This is my commandment,
that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. St. John 15:12-13
Troparion
Tone 8
Tone 8
Because of your faith in God and God's justice,
* ye have suffered earthly sorrow in the flesh;
* yet ye saved your souls, as heaven rejoices and your ancestors sin our in Heaven,
* greeting you at the gate of Paradise in son;
* Your names are in the book of eternity,
* enter into Paradise, ye children of immortality!
* Therefore we on earth, your posterity, cry out in unison:
* Holy New Martyrs, pray for us.
* ye have suffered earthly sorrow in the flesh;
* yet ye saved your souls, as heaven rejoices and your ancestors sin our in Heaven,
* greeting you at the gate of Paradise in son;
* Your names are in the book of eternity,
* enter into Paradise, ye children of immortality!
* Therefore we on earth, your posterity, cry out in unison:
* Holy New Martyrs, pray for us.
There is no greater witness to the total love of God in Christ by the power of the Holy
Spirit than the pure and unconditional love a Christian has for his neighbor
and for all of God's creation. The love of God through one's neighbor is most
fully expressed in humble and sincere service to others, and especially in the
art of sacrificing for another. To lay down one's life for the promotion and
aid of another is the pinnacle of what it means to follow Jesus Christ, to be a
child of Light and a lover of mankind. The Christian witness of laying down
one's own life--martyrdom, for the Greek word "martyria" literally
means "witness"---is what our Savior accomplished for the life of
the world (John 6:51), as Jesus Christ was no mere mortal, since His death
on the Cross was greater than any other sacrificial death in the history of the
world.
Jesus was the God-Man, truly God in human form,
and thus His sacrifice on the Cross exhibited and demonstrated the
superabundant love of God Himself for His entire creation: For God so loved
the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Accordingly, as
every Orthodox Christian believes, it is the emulators of this sacrifice of
Jesus---the glorious Martyrs---who have always been considered to be the
Protectors of the Faith, as they have throughout the ages preserved our Faith
whole and pure from all defilement of the devil. And every local Orthodox
Church which has in her history the record of martyrdom can rightfully be
considered blessed by God and even justified in His eyes.
Concerning this text and witness to the
sacrificial Faith of Christ the Lord, the Serbian Orthodox Church remains, in
the eyes of our Lord and the entire Christian world, most precious and
beautiful! Ever since Christianity was established in the Balkans among the
Serbs, persecution and resistance to the power of Christ has continuously
reared its ugly head. One need only read the Lives of the Serbian Saints to
appreciate this fact. The enemies of pious Orthodox Serbs have relentlessly
persecuted them throughout the century. They have attached their patriarchs,
bishops, priests, monastics and pious faithful; slaughtering, hanging and
impaling them, while at the same time plundering and burning down many Serbian
Orthodox churches, schools and monasteries.
In the late 16th century the Turks hanged the
Serbian Patriarch John Kantul because he supported a national movement for
liberation, and Bishop Theodore of Vrshac was skinned alive in 1595 for the
same reason. During those dark days of Sinan Pasha, the Turks burned the holy
relics of St. Sava I on Vracher Hill, a hideous religious and political crime
committed against the entire Serbian Orthodox people. In the latter part of the
17th century Patriarch Gabriel was strangled to death by the Turks for
establishing ties with the Orthodox Church of Russia. In the beginning of the
18th century the Serbian Orthodox Church in Dalmatia, which at that time was
under the domain of the Venetian Republic, endured bitter persecution due to
their Orthodox beliefs, which fostered their desire for national rights. Two
leaders---Abbot Isaiah of Dragovich Monastery and Fr. Peter Jagodich-Kuridza of
the village of Biovice (Dalmatia)---were imprisoned and tortured for over forty
years. Neither of the two, however, would recant their Orthodox faith nor their
national allegiance to the Orthodox Kingdom of Serbia.
