from God and turns him into a beast. Sin is the cause of all disagreements among people and of all wars. Through an alliance with Satan, man becomes greedy and starts wars. Austro-Hungarian greed set the Great War in motion, while God’s justice decreed that those who coveted what belonged to others should ultimately lose even what was their own and disappear from the stage of history.

For the Serbian people, the Great War was permitted by God, a scourge and a remedy. With the scourge of war, the Lord shook the dust of sin from the soul of the nation. With the bitter remedy of war, the Lord halted the progress of a deadly disease, prevented the far greater catastrophe towards which the Serbian people were heading, and stopped the final extinction of the spirit and the final death of the soul. For after Turkish bondage and misery, the Serbs had begun to admire “European culture and values”—or, more precisely, to admire Satan dressed in finery. The Great War taught us to value the human person more than “European culture” and perishable wealth, and to think more about heaven than about earth. Amid the whirlwind of war, Saint Sava thundered to the Serbs: “Children, lift up your hearts.” Many Serbs heard that voice and, together with Saint Sava, cried out to God: “Enough, O God; spare the remnant.”

After the bitter remedy of the Great War, the Serbian people became spiritually healthier, but not completely healthy. As time passed, their spiritual health deteriorated again, so the Lord permitted great suffering in the Second World War as well. It was an even harsher scourge and an even more bitter remedy. This scourge did not bring us to our senses; on the contrary, we became even worse. The post-war communist period showed that the disease had worsened, as many candles for the family patron saint’s feast were extinguished, and icons were cast out of homes and replaced with pictures of Comrade Tito. Persecution of the Church began at the hands of renegade Serbs—the communists. Churches became empty, while taverns and stadiums were full.

When this evil too had passed, an even greater evil came, an all-encompassing evil: the pan-heresy of ecumenism. Heresy is the greatest punishment that can befall a people for their sins. It is the death of the soul. As much as the soul surpasses the body in worth, so much does heresy surpass war as an evil. Because of communism and ecumenism, the Lord permitted our people to suffer anew in the wars of the 1990s. In those wars, we lost the western Serbian lands and Kosovo and Metohija.

Ecumenism, that infernal worm, continues even today to gnaw silently at the soul of the Serbian people and threatens to kill it completely. Today it is our greatest enemy, our latest [Oskar] Potiorek. Thanks be to God for giving us Bishop Artemije of blessed repose to lead a war pleasing to God against this utter evil. Through the prayers of Saint Sava, the Holy Bishop Artemije, and all the Serbian saints, we believe that we shall defeat this enemy too and drive it out of the Serbian land, just as our glorious ancestors once drove out the Austro-Hungarians.

Today we live in the peace and freedom that our brave ancestors secured for us. But do we use that peace and freedom to serve God? Unfortunately, we do not. There is much evil among our people. Hundreds of thousands of children are killed each year through abortion. Fornication and adultery kill many Serbian souls. It is truly rare for young people to enter marriage as virgins. Scantily clad bodies reign supreme on our streets. The souls are naked, and so are the bodies. A high percentage of marriages end in divorce. Few families live a Christian life and put God first. Because of all this, the family, that basic cell of society, has been largely destroyed. Many people are addicted to drugs, tobacco, alcohol, mobile phones, and social media. This is why our hospitals, madhouses, and prisons are full. There is little harmony, love, or respect within the family or in society at large.

Because of our passion-ridden and sinful lives, the peace in which we live is hateful to God and will certainly not last. If we do not repent and return to God, we shall soon be punished with another war, more devastating than any before it. Let us remember: a people’s godlessness is the cradle of war, and “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Heb. 12:5).

The Holy Prophet Isaiah once proclaimed that lasting peace can be found only in the piety of the people: “Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea” (Is. 48:17–18).

Therefore, let us return to God through personal and national repentance, and we shall have lasting peace and God’s blessing. Let us not allow the Lord once again to perform the surgical operation of war, an operation that goes beyond every other remedy of God. Let us not trust in the wisdom and ability of our national leaders and politicians; let us not trust in any man, whoever he may be, for thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord” (Jer. 17:5).

Serbs, the Lord God is a sturdy ship in the storm, our strength and our refuge—not man!

Above all, let us not trust in our economy, the most advanced weaponry, motorways, factories, artificial intelligence, and the other dust of which our present rulers boast so much. Let us trust in God alone, for every other trust is a deception of the devil.

Let us cry out to God: We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have acted unjustly before Thee; we have neither kept nor fulfilled what Thou hast commanded us, but forsake us not utterly, O God of our fathers (Dan. 9:5–6).

Let us confirm our repentance by a pure life, and we shall hear from the Lord: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, and uphold you with My righteous right hand. Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; they will become as nothing, and your adversaries will perish. You will seek your opponents but will not find them; those who wage war against you will become as nothing and cease to exist. For I, the Lord your God, hold you by your right hand and say to you: Do not fear; I will help you” (Is. 41:10–13).

May God grant that we Serbs of today may also live our earthly lives in holiness and righteousness, as did our holy ancestors, so that we too may say with them: “All was holy and honorable, and acceptable to our dear God.” May God’s name be glorified through our lives, so that people may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. Amen. Grant this, O God.

Next year in Prizren!                                           

 

Serbian source:

https://www.eparhija-prizren.org/horepiskop-naum-rat-kao-dopustenje-bozije-bic-i-lek/