For Reconciliation and Renaissance

Reconciliation is the necessary condition for the survival of the whole planet, the dean of the Theology school of the Serb Orthodox Church, Radovan Bigovic, said. The spiritual academy was attended by the representatives of the state, cultural and scientific institutions, and religious communities

by Mirjana KUBUROVIC

Politika, Belgrade, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia, January 28, 2002

Yesterday, the traditional St. Sava day academy, attended by distinguished guests, was held in the main lecture hall of the Theology School of the Serb Orthodox Church. President of the Republic of Serbia Milan Milutinovic also attended, together with several government ministers. The Papal Nuncio, Eugenio Zbarbaro, and Belgrade archbishop Stanislav Hocevar, participated in this St. Sava celebration on behalf of the Catholic Church; the Islamic community was represented by the Belgrade mufti Hamdija Jusufspahic; the Russian Orthodox Church was represented by the head of the Moscow Patriarchate office in Belgrade hierarch Vytaliy Tarasyev. Other distinguished guests included Dejan Medakovic [head of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences], Marija Bogdanovic [dean of the Belgrade University], Matija Beckovic [famous Montenegrin poet], and the royal house of Karadjordjevic was represented by the crown prince Aleksandar with his wife.

50 delegates attended the celebration on behalf of 25 Montenegrin clans. The delegation of the Montenegrin clans was led by Nikola Minic, who brought greetings and gifts to the spiritual heirs of St. Sava, at the same time informing the gathering that some individuals in Montenegro want to prevent by force the people from quenching their thirst at their Serb source of St. Sava's spirituality.

Welcoming all those who gathered at the spiritual celebration under the motto "Christ - alpha and omega", the dean of the Theology School, professor Dr. Radovan Bigovic said the following:

"When students and professors of a higher education institution that is still on the margins of the society meet on the occasion of celebration of their saint's day with so many distinguished, honorable and deserving individuals, then they cannot but recall this moment for the rest of their life as an exceptional event and a sign of better and brighter future."

Reminding the audience that St. Sava was "our greatest peace-maker", Dr. Bigovic added:

"He made peace between brothers and nations. Today, the whole world needs such peacemakers. Reconciliation for the Balkans means a new beginning, a new spiritual, cultural, economic, scientific-technological and political rebirth. Reconciliation of God and man, heaven and earth, Church and civil society, faith and science, reconciliation of feuding individuals, families, nations, states, civilizations, and religions is not only an ethical category deserving respect but also an existentialist attitude and vocation and the necessary precondition for survival of the whole planet. Thus, this celebration should prompt in us the gift of reconciliation, mutual respect and love, and life in unity of differences," professor Dr. Radovan Bigovic said.

Revealing that the Theology School currently has more than 900 enrolled students, and that 65 students graduated last year, deputy dean for instruction professor Dr. Radomir Popovic, announced the names of the best students, as well as winners of assistantships and awards allocated from several funds that financially assist students of the top Eastern Orthodox theology school in the country. Dr. Popovic also mentioned the works published by the authors affiliated with the theology school since the last St. Sava's day.

Hierarch Dr. Vladan Perisic, assistant professor of the Theology School of the Serb Orthodox Church, delivered a lecture in honor of St. Sava, rather than about the saint himself, as he stressed at the beginning of the lecture. Reminding the audience that only those who live in full unity with St. Sava can be considered for the heirs and followers of this saint, Dr. Perisic explained what he meant by that.

In an extraordinary and unusual lecture, that simply cannot be summed up in a few paragraphs, Dr. Perisic among other stated the following:

"If you can believe that you will become a Christian only if you renounce your Serb nationalism, because everything fades in front of the blinding vision of Christ, and that only by becoming a true Christian you will be able to be a true Serb - but at that point you won't care about that - only then you can rightfully consider yourself for a student, and follower of St. Sava."

(...)

Translated on March 26, 2002