* From the forthcoming second volume of Serbian
Patericon, by Fr. Daniel Rogich
Similar tribulations took place during the
heroic struggle of the Serbs for national liberation at the beginning of the
19th century. Hundreds of noble Serbian clergymen were impaled at the fields of
Kalemegdan in Belgrade, or
 Destruction of Serbian Orthodox Church In Kosovo, Antimension found in rubble 1999 |
were killed outright in prison camps. Throughout
these ordeals the constant cry which united and comforted the Serbs was the
five-century-old rallying cry of Kosovo, "For the Honorable Cross and
Golden Freedom," a Christian plea based on the triumphant struggle of
Jesus Christ on the Cross. For the Serbs at this time, to die for Christ and
the Orthodox Faith was an honor, a holy privilege which they believed would be
recompensed with eternal blessed life. For, as all pious Orthodox Christians
believe, the Cross was the first step in the Lord's final victory over the
devil and his power; and the Lord's Resurrection, the summit of this victory,
granted true freedom to all those who endured. Hence the Christian Serbs were
happy to "lay down their lives" for Christ in behalf of their family,
friends and nation.
During the first quarter of the 20th century,
specifically during the years 1913, 1914 and 1915, the terrible assaults of the
evil one rose up again against the Serbian Church. These years have been
recorded as the first years of her martyrdom in modern times. Besieged by the
Germans, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Albanians, the Serbian Church suffered
bitterly during this time. For example, Metropolitan Vincent of Skoplje
(Macedonia) was burned alive in the Gorge of Surdulica along with 157 Serbian
priests. Later, during the 1930's, the Serbs suffered tremendously under the
infamous Concordat, which sought to limit their religious and civil rights. *
* The Concordat was an attempt by the overly
conciliatory government to sign an agreement with the Vatican that would have
given the Roman Church a privileged position in Yugoslavia. It was finally
defeated in 1937, thanks in large part to the heroic witness of Patriarch
Varnava, who reposed during the heat of the controversy, and was thought by
many to have been poisoned.
But of all the persecutions in the history of
the Serbian Orthodox nation, none was more excruciating and terrifying than
those which began in 1941. The Serbs and the Serbian Church were forced to
undergo some of the worst atrocities the world has ever known. It has been said
that these Christians were tortured even more than the Hebrews were by the
Egyptians as recorded in the Book of Exodus; worse than the barbarous
annihilations in ancient Carthage and the exterminations of the Christians in
Nubia, North Africa, and even worse than the Holocaust victims in Nazi Germany
during World War II. In all, there were over 800,000 Serbs butchered and slain
by the regime of Ante Pavelich in the "Free Croatian State" during
World War II. In addition, many thousands of Serbs were forced to convert to
Roman Catholicism under pain of death. (Many were simply asked to make the sign
of the Cross, and if they did so in Orthodox fashion---from right to left---they
were tortured on the spot.) Besides these, there were over 300,000 civilians
killed by the Germans, Bulgarians, Hungarians and Albanians, many being sent to
concentration camps to starve to death. In the end, the death toll of Serbian
Martyrs amounted to over one-and-half-million, or more than one third of the
entire Serbian people, over the span of thirty years (1914-1944, from World War
I to World War II).
Must we provide the horrible details of these atrocities? Pregnant women's wombs were ripped open; men were roasted on rotisserie spits used to cook animals (there were cases in which people were forced to eat the roasted bodies of members of their own families). Malicious medical experiments were performed. People were impaled, had their eyes gouged out, were sawn in two. Hearts were cut out of innocent victims and eaten by their adversaries. Slow, agonizing deaths could last for weeks and weeks. Every manner of torture that the devil could instill in people to use on their fellow human beings was on full display during those years of tribulation.
Must we provide the horrible details of these atrocities? Pregnant women's wombs were ripped open; men were roasted on rotisserie spits used to cook animals (there were cases in which people were forced to eat the roasted bodies of members of their own families). Malicious medical experiments were performed. People were impaled, had their eyes gouged out, were sawn in two. Hearts were cut out of innocent victims and eaten by their adversaries. Slow, agonizing deaths could last for weeks and weeks. Every manner of torture that the devil could instill in people to use on their fellow human beings was on full display during those years of tribulation.
