Жива Црква ; Christianity and War ; Leters of a Serbian to His English Friend (1915.) -...

8/14/2019 ; Christianity and War ; Leters of a Serbian to His English Friend (1915.) - Nicholai Velimirovic

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UCSB I IQRARY___ ~ - - - - ,

rKV1[JF\ UFK[J F\HE,LlElbHV1 rnACHV1K CnOBEHCKOr XFV1WliAHCTBA

Christianity and War .

Letters of a Serbian to his English Friend

3 rbYJO PK - - 1915 3..J, _ " ! " '


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HO\V quickly have flown these last seven years, n1ydear Friend, since v\'e bade each other Farewell at

the University. Soon after our ' parting I was able togreet you as an English clergyman, and not long after-wards you had the opportunity to greet n1e as a SerbianclergYlnan. And our correspondence has continued uninterrupted till to-day. Can you relnember how beautifully you wrote to n1e once: "For the true friendship oftvvo 111en there exists neither distance, tin1e nor space;neither does na:tional frontier, or difference of Governll1ent, or difference of Confession, or of race play anypart here." In this I agreed with you. Such a friendship in truth existed between us. But it is better to haveand to feel this friendship than to describe it. The chiefthing is that we were friends even at that time when ourrespective nations were not yet allied, and that we arefriends to-day, and that we shall be friends to-morrowwhatever n1ay be the constellation of the stars in heavenor of the nations upon the earth. But we must bothconfess that this War has brought cr considerable changein our soul-life: it has strengthened our friendship. Forit is a rule that \Var Jnakes kinsmen more akin andfriends n10re friendly. As birds driven by the stormgather together in con1panies, nestling each under theother's wing, so we mortals before this terrible storm ofWar gather together more closely to one another, under-stand one another more intimately, and more intin1ately

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ffiIIBA n P K B Ado we question each other. '\lVhat do you think aboutthe \Var?' I asked you, and you sent me your sennonsand addresses edited during this \lVar. From these Ihave perceived how every nerve of yours has quiveredunder these catastrophic events.

And you put to me the same question. On Christmas Day I received fronl you an A.merican periodical,Everybody's A1agazille) in which I found an article underlined by you: (If the Christia1ls fight) are the}' stillChristia1ls?' I ha\'e for SOlne Inonths delayed myanswer. For meanwhile Serbia was living through asecond devastating crisis: diseases (the first crisis wasthe inrush of the Austrians). Therefore I \"as \"hollyabsorbed by the frightful lilisery in the Inidst of \\"hichI found myself. Permit Ine please, nly Friend, to giveyou now an ans\yer in the fornl and style which youdesired.

IIIs it not tr'.Je, P.'}Y l ~ r i e r l d , that Europe to-day must

stand a little a ~ h a l n e d before A.sia? ;\ot that A.sia hasgiven all gods to humankind and Europe none, but because Europe is to-day \\"aging a \\"ar \\"hich Asia couldonly describe-in the most inlaginatiYe apocalyptie form.Europe, which only the other day shone so lustrously before the \ \ " o r l d ~ to-day is shedding around herself onlyred and black rays-red from blood and black fronl sin.Kation is rising against nation, race against race, faithagainst faith, account against account, earth againstheaven-and, it seems, heayen against earth. HungryChronos devours unsparingly his children. All previouscatastrophes of K ature from which humanity suffered

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CHRISTIANITY AND VVAR

were but pin-pricks in cOtnparison wi th this one whichn1en have brought upon thet11selves. All the earthquakesand deluges, all the conflagrations and plagues of thepast two or three hundred years have not consumed son1any hun1an lives, and brought to those who survive, son1uch pain, suffering and despair as this European \Varhas already done. Has the earth perhaps slipped heraxis? the wise n1en ask themselves. Or is it that the occult powers of evil have so beclouded the brain of theEuropean peoples that they know not what they do?others are asking. 1-Iow can it be that men who haverisen to nail their neighbours on the cross do not perceive that while they crucify others they are crucifyingthel11selves? And that, in causing pain to others, theyn111st inevitably cause the san1e pain to then1selves? Andthat in destroying the lives of others they are alsodestroying their own lives? "For we are members oneof another." (Ephesians IV. 2S).

\ Vhere is religion, where Christianity? \Vhere, indeed, is Christianity? How can Chrstianity be reconciled with \Var? \Vhy does not Christianity stop vVar?The \\hole world is perplexed and troubled by these questions; questions for which they find nowhere a clear ans\ver. Reading American journals, I notice that the NewvVorld ponders these questions with not less pain thanEurope-even 1izore painfully than Europe ! - a ~ adaughter is more grieved by the sufferings of her motherthan is the n10ther herself. But nobody in all the worldfeels the load of such questions like the n1inisters ofChrist and the preachers of His Gospel. Be assured, myFriend, that the Christian people and their n1inisters inSerbia 'live not by bread alone', but also search sincerelyand painfully for the answers to the above questions. On

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jJt H B A I( P 11 B Athat account allow me both as a minister of the Gospeland as an eye-witness of the vVar to give the sameanswer to you that I have given to my Serbian flock, impelled as I am by the sanle spiritual needs as all religiousmen of the Old and New Worlds.

