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The Bishop of Western America Mr. Maxim Vasilevic, in his interview for Serbica Americana, on the occasion of celebrating Christ\u2019s Nativity \u2013 Christmas, among the other things, comments on the 800 years- jubilee since the granting of autocephaly of the SOC, as well as on the new events and turmoil in the Orthodox world. This interview has been released on theology.net. These are some excerpts from the interview. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The modern spirituality often hides behind various falsehoods and masks, trying to avoid facing with the truth. <\/span><\/em>As the eminent worldly renowned Orthodox psychologist, Fr. Basil Thermos, has stated, the fear of freedom, as a permanent feature of the human being, rises the need to subject and subordinate to some other \u201cego\u201d (and in this contemporary time of ours – to the imaginary \u201cme\u201d of the computers and the internet). Beside that, it\u2019s one thing to aspire for the truth, it\u2019s other to possess it. I have noticed such great vanity and self-confidence of many editors and members of many \u201cspiritual\u201d internet portals. We sometimes seem to forget that it\u2019s of no use to us to have the truth, and not have love. \u201cIf this should be the end, I would know that it wasn\u2019t love\u201d \u2013 so touching but yet truthful is this verse of the singer Bajaga in his song called \u201cIf this should be the end\u201d.<\/p>\n This end <\/em>is something we should very much be interested in, above all as a kind of test or fulfilment of our historical search. And the search for God itself has no end. This was wonderfully explained by St. Gregory of Nysa in the following statement: \u201cThe real revelation of God is in the constant search for Him, never satisfying the thirst.\u201d (St. Gregory of Nysa, For the life of Moses<\/em>) <\/span><\/p>\n To the question what his impression about the objective and critical thinking is, can we find it today, and do we have highly creative individuals, he replied as following:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Every totalitarian authority is afraid of the critical mind and the new way of expressing. For such people, whether they live in the XXI or the VI century, \u201cthe Areopagite scriptures\u201d would be a \u201cdangerous novelty\u201d or \u201can introduction of philosophy in the theology\u201d. Even St. Simeon New Theologian (X cent.) would have been rejected (as it actually was) for his bold criticism of the \u201chigh clergy\u201d and St. Basil the Great for his mixing of the scientific overview with theology etc. <\/span><\/p>\n However, I would personally put the freedom<\/em> in Christ and the Church before the critical attitude of doubt and dispute. Lately I\u2019ve noticed that certain individuals take pleasure in claiming that \u201cthe Church is not right in this or that\u201d or point to \u201ca historical failure of the Church\u201d. I think this is the mentality of the post-modern time. However, if we refer to the Holy Fathers, we would recognize their \u201cfool\u2019s love<\/em>\u201d for Christ and the Church, which they don\u2019t perceive only as a hierarchy or an institution (such understanding is prevalent in the theological dialogue of today), but rather as a Church, as \u201cThe Paschal mystery of Christ\u201d and \u201cThe Pre-eternal Council of God\u201d, a Church, the foundation of which lies somewhere before the creation of the world and is equal with the Kingdom to come.<\/span><\/p>\n I think that today\u2019s unsupported freedom to criticize \u201ceverybody and everything\u201d should be restricted, certainly beginning first with self-restrain. Only then would the sermons of priests, the published ecclesiastical books, the seminars, the ecclesiastical magazines, etc. be real witnesses of the \u201ctheology of surprise\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n As to the question about his attitude, regarding the 800 years jubilee since the granting of the SOC autocephaly, and how he would celebrate this event in his diocese, as well as his opinion on the personality of St. Sabbas, the first Serbian Archbishop, Bishop Maxim gives the following interesting reply:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The celebration of autocephaly, according to my humble opinion, is a holiday of unity, not of \u201cindependence\u201d. Because the Church, and through it the entire creation, has an essence which acts as a yeast of history, it is the grace which sanctifies everything and everybody. <\/span><\/p>\n The historical circumstances and development in 2019, bring St. Sabbas to Nicaea and what happens? The Ecumenical Patriarch of that time, covered with the robe of weakness (hidden and banished to Nicaea), completely ignores the canonical Head of the Serbian territories, which at that time was the Archbishop of Ohrid Demetrius Chomatianus, and grants an \u201cautocephaly\u201d to the Serbian state. This historical moment from the XIII c. is an interesting, but also a strong analogy to the recent events in the Orthodox world.<\/span><\/p>\n Actually, the entire life of St. Sabbas would be filled with paradoxes. Running away from his parents, he would be caught in the net of the Holy Spirit, so that later, he could bring \u201chis nation\u201d to Christ\u2019s net. This monk with strong desire for ascetism would be an extraordinary constructor, a rare diplomatic person, exquisite ruler\u2026 This son, who was \u201cdisobedient\u201d to his father, would make the father obedient to his son, so Sabbas would bring to Mount Athos his father Nemanja (1197). Out of many opportunities and directions, St. Sabbas choses the following coordinates as his path of life: Mt. Athos, Constantinople, Studenica, Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Serbia, Byzantium, Thessaloniki, Alexandria, the Egyptian desert, Mount Sinai\u2026 In one sentence, a perfect topography for a perfect holy biography. <\/span><\/p>\n This unusual man would turn the mystery of Christ\u2019s way of existence into his own modus vivendi.