During these persecutions the leaders of the
Serbian Orthodox Church were the first to suffer and lay down their lives for
their people. Bishop Platon of Banja Luka Z (Bosnia) was murdered in an incredibly
bestial manner: he was taken by the Ustashas, * along with the
previously arrested priest, Fr. Dusan Jovanovich, to the village of Vrbanja,
where their beards were shaved with a blunt knife, their eyes were gouged out,
their noses and ears were cut off, and a fire was lit on their chests. Their
bodies, together with the bodies of several other martyred clergymen, were
thrown into the Vrbanja River.
* Croatian armed forces, formed by Hitler's
Nazis to punish the Serbs for resisting him. Mostly Roman Catholic by faith,
but including Moslems as well, they committed atrocities so horrible against
the Orthodox Serbs that even the Nazi soldiers were appalled.--Ed.
Archbishop Peter (Zimonich) of Sarajevo (Bosnia)
was warned of the danger he was in from the Ustashas, but replied, I am the
people's shepherd, and it is my duty to be with my people in good and in
evil." He was arrested and imprisoned by the Ustashas on May 12, 1941, but
was able beforehand to convey a message to his priests: "Stay in your parishes,
and whatever happens to the people, let it be your destiny as well." He
was tortured and humiliated in every way conceivable, and then thrown into a
pit to die, together with 55 Orthodox priests.
Archbishop Dosithei of Zagreb (Croatia) was
arrested on May 2,1941, imprisoned, beaten and brutally tormented in an Ustasha
police prison, with Roman Catholic monks taking part in this outrage. The
result of his torture was seen by Arnold Robert, the Belgian consul, who said,
"By God, what these people do is savageness!" Even the Ustasha police
chief reported, "The Metropolitan was so atrociously (tortured) that it
was hardly possible to put him on the train for Belgrade." He died in
Belgrade on January 14, 1945.
Bishop Sava (Trlaich) of Plalski (Lika) was
imprisoned on June 13, 1941 and tortured beyond endurance in a stable along
with several priests. During their beatings a phonograph recording of "As
many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ" was played.
The bishop-confessor was permitted to say good-bye to his 83-year-old mother,
albeit with his hands tied and his feet shackled. In mid-August of the same
year he was taken to the Velebit Mountain and thrown into a pit with numerous
other Serbs.
Bishop Irenei of Dalmatia was also imprisoned
and later transferred to an Italian concentration camp near Florence. St.
Nikolai (Velimirovich) * suffered in the worst Gestapo concentration
camp, Dachau.
* See his Life in The Orthodox Word, no. 171
(1993), pp. 160-183.
The case of Patriarch Gabriel (1937-1950) must
be mentioned. He was despised by the enemies of the Serbian Church not only for
his leadership status, but also for his protest against this inhuman treatment
of his people and flock. After Belgrade was combed in April of 1941, Patriarch
Gabriel fled to the Ostrog Monastery in Montenegro, where he was joined by King
Peter Karageorgevich of Yugoslavia. When the Royal government decided to leave
Yugoslavia with the King, Patriarch Gabriel was asked to follow, but he refused
to leave, preferring to share in the sufferings of his spiritual flock. On May
9, 1941, the Nazis arrested Gabriel and the priests with him at Ostrog on the
charge that the Patriarch was stealing newly claimed government property.