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vVhere is Christianity? That is the first question.My answer is: Only' there..:t!:!!1e!!. _sufJerillD is. If I saythat, I do not mean unlllerited suffering only, but 111eriteclsuffering too. For all suffering purifies and ennobles.Suffering for righteousness is always suffering causedby others and suffering for unrighteousness is alwayssuffering caused by ourselves. The righteous Inan al-ways suffers, either for those who have lived beforehim, or for those \vho \yill live after him. The cause ofa good Inan's suffering lies outside him; the cause of abad 111an'S suffering lies within him. Just as sufferingstrengthens the good nian in hls goodness, so it weakensthe bad man ill his \yickedne ::s . 'The l11an who never suffered either in soul or 111 body was never a Christianman. The history of Christianity is the history of suffering in all its nlyriad fornls. The Church sufferedeither frOIn the persecutions or the favours of the State;either from outside tyranny or internal pride; eitherfronl philosophers or froll1 fools; either froll1 fanaticsor apostates; frOID hindrances either without or within.All Church history is interwoven with suffering,-andthat, the suffering of sinners and of saints. The sinnerssuffered in the doing of the sin; the saints as they re-garded it. Not Judas alone suffered because of his great

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sin, but many and many others, yesterday and to-daYrwho have beconle conscious of the enof1nity of his sin.In respect to Judas, I think that his soul was very nearto Christianity in the mOlnent when he suffered thoseagonies of relTIOrse. And the Apostle Paul !J uffered'when he n1erely saw the idolatry of Ephesus and the in1-morality of Corinth; as indeed he suffered, too, when hebeheld in spiritual vision the sufferings of this travailingcreation. (Rom. VIII. 22). All great s,ouls in pagan aswell as in Christian tin1es have best loved to dwell intheir l11clancholy solitude (Honler, Heraclitus, Or-pheus, Pythagoras, Plato, Virgil, Seneca, Basil, Dante,St. Bernard). \A/ hen I a sked one of 111y pupils: 'I-Iow doyou inlagine the great Fathers of the Church?' Hc re-plied: "As n1en who never smiled," and I did not objectto the answer. Indeed, it is very difficult for us to connect a sn1ile with the lnouth of ChrysostOlll, Athanasius tor I(nox; even as it is also equally difficult for us to disconnect a snlile frOln the lips of the priest of Di cnysus.But behold: as have been those great n1en who exprcssedChristianity in ethical-dogmatical fonnulae, havebeen also the 111en who expressed it in verse, in colours,in v.:oodv"Tork or in stone. Dante, de Vinci, lVIichaelAngelo and the great builders of Rhein1s Cathedral, ofNotre Danle and of vVestminster Abbey lived, as is wellknown, in the saIne secret Inelancholy as the first Fathersof the Church. Such were the great n10dern representa-tives of Christianity too: Butler, Lamnlenais, Solovief,Newman. Such were, finally, the great exponents ofChristianity in literature: Tolstoy, Dickens and Dostojevsky. There has never been in the world any sainthappy under the shadows of his neighbours' sins. \Vhy111USt all great souls be melancholic? Because great

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JIt II B A P Ii B Asouls always suffer in the sufferings of their fellow t11en.But 110 matter how dark Inay be thc tl1clancholy of apurc Christ ian soul, it is never darker than the cloudsthrough \\'hich pierce the rays of the sun. Christian op-tim is111. like the distant sun of our universe, penetratesthosc In elancholy garments which en robe the good andsuffering souls of earth. Thus Christianity is not alight which dazzles by the brilliance of its burning rays,but rather a nlild and tender light which COIlles throughclouds to meet and greet our longing souls.I s there any Christian spirit anlong the Europeanpeoples who are fighting now? That is the question.\-res, Illy Friend, I say Yes. However paradoxical itInay seenl, I ll1ai11tain that in this vVar, in which fron1day to day are being killed tens of thousands of htl111anbeings, nlore Christian spirit is being shown than in thepeace of yesterday.

IVDo you not think, l11y Friend, that the first quality

of the Christian spiri t is hJl1nility? The name of the peaceof yesterday was Pride. Proud \vere the nlen of scienceof their knowledge, the artists of their art, the nobility oftheir titles, the rich of their riches,-and all living men,in general, proud of their fancied in1nlense superiorityin the schenle of things! (cf. J renliah IX. 23.) Be-fore this \ Var the ll1en of science imagined that theykne\v all things; the nobility that they alone possessedl1oblenlindedness; the rich that they had all riches, andevery living I11an, in general, that human life was of in-finitely 1110re value than any other kind of life in Nature:

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C}-IRISTIANITY AND WA R'Our great scientific nlind can save humanity fronl allcala111ity,' said the nlen of science. 'Our "wealth is thegreatest good of humankind,' thought the rich. 'Our"traditional nlanners and prestige keep Society inequilibriurn, imagined the nobility. Our life is by farthe greatest thing in Nature, without us Nature wouldbe blind and dead,'-such was the conviction of the nlajority of living Inen. People were talking about theOver-nlind, the Over-nlight, the Over-state (v. Bernhardi), the over-Man (Nietsche). 11eanwhile, themighty Alps beheld wth scorn all hun1an works, opinionsand generations which \vere one after the other, downat their foot, nlarching to their oblivion and their grave.The spirit of humility was banished to the peasant'shut and dwelt anlongs't the poor and little. Truly thecrowded Cathedrals remained in the cities, but the peoplein their pride were as cold as the ancient pillars. Thespirit of hUl11ility was absent from po1itics, science, art,factory, and even from theology. Religion had beenreduced to theology, theology to science, and science toconceit. This spirit ruled n10st of all in Gern"!any.Nietschianisnl, which was only the final phase of Germany's gradual rise in pride and fall in humility duringthe last roo years, had penetrated, as water penetratesa sponge, the whole intellectual and social life of Germany. In nlore than twenty Gernlan Universities waspreached and taught essentially Nietschianisnl. I speakas a witness who has hinlself sought light at GermanUniversities. In these Universities all principles, religions, social, philanthropic, and ethical, were destroyedmore radically than the howitzers of to-day are destroying the 1110nunlents of culture, through which, asthrough their eyes, look down upon us the generations

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jR 11 B A P Ii B Awho have gone before us on this planet. Biblical criticisnl-these sad docta ignorantia-left behind nothingof the Bible, as Lange rightly says, but the covers.Philosophical criticisll1 either created idols, or agitatedfor idolatry, or exposed the great thinkers only to ridicule. Literary criticisnl has done nothing but sow hotsand upon the green nleado\vs. Juristic criticisnl haseaten into and corrupted the solid juristic conceptions ofthousands of years and stopped only with respect be- \1fore the 111onstrous theory of the U eberstaat (OverState), which the ambition of neurotic men created fora day. Social criticisl11-even in the middle of the I9thcentury-resulted only in the watchword: der Ei11::igeHnd sein EigeltthulH (}Aax Stirner).*)

The other nations of Europe were somewhat outdistanced by Germany in her foolish destruction of thegood and her construction of nlol1strosities. But Englandand Russia renlained farthest behind upon this road,along which Gennany tugged the whole world to certainruin. Even in these latter countries, however althoughthey \vere the nlost sober, there was room enough forpride,-scientific, comercial, artistic, political.