<\/em> With his presence he would ennoble and transform every surroundings: ecclesiastical, social, political, international\u2026 and then he would rush back to his place and from there continue to send blessings. This Christ-like man put all his strength and action in the service of others and signed with \u2013 the most unworthy among the sinners, Sabbas. <\/em>This \u201cpresence in absence\u201d would be Sabbas secret maxim and a method which could apply to his entire life: with his absence he attracted his own father to Mount Athos, with his absence he acted form Studenica, from Mount Athos, and even now acts invisibly but permanently from the Heavenly Kingdom. His exits during the day lasted only as long as he needed to help somebody, to support, to strengthen, inspire and then he would simply retreat. Contrary to the mundane manners, he always gave his place to others, ever since the beginning till the end: he gave up the Royal Throne for the sake of his brothers and gave his Archbishop Throne to Arsenius. Thus, in his solitude he reached unity with everybody, fulfilling the words of the old monastic Geronticon. In his humbleness, God gave him the power to unite the divided and seek the lost. <\/span><\/p>\n Contrary to our present manners, St. Sabbas did not differentiate the East and the West, but rather worked for their reunion. As, St. Nicholas of Zhicha has said, \u201cthe East and the West encountered in him and reached full harmony. He was used to contemplating as an Easterner, but energetic in his actions as a Westerner\u201d. He is a model, not just for that time, but also for ours\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n The profound adoption of the Great Church of Constantinople\u2019s Tradition and of the Sion Church of Jerusalem elevated St. Sabbas to a higher level of spiritual-cultural education: architecture, iconography, music, poetry\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n So, while celebrating the jubilee of our autocephaly, if we don\u2019t include everybody, the East, the West, the North and the South, we would not be worthy of the testimony left to us by St. Sabbas. <\/span><\/p>\n As a comment of the recent \u201cturmoil\u201d in the Orthodox World, the Bishop Maxim stated the following:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong>We have turmoil. Those who follow history \u201cfrom within\u201d are aware that making the right verdict requires time, and we should be especially careful not to judge. The history of the Church teaches us that God\u2019s Providence is often revealed through distressful and paradoxal events. The Church Councils accepted schismatics even at their slightest sign of repentance. St. John Chrysostom being the Archbishop of Constantinople, acted completely \u201duncanonically\u201d and beyond his jurisdiction in Asia Minor and was condemned for that it in his time. However, this proved to be pastoral and beneficial and even the history showed that his actions had soteriological dimensions.<\/span><\/p>\n We have mentioned that in 1219 the Ecumenical Patriarch completely ignored the canonical situation in the territories under the rule of Stephen Nemanja, which I repeat, at that time were under the jurisdiction of Ohrid Archbishop Demetrious Chomatianus (one of the most esteemed canonist of late Byzantium), and uncanonically granted \u201can autocephaly\u201d to the Serbian state. Today we are proud and joyful for that bold, although uncanonical act. The present turmoil in Ukraine is a temporary issue and I don\u2019t believe that it has those geopolitical dimensions they have assigned to it. If the Church would break down over just one canonical turbulence, it would mean that the Church is not so great, but rather minor and lost even before that. I would express my humble opinion, which I know for sure is \u201ca minority\u201d: I believe that the ultimate purpose of Primate Church intervention is not taking over a geographic territory, but rather introducing the huge multitude of Ukrainian faithful to the Orthodox community. This nation had so far stayed out of the Eucharistic communion with the true Church, regardless of the justified or unjustified reasons for it\u2026 That is why the other part of the Church which already communes the fulness of Ecclesiastical life, should not dispute, but rather prayerfully recognize the opportunity which has been given to their co-citizens to enter that same Church in a different way. We should believe that the Church would overcome the temptations and maybe one day we would all be grateful to the rising of such temptations. The Church of Christ historically wins in those moments when it allegedly suffers loss. As Moscow, and many others seem to think, this act has maybe put Constantinople in a state pf defeat. However, on long terms, this might be a yeast for a deeper unity which will come after our generation. Bartholomew took upon himself the cross of a historical decision and later the history \u2013 and not the present \u2013 will show if he was right or not. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":52942,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[1172,1914,1912,1913,1630,1873],"category_vesti":[1133],"tags_vesti":[],"lokacii":[],"class_list":["post-52977","vesti","type-vesti","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-patriarch-bartholomew","tag-bishop-maxim-of-soc","tag-st-sabbas","tag-the-serbian-orthodox-church","tag-ukrainian-orthodox-church","tag-ukrainian-orthodox-church-en","category_vesti-world-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vesti\/52977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vesti"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/vesti"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vesti\/52977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52977"},{"taxonomy":"category_vesti","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_vesti?post=52977"},{"taxonomy":"tags_vesti","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags_vesti?post=52977"},{"taxonomy":"lokacii","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigorski.org.mk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lokacii?post=52977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}