(Being arrested was nothing new to the pious Gabriel, as he had been arrested
in 1915 in Pech Monastery by the Austro-Hungarians.) From Ostrog, the
63-year-old Patriarch, by decree of the Nazis, was compelled to travel on foot
to Belgrade, about a month's journey from Ostrog. To the horror of all, he was
disrespectfully stripped of his monastic garb and forced to make the entire
trip in his underwear. This humiliating plan of the Nazis failed, for along the
way, wherever the Patriarch passed, the Serbian Christians wept and knelt in
prayer to Almighty God for the alleviation of his sufferings. Patriarch
Gabriel's witness to the Christian Faith was a tremendous source of strength
and comfort to the pious Serbian Christians at this time. He was a meek lamb of
God and emulated our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who was mocked and
humiliated, using only godly courage, truth and meekness to endure and triumph
in the end. Patriarch Gabriel was finally imprisoned in the Dachau
concentration camp in Germany (along with St. Nikolai), and later returned to
the patriarchal throne after the war. He was one of the greatest Confessors of
the Orthodox Faith that the Serbian people have ever known.
Many clergymen and monastics were executed right
outside the walls of their churches and monasteries, in major cities such as
Krushevac, Kragujevac, Mostar and Novi Sad.
Here are but a few of the well-known examples of
the torments Serbia has been subjected to:
Glina---Over 120,000 were killed by the Ustashas, as many as six hundred per
evening being bludgeoned to death assembly-line style in the local Orthodox
churches. The few that survived fled to the area of Petrova Gora.
Vrgin Most---On August 3, 1941, 3,000 Serbs were massacred for
refusing to convert to Roman Catholicism.
Vojnich---On July 29, 1941, the chief of the Ustasha police in Zagreb, Bozidar
Gervoski, arrived with a number of Ustasha police units. They rounded up some
3,000 Serbian Christians from Krnjak, Krstinje, Siroka Reka, Slunj, Rakovica
and other villages, and after mocking and torturing them, led them to the
village mill in Pavkovich, where they were butchered like cattle.
Kordun, Slunj, Ogulin, Vrbovsko---The long list of bloody sacrifices began with the
martyred priest Fr. Branko Dobrosavljevich from Veljun. Fr. Branko was ordered
to read the canon for the departure of the soul from the body over his son, who
was still alive. His son was then killed in his presence, and he was
subsequently tortured and killed himself. There followed for several weeks mass
executions of innocent Serbs, including women and children.
Churug, Novi Sad---On the Orthodox Feast of Christ's Nativity in 1942
about 1,200 Serbs, along with their parish priests, were cruelly murdered in
Churug. At the end of the same month 1,300 more Serbs, including clergy, met
the same fate in Novi Sad.
Sadilovac---On July 31, 1942, the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos was
burned to the ground, along with 463 people, ranging in age from newborn babies
to old men and women.
Zhitomislich Monastery---On June 26, 1941, Croatian Ustashas tortured and
murdered the entire monastery brotherhood, then threw their bodies into a pit.
A Roman Catholic friar removed all the church valuables by tractor; the
monastery church was subsequently demolished, and then the rest of the
buildings were burnt down.
Jasenovac---This was one of the most horrible sites of the
persecutions against Orthodox Serbs. The Ustashas, including Croats and Moslems
from Hercegovinia, came with rifles, revolvers, axes and hammers, and brutally
murdered the Serbs. To save ammunition, many Serbs were brought to the brick
factory in Jasenovac and tossed into the fiery furnaces. As they were placed in
single file the last person in line was shoved, creating enough force to thrust
his fellow martyrs forward. Others were butchered along the Sava River and
thrown into the water. The bloodthirsty Ustasha leader Ljubo Milosh boasted
that he had killed over three thousand Serbs, each time jesting and crying out,
"How sweet is Serbian blood!" One Orthodox Serb, Joca Divjak, was
given to Milosh as a Christmas present. Martyr Joca's heart was torn out of his
chest as other Serbs were forced to watch and laugh. Anyone who turned his head
away from this abominable scene was killed on the spot. In all, over fifty thousand
pious Serbian Orthodox Christians were martyred from August, 1941 to February,
1942---a period of seven months.