Then came the War.I don't know the man who could convince me that

in the peace of yesterday there was nlore Christianspirit than in the War of to-day,-I say in the peace ofyesterday, when a nlan had regularly only his one selfishsorrow, than in the War of to-day, when a 111an hasnlany sorrows about many thousands of human beings,his brothers and compatriots.

*) The single individual and his possessions.-8


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Then came the catastrophe, and pride went away.The nlan of science found hinlself in the saI11e trenchwith the ignorant nlan; the peer with the fishernlan, themillionaire with the beggar. What a 111erciless contrastto the peace! \\.That a sudden change in souls and hearts.What a rapid reconciliation in the appreciation of thenew standards of worth! The scientific nlan perceivedthat he was notl1111ch wiser than the ordinary nlan. Thepeer was astonished by the unexpected nobility of 'Soulwhich he found in the fishen11an. The 111illionaire felthimself under the same fate as the beggar. Humility!A certain Professor, very proud of his great knowledge,who \vas for a long til11e in the trenches at Belgrade withthe sinlple peasants, told ll1e once: HI was a long time inthe trenches and I anl sorry to leave them. I am greatlydisappointed now. I anl convinced that these sinlplepeasants have nluch nlore knowledge and noble feelingthan I ever supposed; while I have COl11e to see that, incomparison with thel11, I nlyself kno\v lnuch less, and feeln1uch less nobly, than I ever inlagined." That was asincere confession. I suppose, ll1y Friend, that to you,too, such confessions are 110t unknown in your parish.

vBut look, nly Friend, how wonderful is this! Be-

sides the hunlility of 111an to 111an that has been shown inthis \Var, there has arisen another kind of hunlility,-even the hunlility of nlall to all Nature. A whole yearnow have 111en been close to their aniIllals, sleeping by ,their horses and eating alongside their oxen. A whole Iyear now have l11i11ions of the healthiest nlen in the

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jlt II B A u: P Ii B Aworld sat and lain under the earth, with their face rest-ing on the so il and e111bracing the wood and stones intheir slee p. }\ whole year now have tnen looked atherbs and pl ants, and even the roots of plants, touchingthenl in the closest intimacy, breathing in the111, living\vith them, and whispering with thenl . FrOln this in-tilnacy of 1nan with Nature nothing is excluded: neither\vater nor light, neither the starry heavens, nor rain norfog; nor height of Carpathians, nor depth of the Atlantic. In thi s close fellowship with Nature, every nlan hasexperienced the sanle disappointment that the Professorof whom I spoke told nle he had felt anl0ng the Serbianpeasants in the trenches at Belgrade. That is to say,every 111an has looked deeper into Nature; into her life,into her very soul; and, looking deeper, he has perceivedthat Nature also lives; lives, and suffers and thinks;even thinks by some secret transcendental organ, as hehilllself does, -he, the boasting king of nature. Andfurther, every nlan who puts his ear to the heart-beatof Nature perceives yet nlore: that the life of Natureis more healthy and harnlonious than the life of nlan.And this precious experience leads to humility. I per-sonally have had this experience-and so, as I havefound inquiry, have 111any and many who have spent atleast some weeks of intilnacy with the earth and hersilent children-the eleillents. Nature silently suffers. Iwas in the trenches as a nlilitary chaplain. I listened tothe breathing of the earth, and I felt the harnlony of1ife a1nid the plant-world; I felt, too, the pain of thetrees torn and ripped by lead and iron, and I understoodthe infinite submission of ox and horse to higher, foreign\vilI. And as I had listened to all, felt all, understood all,I put to myself the question which many others have

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put to themselves: Is indeed Man greater and betterthan Nature? Have you put this question to yourself,my Friend? Humility!

VI0:1,[ of the depths have I cried unto Thee) 0 Lord!

Are we not in the depths-in deeper depths than waseven the poet of the Psaln1s, my friend? But have nofear; in these very depths religion will be born. Oftenvery often, when n1en are in the deepest depths they arenearest God. I will speak now upon the third kind ofhumility, which is born in the depths,-humility towardsGod. Der E'illzige 1l11d sein Eige1ltlut11L J i. e. proud manhas lain hidden behind a heap of earth under a rain oflead and iron, has watched the ants in this heap, andthought that his own life was not much surer, that hewas no more the lord of his life than the ant which wasunder his foot. One must know that the man who is \hidden in the black earth, and surrounded with a musicof lead and iron, has a philosophy of life quite differentfrom that of the nlan who, in peace-tin1e in a great town,in the drawing-roon1 after lunch sits and quietly thinksover his business. Millions of things which have greatworth for the latter are for the iorn1er quite worthless.By the fornler, love, n10ney, ordinary business, lTIOSt ofthe affections, 1110St of the aIl1bitiol1s-these are all forgotten. In the battle of Valevo an Austrian officer wasseriously wounded. He died on the battlefield. He wasfound lying on his hack with hands clutching the photograph of a little child. To this n1an had returned beforehe died the recollection of his fan1ily. The past came

