Nicholai Studies Notices, July–December 2021: The Legacy of St. Nicholai Velimirovich

Abstract

The fourth Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion took place in Münster (Germany) between Monday, August 30th and Thursday, September 2nd, 2021. University of Münster (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster) was the organizing institution. This year, more than 800 participants from around the world participated in the conference, which contained 163 panels. On Wednesday, September 1st, there was a panel dedicated to St. Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich. Panel 155, with the working title “The Legacy of Nicholai Velimirovich” was held in a hybrid format — as a combination of online presentations and presentations of panelists present in Münster. This panel took place at the Philosophisches Seminar (Domplatz 23, 48143 Münster), and was organized by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. As it was announced before the conference, the panel aimed to scrutinize the intellectual legacy of the modern Orthodox theologian Nicholai Velimirovich (1881–1956). Namely, despite the unanimous recognition of his intellectual and spiritual caliber, Velimirovich remains a largely under-researched author both in a Serbian national and an international context. Moreover, apart from being scantily studied, his writings are usually subject to excessive misinterpretation. This is particularly the case with one of the constants of Velimirovich’s work, namely his criticism of certain European ideas. Perhaps, more than any other aspect of his work, Velimirovich’s views on Europe have been approached in a biased way and instrumentalized in highly charged political disputes. August 2021 marked the centenary of the day the Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church took the decision to grant canonical protection to the Russian Temporary Higher Church Administration Abroad (often abbreviated as THCAA) [in Russian: Временное высшее церковное управление], which was soon inherited by the Supreme Church Authority Abroad (abbreviated in English as SEAA) [in Russian: Высшее русское церковное управление за границей (ВРЦУЗ)] — an event in which Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich actively participated. Namely, on that occasion, after the speeches of Metropolitan Gavrilo (Dožić) of Montenegro and the Littoral, Metropolitan Varnava (Rosić) of Skoplje, and Bishop Nicholai of Žiča, “the suggestion of the 4th section, concerning the administration of Russian refugees, was approved unanimously” (Patriarchal Archive of the SOC. Minutes from the 4th regular assembly of the Holy Hierarchal Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, held in Sremski Karlovci on August 18/31, 1921 — quoted according to paper by Rev. Fr. Nikolaj L. Kostur, “The Relationship of the Serbian Orthodox Church to the ROCA: 1920–1941,” Nicholai Studies, Vol. II, No. 3 (2022): 56).