_Delivered for the first time in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stroud
Green, London._
I was a citizen of a small country called Serbia, and I am still a
citizen of a great country called The Universe. In my first fatherland
there is now no other light except the brightness of tears. But in my
second fatherland there is always the splendid and silent light of the
sun. My little country is now a great tear-drop, a shining and silent
tear-drop. A gentleman from South Africa wrote to me the other day and
asked about my country--"why it is so shining"? I replied: Just because
it is now transformed into a big tear-drop, therefore it is so shining
that even you from South Africa can see its splendour. I come as an echo
of the weeping splendour of my country which is now plunged into the
worst slavery. I come as a voice beyond the grave to your famous island,
brethren and sisters, not to accuse, not to complain, but to say by what
invisible bonds my country is tied to yours. I will say at once, plainly
and simply--by common beliefs and common hopes.
At the time when Saint Patrick preached Christ's Gospel in heathen
Ireland, the Serbs were heathen as well. Their gods, with Perun at the
head, corresponded to Wothan and his divine colleagues, whose names are
recalled in your names of the days of the week still.
About the time when Saint Augustine came over here, met Queen Bertha and
baptised King Ethelbert in Saint Martin's Church in Canterbury, the
conversion of the heathen Serbs had made good progress.
In the time of Alfred the Great, who was "the most complete embodiment
of all that is great, all that is lovable in the English temper," as an
English historian praises him so justly, the Serbs received God's word
in their own language from the Slav apostles, Cyril and Methodius, and
soon afterwards the Christian faith was officially introduced and
established among them.
In the time of the Conquest, when the Norman and Danish kings disputed
the possession of England, the Serbian provinces were fought over by the
Greek, Bulgar and Avar rulers. But the belief in Christ grew more and
more uninterruptedly.
When Richard the Lion-hearted sailed from England to the Holy Land, not
to fight for the national existence, as we to-day speak of it, but to
fight for the most unselfish and idealistic aim, for Cross and Christian
Freedom, Serbia was already opening a great epoch of physical as well as
spiritual strength. Our king Nemanja, the founder of a dynasty which
ruled in Serbia for nearly 300 years, had heard tales and songs about
the English king with the lion's heart, and had helped the same cause,
the cause of the Crusades, very much. His son, Saint Sava, organised the
Christian Church wonderfully, and wonderfully he inspired the
educational and scholarly work in the state created by his father. This
Saint Sava, the Archbishop of Serbia, after he had travelled all over
Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria, preaching the Gospel of the Son of God,
died in Bulgaria. His body was transferred to and buried in a monastery
in Herzegovina. Afterwards, in times of national hardships and slavery,
great pilgrimages took place to the grave of the Saint, which became the
comforting and inspiring centre for the oppressed nation; the Turks
destroyed the tomb, carried the body over to Belgrade and burnt it, in
order to lessen the Serbian national and religious enthusiasm. The
result was just the contrary. On the very same place where Saint Sava's
body was burnt there is now a Saint Sava's chapel; close to this chapel
a new Saint Sava's seminary is to be erected, and also Saint Sava's
cathedral of Belgrade. And over all there is an acknowledged protection
of Saint Sava by all the Serbian churches and schools, and a unifying
spirit of Saint Sava for all the Serbian nation.
Saint Sava's belief was the same as the belief of Saint Patrick and
Saint Augustine. His hopes were the same as theirs too. He believed in
the one saving Gospel of Christ, as they did. He hoped men could be
educated by this divine Gospel, to be heroic in suffering and pure and
holy in the enjoyments of life, just as the great saints of this island
doubtless hoped and worked.