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m I B A 1\ P It n Aback to hinl just before his death. In general, however,nlen in the trenches live exclusively in the present, andhave in eye only two things: Ii fe and victory. But theset\\"o things of worth are so little dependent upon the n1enthenlsel yes ! They feel it; they are convinced of it.They feel that these two values are valueless before SOIneThird which d0111inates all. That is an age-long experience of the human race in \Var. In ancient tilnesGod was called "the Lord of hosts",-the Lord of arI11ies, in Illodern speech. And indeed nowhere else doesone feel so intensely that God is near as on the field ofbattle; that He is so overwhelming, so irresistible, soomnipotent. Even the man who in tin1e of peace neverbelieved in God feels that a Third, one unknown, is in-tervening in hU111an life and is taking into His handsthe bridles of all hU111an 1110venlent. I personally haveexperienced this, that vVar has converted nlany of theInost fierce unbelievers into believers. The Socialists inSerbia fought as bravely as the Ill0St ardent Nationalists.I heard from l11any of these Socialists that during this\Var they had COIne to believe in God. Travelling froInNish to Belgrade, a Socialist soldier told 111e of the sufferings he went through during the War and he closedwith these \vords: "As a Socialist I considered that In1ust be an A theist too. That was my 111istake. NowI have new thoughts, a ne\v soul. Believe I n ~ , \tVar givesa new soul to a l11an. God, vVho had the last place inmy thoughts, now occupies the first." I anl sure thatno n1issioner has converted so I11any unbelievers as hasthis \Var. \Var is the greatest lnissioner. If HeavenseEds '\Var to Earth, it sends it as a missionary to turnthe eyes of Earth towards Heaven. And so, to the ques-tion, ' ' 'Vhere to-day is Christianity?' we need not give a

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despairing answer. We can reply: 'It is there, whereit was, and even where it before never was.' Where itwas it is now strengthened, and where it was not it is nowspringing up. Where is Christianity? Are you agreedwith nie, my Friend, when I say it is always there wheresuffering has created hun1ility of man to n1an, of man toNature, and of man to God?

VIIBut so soon as we have said what we have said we

are up against another important question: H o w isChristianity to be reconciled with vVar?' The answer:Ii1i1o \ ~ ' y - a r a . es, m y riend,Christianity can in (no ,va y be reconciled wi th War. Chris tiani ty is w hi te; :\Var is black. Christianity is n1idday; \Var is tnidnight.Therefore, perhaps, the n1en who find themselves en-circled by black are long ing for white; they who are en-circled by n1iclnight are long ing for midday. Withoutdoubt ""Var strengthens the relig ious consciousness ofInen like all g reat catastrophes. And yet Christianityneither causes nor requires nor r econciles itself with\7'/ar. D oubtless, too, Chris tianity gains by War manyii10 re fo llowers, and yet Christianity never desires togather followers by this Inanner. Never in the world'shi story ex isted so sincere a desire for Christian peaceand love 2.S now exists in conte111porary Europe. Neverdid the ideal of Christ seem to enlightened hum 2.Y1 ity sob 1 i 1 ~ 1 e over all other ideals, so true, so i r d ! : : p e n s a b

as it is now in this time of cataclysln. But the man whoawaits the cataclysm of W ar for the benefi t of Chris-

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JKHBA QPJl.BAtiani ty will be similar to the old sceptic of Galilee whoasked a miracle of Christ before believeing in Him.B le ssed are they who have seen no nliracle, and yet havebelieved! Blessed a n ~ they who before this cataclysn1 of\Var reached this religious consciousness and Christianideal! They are the Inen built of better material. Christdid not ,York Iniracles for the sake of those who believed,but for the sake of those who did not believe. Themiracle of \ Var, too, God allows not for the ~ a k e of thebelievers but for the unbelievers. IVIiracles are neveranything other than inferior aid to belief-an inferioraid for inferior natures. Such an aid for such naturesis the War too. But for the superior intelligence andthe noble heart Natur is the chief aid to belief, and amiracle only incidental and exceptional; the \vhole ofNature is, indeed, one great "miracle", and all other little miracles are only tedious methods of education forlower intelligence and the less noble souls. rvien of harmonious soul feel God in the Inidst of peace as intenselyas the man of unharmonious soul feels Hin1 in the midstof War. For the former one ray of the sun is sufficientto write before their eyes the name of God; whereas thelater cannot read the great Name unless it be written inthunder and lightning, by eclipses and earthquakes andrivers of blood, and by all the n1isery of VIar. H undreds of those who, before the War, could not see God inNature have met Hin1 in the \i\1ar. Thousands of thosewho in time of peace looked down upon the Gospel fromtheir lofty heights sought it in \Var with longing and superstition, that they nlight protect their heads fronl theenemy's bulles. All those \\"ho had ridiculed Religion inpeace time stopped silent after the Iniracle of Vvar hadcome: Silel1 t they go into Chnrch, silent they visit cenle-


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teries, silent count the graves of their friends, and calculate their own place alongside them. Their soul is suffering a shock; their silence should be respected as werespect a death-chamber, because in their souls an oldworld is dying to give place to a new. In humiliationnow they perceive that all their one-sided preaching on'scientific ethics' and 'en1ancipation from religion' wasonly empty phraseology; but they perceive, too, that thisWar has brought the greatest benefit to themselves: theWar has rescued then1 from their errors and delusions,for now they know the center point of the universe to benot in themselves, but God. The War bas brought themto sobriety and to punishment. This punishn1ent consists in their shame that they could not perceive in peacetime the presence of the unseen powers of the Universe;that they had dethroned God and defied man; and thatthey allowed their personal pride to make them incapableof humility towards Nature, :rvlan ltnd God. This War Ihas conle as poison againt poison-poison from outsidea's antidote to poison inside. Christianity does not useevil against evil. By evil, indeed, a man sometimes comessooner to a good goal, but that very goal itself ceasesthen to be good, since it was attained by evil. To befirst in the race is in itself a good thing, is it not? Youmay stand and applaud the champion in the competition.But imagine that in this very moment you get the assurance that this chan1pion had during the race dug aknife into the ribs and back of his h o r ~ e that he mightcover the ground more quickly; and imagine, still further, that in the 1110n1ent of the rider's triumph, thehorse sinks clown to earth by reason of his v\'ounds ! Isuppose your great applause would be changed into anoutburst of fury against this horseman. Suddenly his

