SERBIA: BETWEEN OR ABOVE EAST AND WEST?

Abstract

The paper tackles the issue of Serbia’s spiritual identity as it was defined by
Archimandrite Justin Popović and Bishop Nikolai Velimirović, probably the two most unfluential
figures in Serbia’s recent religious history. Serbia stands on the crossroad between two
irreconcilable worlds, between West and East. For Popović, The West represents atheism and
materialism, while the Eastern road is the symbol of Orthodoxy and Saint Sava, Serbian
enlightener from the 12th Century. Bishop Nikolai’s view is somewhat more nuanced, as he
argues that Serbia’s choice is not between West and East; Serbia should be above both principles.
Both spiritual teachers agree that patristic concept of God-Man Christ, which is the
“ideal balance” between God and human being, is what elevates Serbia above West and East.
The paper argues, however, that Popović and Velimirović fail to detect what Nikolai Berdyaev,
the renowned Russian philosopher, saw as the proclivity of the Fathers towards monophysitism.
Due to this misinterpretation, Popović and Velimirović could not understand properly the rebellion
of the Western humanism. According to Bishop Velimirović’s immensely ambitious plan,
Serbia should rise “above” East and West. Whoever wishes to be “above” East and West, nevertheless,
would need to engender an ideal balance between God and human being. And this
balance would have to postulate, unequivocally, that God and man are more than God alone.