There are many other lists of savageries which
could be recounted---the record is truly astounding! These facts reveal that
the Serbian Orthodox Church is in truth a Martyred Church. Her recent history
demonstrates a courage and commitment to the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, which grants the Serbian Church a rightful and
honorable place not only in Christian history but, more importantly, in the
eyes of God Almighty Himself. So many---literally a million and a half innocent
victims---upheld the belief in "laying down their lives" for the
cause of Christ and His Holy Church. Their sacrifice for one another is an
eternal witness and memorial, which should and must inspire all Orthodox
Christians until the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And truly, at the
great Day of Judgment they will all be crowned with an incorruptible crown of
glory, received as a result of their love for truth and justice, and for
carrying out the message of "the Honorable Cross and Golden Freedom."
* In 1998 the Synod of Bishops of the Serbian
Orthodox Church glorified several of the New Martyrs mentioned here.
Holy New Martyrs of Serbia, you are now standing
in glory before the Savior's throne. Pray, therefore, O holy lambs of God, that
we too, your wretched followers and posterity, may receive strength, courage
and zeal for Christ our True God, that we might also be willing to witness to
the Life-giving Cross and glorious Resurrection of our Lord, God and Savior
Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs glory, honor and worship, together with His
Unoriginate Father and Life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of
ages. Amen.
KONTAKION
Tone 8 *
Let God be praised in
the fields and meadows, * on the green mountain tops and in the valleys
below, * on the rushing rivers and in dark caves, * since every
place has been watered by the innocent and holy blood of many Serbian Martyrs: *
worthy stewards, brave soldiers, young boys and children and chaste virgins; *
let God be praised and let everyone keep silent, * for the Lord of all rules
the world.
* This Kontakion and the previous Troparion were
composed by St. Nikolai (Velimirovich)
Source: Orthodox Word., Vol. 35, No. 2
(205) March-April, 1999., St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood., Platina, Ca., pp.
79-87.
Holy New Martyrs Of The
Serbian Land,
Pray Unto God For Us!
Pray Unto God For Us!
Glory Be To God For All
Things!
Holy New-Martyrs of
Jasenovac
Source: Fresco
Iconography of St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Hamilton, Ontario:
Nikoljnik Press, 2005. Icon by Fr. Theodore
Jurewicz
The
martyrs are commemorated together on September 13 (Julian calendar), although a
number of them are also commemorated separately, as the dates of their
martyrdom are known.
This
is a particularly poignant icon, because we have still among us survivors of
the Ustasha terror of World War II, and many whose loved ones found martyrdom.
Moreover, it is an important icon inasmuch as it will witness not only to the
faith of these martyrs, but also to the genocide of Serbs itself, which many
ignore, forget or deny having occurred. A vast sea of haloed martyrs stands
before a background showing the Jasenovac concentration camp in the upper left
corner, with ominous grey walls, barbed wire and watchtowers. The Churches of
Jasenovac (destroyed, sadly, twice now by Croats) and Glina (burnt to the
ground with 500 Serbs in it) are shown centrally, while the upper right corner
shows one of the many caves of Lika, Dalmatia, Bosnia or Hercegovina that
became the graves of numerous innocents. In the lower foreground is a river
perhaps the Sava, the Una, the Vrbas, or the Drina, all of which carried the
tortured bodies. They bear crosses and appear peaceful, as they have accepted
their martyrdom. The standing figures in the foreground are identified
individually with an inscription in their halo…
What
touches many of us when we contemplate this fresco is that these Holy
New-Martyrs are every man: a peasant, a student, a teacher with her pupils, a
nun, an old woman, a priest, a bishop, a child. All of them were killed for the
simple fact that they were baptized in and lived by the Orthodox faith. For
this, they are crowned with martyrdom; Christ blesses them, while on either
side St. John the Baptist (patron of the Jasenovac Church) and St. Sava (patron
of the Serbian people) intercede on their people’s behalf. (from pages
101-102.) - See more at: http://1389blog.com/2013/04/20/holy-new-martyrs-of-jasenovac/#sthash.noSCtfqX.dpuf