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jit I! B A P It B Agood ~ C l a l \\,i11 scen1 110 10;lgcr ~ o o d to you, but horr iblein the 1110illcnt of your new experience. St. Pa111 calledhis life a racc. ;\[ethinks that thc whole hi:.;tory ofChristianity rcprcsents a race. ] 11 this race to the bestgoal in the Ko rld one should go by the bcst \ \ - ~ y s , but inthc I011g hi story of Chri stianity 111Cl1 have gone by bo thgood and evi l \yay s, and l1Ien have used good and evil!11cthous. It \\-as a :;.>; reat l11i stake to think that Inencould come by Pagan l11Cthods to real Chri stianity, asit is a 11115 akc to fea r tba t by Chri stian lTJethods \\ 'C aregoing to Paganism. I anI sure Christianity has neverfailcd in rega rd to the goal.. but she has sonlct1nlesfailed in her 1Jlethods. Therefo re the race of Christianityhas been so long. For evil 111Cthods only seenl to bringus near to the good goa l; ill reality they take us fartheraway fronl it. For this reason, ho\yever, l11uch apparentand 1110nlentary benefit ll1ay accrue to Christianity byVi ar, she cannot accord with \Var. She cannot readilyacc ord with \ Var either ( I) regarding it a s a l\'1iracle or(2) as Evil. Unfortunately, during nl2.11 y centuriesChri s tianity has been often supported by two ll1ethods,lVIiracles and Evil, by 1\vo quite unnccessary and superfluous Inethods, which she ought 110t to have need o f especially after 19 centuries of her existence. \Vhenwe \vere still at the University we had this c011victiondo you renlelnber, my Friend ?-and this conviction isnow strengthened by \Var.

VIIIBut-now conIes the last quest ion-when Christianity

cannot be reconciled with \Yar why does she not hinderthe \Var? Let nle answer frankly: Sin1ply because she

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cannot. Christianity is not yet grown strong enough successfully to offer resistance to all the evil in the world.Christianity has not yet becon1e such a power that shecan prevent all oppression. She is still, even now, n10reof an external than an internal force; she is still, now, aoeautiful cathedral \vhich Inen regard Inore from outsidethan feel and built -in themselves inside.

\Vhy, for instance, did not Christianity prevent thebloody circus gaInes of Nero? Because she was tooweak to do it. As soon as she becan1e stronger she didit. \\Thy did not Christanity prevent the crimes of theChristian Byzantine kings, and the many dark sins ofher own chief representatives? Because she was notethically grown enough to do it. Why did not Christianity suppress the Slave Trade earlier than the I9th century? Because she lacked the power to do it. And finally, \:vhy does not Christianity in the 20th century stopthe \\Torld War? Because she is to-day, too, weakerthan the opposing forces. Christianity came into the\vorld not like a finished and polished statue, which likean idol has to produce l11iracles; but she caIne as seedwhich has to "die", to genl1inate, to gro\v, to be troddendo\vn, to be lost,-in a word, to suffer all those manifoldand painful vicissitudes, through which every seed mustgo. Christianity has con1e from the super1latural worldby a '1latural u'ay into this world, and by a natural way,like every seed, she has developed and grown in thisworld. She does not yet don1inate the world, but shedoes serve the \vorld. She is not yet the full inspirer ofpolitics, but she has a n1inistry in politics. She doesnot yet lead the world; because she is still too weak successfully to resist its animal n10tives by her spiritual1110tives. lUany and n1any individuals have reached


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11t n B A P It B AChristian perfection, but human society has reached itnot yet. But she grows and strengthens. For thelargest and noblest tree in history, as is Christianity, itis not too long a tilne yet, this 2,000 years, that it hastake to spread its branches and to begin to bring forthfruit.

During this \Var Professor Baumgarten, Professorof Theology in I-Ciel, has delivered a lecture in which heexplained the relation between Christianity and the great\Var of to-day. He said: "The words of Christ were addressed to his disciples; they contained no reference tothe demands of public life, but concerned solely the relationship of the individual soul to the individual soul andto God. Christ's train of thought cannot be accepted asbeing applicable to us Gernlans, for our political situation is very different from that of his audience. Furthermore, Christ never represented his realnl of peace asbeing attainable by historical developnlent. He describedit as a wonderful achievenlent of God's. And, as a matter of fact, such a reahn of love and peace has its placein a higher world; it is the region of the personality andhas 1lothiJlg 'whatever to do with political or publicl1zatters."

To 80 dreadful an exposition of Christianity has thelast hundred years of Biblical Criticisln brought theological science in Germany. In its extrenle results, thisGcrnlan Biblical Criticism represents Christ as a maniacwho has nothing in conlnlon with the political and sociallife of Inan. .And the truth lies in a dianletrically opposite direction ! No nornlallnan sows a seed, physical orspritual, without expecting growth, developnlent andfruit. And Christ-were he nothing higher than an ordinary and nonnal nlan-must also have expected some

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historical developn1ent fron1 the seed which he sowed.Moreover, Christ, as the conscious founder of a new religion, could not but see the very close connection between religion and public life. The Kingdon1 of Godmust first be within you before it can exist amo1lg you;such is the true teaching of the Gospel. Even with theJews, never were politics and religion separated, andthroughout hun1an history there has existed no religionwhich has not had its influence on politics. Politics arethe resultant of the religion, the n10rality and the education of a nation. Politics is the practical side of thewhole spiritual disposition of a society. If religion beseparated from politics, religion becomes fruitless, andpolitics become narrow-hearted and selfish. Religionn1ust inspire politics. And when politics become Christian, then the \vorld \vill have becon1e Christian. Andwhen the world shall have become Christian, then Warwill be impossible-either as means or end. But if soterrible a War as we see today is not to occur in future,then neither must such a peace as we had yesterday stillbe possible to-morrow. For Christianity is not less atvariance with the War of to-day than with the Peaceof yesterday. The War of to-day is the consequence ofthe Peace of yesterday. Every man who regards historical events sine ira et studio will in this agree with /n1e, and I suppose with you, too, n1y Friend.

IXWhat have we seen with our eyes in the Peace of

yesterday? We have seen men thinking only aboutthemselves, or at most about themselves and their relatives. Vve have seen nlen who had only two thoughts


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jlt !1 B A U; r It B Ain their head: gain and pleasure. \Ve have seen strikesfor gain, intrigues for gain and pleasure, and lies andbaseness for pleasure and pleasure. \ Ve have seen unscrupulous oppression for the \'leak by the strong. Havewe not seen yesterday too-in time of peace-the slaughter and l1lt1rcier of 111en? r-Iave \ye not seen the foolishpride of nlan towards nlan, and towards Nature andtowards God; the pride of the Present towards the Past;of Science towards Religion, and of Art towards Labor:of Town to\\'ards village and of the whole earthly planetto\\-arcls the COSillOS. Shall I l11ention the Inonstrous social, (;COTlO1111C, national a;lcl ecclesiastical differences?E n o u ~ Perhaps I ha\-e asserted sonle things whichare uncertain, but one t h i n ~ ~ is certain: I f we had askedanyone in yesterday's Peace: "Is this peace Christian ornot?" \ye should have received a nega tve ans\ver.

\Vhat do -we see to-day in the \Var? \Ve see greaterhumility of l11an towards nlan, of man towards God andof Inan to-;" ,-ards K aturc. \Ve see, too, a widening ofevery n1an's horizon, for behold! now, every Englishman,,-ho had pbgued hinlself about hinlself and his own affairs has now a nobler o r r o w concerning S0111e 50 millions of hi s f c l 1 o \ \ ' - c o l 1 r ~ t r y m e n , and of Inany times 50millions of 1\ Hies of England. His narrow and constricted sympathies have no\v widened out over morethan a half of our planet. l\Ioreover, we see now such~ e l i - s a c r i f i c e in all belligerent countries as we couldne\-er have dreanled of during the peace of a few monthsago. And we see a great dra\ving together of Inen totHen; a great desire to work in common for the common good; dinlinished selfishness and less craving afterpleasure; a stronger altruisln and self-denial. 'vVe seein ),Ioscow now no nlore drunken people and in Paris no

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1110re u11worthy bacchanalia. Of course we see, too, thatthe price of this 1110ral uplift of n1en is very, very great:blood, agony, devastation, hunger, disease. In the peaceof yesterday, truly, there was less suffering, but less virtue too: less courage, less solidarity, less c0111passion,less self-sacrifice, less humility. \ 1irtue is n10re preciollsthan rubies, but the sparks of virtue can only be pro,duced by the han1n1er of suffering. Christian ascetics,did not flagellate then1selves out of 111ere foolishness,but to strengthen the Christian spirit in thcn1selves. Dyselfin1posed sufferings they accon1plished in then1selveswhat Nature and Destiny, by the flagellation of thispresent "\Var, are accon1plishing in the human fanlily.For the \Var is nothing other than the self-flagellationof humanity. You will say: 'But, alas! how n1any are-dead !' Yes, but great ascetics, too, put to death a greatpart of their being, in order that they 111ight strengthenthe remaining part. I-Iu111anity, in truth, is one Being,in spite of the one and a half Inilliards of its parts uponthe earth. Hun1anity is no abstract notion; it is a fact- one fact, a unity; just as \vhcn we see at ni:;ht a star ,upon which perhaps l11ay live countless beings, \vhich yetto our eyes appears as only one single fact in the universe. Plato's pall-antlzrofos is not l11ere poetry, but anatural, scientific, social and spiritual t r l ~ t h . \Ve are-.connected with the earth which bears us through thecosmos, VJith the a t n ~ o s p h e r c we breathe, v,:th the foodwe take, with the language \YC speak, \vi Lh th2 thoug-h ts" 'C think, \vith the feelings \\ cIccI, and \vith the occultradiation \vhich encircles us. In a \vorcl, we all are one.'Therefore the n1any killed and dead represent only the'n10rtification of a part of the pan-hU1nan organisll1 forthe welfare of the other part.

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.iK n B A P It B AWhen I say that hunlanity is a unity, a whole, I mean

not only hunlanity in the present, but also in the pastand in the future. The present always works only halffor itself and half for the future. Every generationbears in itself more than a half of the past. And thus.more than a half of the sin of the present War belongsto the peace of the past. Therefore we have just as.much cause to revolt aganst the peace of yesterday as:we have to weep over the War of to-day-and evenmore; I say more, because the peace of yesterdaycaused the War of to-day. Is the boulder to be blamedfor rolling down the mountain slope, or the person whoset it in motion? If we \vish to free ourselves from evilconsequences, we must keep clear from their causes.Why do we today kill each other's bodies? Because'yesterday we were destroying each other's souls. Yesterday indeed there were more living bodies in the world,.but fewer living souls. And to-day there are more living souls and fewer living bodies. Viar does spiritualiseh

x

Who is against War? I could not tell you, myFriend. When, in 1908, \Var seemed imminent bet\veenSerbia and Austro-Hungary Tolstoy was yet living. H ewrote then passionately against War. Amid all the talkabout World War, n1any authors expressed thelTIselves.strongly against it. But now that we have been launchedinto a World \\Tar I could not give you one nan1e of anygreat nlan who has openly declared himself against this'War. I don't know \vhether Tolstoy, if he had lived to.see it, would have been antagonistic to this \Var. 11e-

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thinks that against this vVar are-nobody and every-body!

Let us put upon one side the General Staffs. ThePoets and Artists are not against this \Var: e.g:-

Hauptmann and Klinger defended the K ~ a i s e r andGern1an people as the challlpions of righteousness andculture.

I a e t e r l i n c k placed hinlself at the disposal of theBelgian nlilitary authorities that they nlight use hinl.against the Gernlans.Anatole France, an old n1an of 75 years, clothed innli1itary unifornl, wrote: "Soldiers of France, now shootinto the Gern1an flesh !"

Maxinl Gorky, although ill, set out frol11 the Islandof Capri for Russia in order to join the Russian Volun-teers.

Shaliapin, the celebrated Russian opera singer, a n g in the streets to gather n10ney for the volunteers.

Kipling, in his letters to a French friend, expressedhin1self for a decisive struggle against Gennany. "Whatis to be done with the Germans? The san1e thing aswith a n1ad dog. When the dog is nlad, it should bekilled."D'Annunzio is the chief instigator and supporter ofItaly's war with Austro-Hungary.

The Socialists are not against the vVar. E.g. So-{:ialistic leaders in the Gern1an Reichstag shook handswith the Kaiser after he had read the proclamation ofWar. The Nationalistic agitation of Liebknechtthroughout the course of the vVar is well known.Gustave Hervey wrote in his organ La Guerre So-.ciale "Vive Ie Tsar!" along with n1any patriotic andbellicose articles.

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JTh II B A P It B AThe Socialists in England and Russia are now

ponred into one nl0uld with their nations in heart andsoul and spirit, and without a protest and without con-tradiction to their principles, are no\v fighting on theba ttlefield.

The Socialists in Serbia have lost in this War theirbest representatives, \vho have been complinlented upontheir extraordinary bravery on the battlefield.

The wonlen are not against this \Var. At thevVonlen's International Congress in Paris they agreedby resolution that the wonlen approve this \Var, and de-mand that it should continue until national ideals arerealised.

The Suffragettes in England have several ti111es expressed thenlselves in favour of the continuation of thisWar.

The Gernlan \vomen are fiercely preaching a national and holy war.

A nlother in Serbia distributed a card In Aie11l0rial1tof her killed son, in which she stated : -Glad that I couldhave a son to offer in this \Var against Austria."

The Churches are not against the \Var.The Russian Holy Synod gave an order to the

clergy at the beginnng of this conflict to create enthusiasnl for the \Var, and to pray for Russian victory.

In Serbia at every religious service, prayers are offered for victory over the EnenlY; and if a Bishop cele-bates a Liturgy he, \vith Holy Host in hand, 111entionsthe Serbian King, the English King, the Russian Tsar,.the Belgian I(ing and the French Govern111ent.

The Archbishop of Canterbury addressed a letter to1\1r. Asquith in which he, as Primate of the English

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Church, placed at the disposal of the nation all the forces-of the Anglican Church.

The Bishop of London declined to consider the application of any candidate for ordination unless thatcandida te was unable to serve for the War.

The Bishop of Pretoria went to the battlefield, andreported to the English public upon the condition andneeds of the English ArnlY.

All the clergy of Great Britain, English, RomanCatholic and Presbyterian pray, preach and work for thevictory of the English arms.

The Belgian Cardinal, Mercier, wrote a patrioticepistle to the Belgian people, on account of which he wasarrested by the Germans.

The Archbishop of Cologne edited a Pan-Germanicnlanifesto for his flock.A Jesuit Father in Munich declared that the wordsof the Kaiser are beyond all discussion.

Erzberger, one of the leaders of the Catholic Central party, wrote: "Nur keine Sentimentalitaet."

The Court Bishop of King Victor Emnlanuel blessedthe Italian flag in Rome on the declaration of \i\far.

In Italy, "Bishops and priests addressed patrioticadvice to their flocks, while Socialists and others enlisted," as Prenlier Salandra mentioned in one of his,var-speeches.

Intelligence has not been against the War. Thousands of students from Cambridge aid Oxford went offto the Front. The youth of the Serbian University ledthe Army on Rudnik, and gave an example of self-sacrifice. Amongst the Russian students, where was always a great contingent of Nihilists and Socialists, appeared the greatest enthusiasm for the War.


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jR II B A :u P It B AThe sil11ple folk have not opposed the \Var. The

peasants go and are silent. They fight and are silent.They die and are silent. They bear the heaviest burdens of the \Var upon their shoulders. The workingclasses, like the peasants, like the Russian Cossacks andI-Iungarian fanner, go obediently and stoically to death.

Now, \vho is agaillst the \Var?All the 'Lt'orld! All those whonl I have nlentioned

above, and all others ",hon1 I have not Inentioned. Theselast three years I have been with the Anny, and duringthe whole period I have not l11et a single l11an who lovedthe \ Var, no single nlan for whonl the vVar was a poeticenterprise. Be sure, n1y Friend, that all nlen hate the\Var, even those who become by War rich and fal11ous.Only those can love the \ ar who regard it coldly fron1 adistance and fro111 the til11e of Peace. Our generationmight very \vell be fascinated by the Trojan 'Var, by theCrusades, by the Napoleonic calnpaigns, but in no wisecould this present generation fall in love with the vVarof to-day. Those vVars were foreign sufferings, andforeign suffering regarded frol11 a distance is beautifulas a sunset-as a sunset seen through a London fog. Butthis presen t Vvar is Ollr 07.CJH stlffering, our own tears,our own dying,-who could see anything beautiful in hisown tears ?-except he looked through a mist of years!

How ll1uch less beautiful \vere human history without Gethselnane and Golgotha! The beauty of Golgothagrows \vith the years. The beauty of the present Warwill be perceived by the people of future centuries. Butfor us, now, only what is far fron1 us is beautiful-thePeace! But no one of us craves for the Peace of yesterday, for such an un-Christian peace during which Warwas prepared, explosives and howitzers \vere gathered,


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CHRISTIANIT Y AND VVARsublnarines and forts were built; a peace in which vVarwas preached and in which nobody was content.

XIOur 'orientation' in this War will depend upon our

general views of life. There are only two views of life:religious and anti-religious. But the worst religious viewof life is better than the best anti-relig ious. Have youseen, nly Friend, in the British Museunl those Africanand Asiatic idols? Be sure that those idols made thosenlen more happy than any Atheist has ever been madehappy by his 1110St cultivated r\theism. Whatever kind-of relig ion it l11ay be, it cOl11forts, encourages, and incitesto self-sacrifice, and they are three things which pureA theism can never suggest. However primitive maybe the religion, it is always the greatest good possessedby the believer. Think how immense a good is the Christian religion for our generation. Think if the Christianreligion had gone under in her century-long conflict withevil and unbelief, with what now could we console ourselves, encourage ourselves and gird ourselves for sacrifices ? \ Vould it be perhaps by scientific nlorality?Or by metaphysics, or by l11aterial interests? All thesetogether without Christianity do not give life, but killit. Think further that our religion is given us not to bean ornanlellt in our tilnes of happiness, but rather to bea support in our suffering. And as a support in suffering Religion always shows herself-and in this til11e ofWar especially-excellent. She is potent where suffering is, as a nledicine is potent where sickness is. Do notall Christ's words sound in your ears like those of a doctor to a sick tnan. Joseph de Maistre was terribly embit-

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jlt H B A P It B Atered against Rousseau and Voltaire on account of theirsuperficial theisll1. That is the age-long contest betweenAugustinianis111 and Pelagianisl11. Suffering is in theessence of all creatures. St. Paul was not alone in thisconviction. \Vith Paul stands Augustine, \vith Augustine Jansen, wi th Jansen Pascal. Of this convictionwere Joseph de l\1aistre and Dostojevski. I would saytha t Ii fe is tragic rather than sick. I don't know whatdralna is being enacted on other planets, but on ourplanet-I see it clearly-is played Tragedy. In thel11yriacls of t11inor tragedies consists the one great tragedy of this Earth. The web and woof of this great lifetragedy is woven of pain, tears, fears, ignorance, heroiS111, death. In this is interwoven the War, too; the \Varof 111an against things, against plants and anilllals: oflnan against man; and Inan against God. Christianitycon1prehends life as a vivid, intelligent dranla, and neveras a perpetual nletaphysical, deaf and blind repetition.Every dralna has its beginning and its end. The dran:aof man's history, too, had its beginnjng and n1ust haveits end. Geology and astrononlY agree in this point withthe Bible. The earth canle into being, has developed,and will vanish. ?vIan's dranla upon the earth was fromthe beginning tragic. \iVhence came this elenlent oftragcdy? The Bible has an answer and an explanation.Physical science begins to have an answer too, in accord\vith the Bible. To this question the Bible answers:Because in the beginning NIan was poised nlidway between God and Nature; he lost the balance, he turnedhis face fron1 God, and plunged hitnself wholly intoNature. 11:ence, says the Bible, because to man camea Satanic thought, that he could beconle God. But lnan,in his attenlpt at realising this dream, instead of coming


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face to face towards God, wandered away with his backupon God and more and more into things. ':Rhus, instead of becoming God-or even getting nearer to God- h e began to worship things and became himself a thingamongst things. When this human tragedy had beenplayed for ages upon the earth, came Christ to open thefinal act in the " rorld dran1a. Now begins the return toGod. But this return is long and painful. Easier wasit for man to l110unt to pride than to return frotTI pride tohumility. Behold, one thousand years have passed, anda second thousand nearly ended, and still the Christperiod in the hUlllan drama is not near the end. (TheChrist-period c0111prehends the tin1e fron1 Christ despised on Golgotha to Christ glorified in God's Kingdomupon earth.) Christ's glory is still far off. Instead oflistening to angelic voices, we are deafened by the roarof guns and the clash of swords. Involuntarily now werecall the words of \ Tictor Hugo: -

One thing, 0 Jesus, One mysteryDoth frighten me:The echo of Thy voice growsEver weaker to our ear.

("This Century".)But so it appears only. In truth, the voice of Christ

becomes clearer and clearer. And far clearer in the vVarof to-day than in the Peace of yesterday. For the peaceof yesterday v\"as not II,s peace, and therefore, in thispeace was felt so n1uch unrest of Soul; therefore, everyman who sought a true peace was forced to take refugewithin hin1self, as \ve do to-day. Still, we take goodheart of hope. Christ was ever going through the world,invisible; through the deeps, through catacombs. v..,Te


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ffiHBA I ~ P l t B A will hope that after this starIn upon life's ocean willCOIne a peace like unto the peace of Christ, i.e. a peacewhich will never be the cause of a new \Var, but thepreparation for a better and nlore God-like peace. Nownlore than eyer true Christians feel Christ's presenceon their stornltossed vessel. They feel Hinl standingin their I11idst; they hear His voice: '0 ye of little faith,,yherefore do ye doubt? The end of all will still begood.' Or as Browning sad: ((T/,ze best is 'yet to be."

Life, fronl the Christian point of view, is essentiallyan optilllistic tragedy. Christianity sees the dark cloudsenveloping hlllllan life; but through these cloud-tragediesperceives the warnl brilliance of a heavenly light. Thereare in l110venlent everywhere the hosts of vVar, but overall is the Lord of 1-Iosts, and wherever the presence ofthat LORD is felt, there is OptiIl1isnl.

XIIIn this letter, Illy dear Friend, I ,vould fain have

written to you about the Odysseus-wanderings of thehUInan soul. But I IllUst break off here. The vVarsnatches Illy pen fronl n1y fingers, and vVar's nliseriesattract nly hands and Illy thoughts elsewhere.

I would fain have written to you as to how the soul,as it 'wanders away fronl God, is overclouded with unrest and how, returning to God, it returns to peaceto the only real peace. Certainly you know this, myFriend) as St. Augustine knew it. I would fain havewritten to you of my War experience. I would like tohave proved to you that all the beauty and sweetness ofthis world, where "we see through a glass darkly",makes a man who is without faith as unhappy as possi-

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ble, and that the world, with all its charms, nlakes aman who has faith half-happy. A whole happiness belongs not to this tragical world. All this world represents unrest, but with faith it represents the half-rest.A whole rest belongs to another nlore godlike world. Iwould write you-but let us leave that for another tilne-I would write you how nlany, lnany men midst thiswar-storm have found by faith their half-happiness andhalf-rest, how nlany through the blackest clouds havelooked and seen the shining stars, and have had the samefeeling as one of the greatest men of Western Christian-ity who said: Domine . . . . . . inquietu1JL est ear nostnundonee requieseat in Te 1*)

*) 0 Lord, our heart is ne'er at peace till it findrest in Thee. - St. Augustine's CONFESSIONS.


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Жива Црква ; Christianity and War ; Leters of a Serbian to His English Friend (1915.) -...

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