St. Paul tells us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us” [Hebrews 12:1]. If we are to reach our heavenly reward, we are to “fight the good fight” [I Timothy 6:12] and to be “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” [I Corinthians 15:58]. As long as there are Christians who follow St. Paul’s admonitions, the Church will continue to produce saints in every age.
The 20th century offered many opportunities for running the race and fighting the good fight, and the Orthodox Church is now receiving the blessing of new saints who intercede for us in Heaven. St. Nikolai of Ochrid and Zhica was glorified by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1987.
The first child born (in 1880) to the Velimirovich family, Nikolai was named for the family’s patron saint, St. Nicholas of Myra. His parents were farmers who had the baby baptized quickly because he was very frail and they feared he would not live long. But God preserved little Nikolai for his work, and the parents began immediately to pass their great devotion on to their son. When Nikolai was a young child, they often walked the three miles to the Chelije Monastery for services, they followed the fasts and feasts of the Church year, and they told their son his first stories of the lives of the saints.
Nikolai’s father hoped that he would become a leader in their village or perhaps even in all of Serbia so, after he had completed 6th grade education, he encouraged his son to apply to the military academy. But the boy was not able to pass the physical exam so God’s plan for this special child led him to apply to the Seminary of St. Sava in Belgrade for further education.
Although his bodily weaknesses and infirmities continued, Nikolai thrived intellectually at the Seminary. His studies were broad and included readings in Eastern and Western literature, philosophy, and poetry as well as theological works. The brilliant student was chosen for additional study in Switzerland, Germany, England and Russia. He was awarded a Doctorate in Theology in 1908 in Berne, Switzerland, and a Ph. D. from the University of Oxford in England only a year later.
The fall of 1909 proved to be a turning point for Nikolai. Returning home to Serbia, he became gravely ill and during his sufferings, he realized that he was at a crossroads. If he lived, he knew that he could continue to pursue an academic career, but he felt that God was calling him to serve in the Church. So he vowed that, if he lived, he would become a monk and devote himself completely to God.
God is merciful and, once again, spared the life of his servant Nikolai. He is also all-wise, and allowed him to be both a monk and a scholar. Monk Nikolai, who became Father and then Archimandrite Nikolai, was chosen to teach at the St. Sava Seminary and to spend a year studying in Russia prior to beginning this work. During this and subsequent years, Nikolai wrote many theological works. His gift for writing in a style which could be understood by even the most simple peasant made his works immensely popular. His effective preaching earned him the nickname, “the Serbian Chrysostom” and, as a seminary professor, he became a spiritual father to many students.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Archimandrite Nikolai was sent to England on a diplomatic mission to gain support for the Serbian people who were suffering greatly. He was also a great apologist for the Orthodox Church and helped to improve the image of Orthodoxy among the English people. At this time, Cambridge University awarded him an honorary doctorate.
Nikolai’s mission was carried to New York in the summer of 1915. He had three tasks in this country: to encourage young expatriate Serbian men to return to Serbia to help protect the country, to ask for monetary contributions from the Serbian-American immigrant community, and to help organize them in preparation for establishing a Serbian diocese in this land.
Nikolai spent the next three years of the war back in England, where he wrote several more works, including The Spiritual Rebirth of Europe, in which he suggested the return of the Anglican Church to its spiritual roots – the Orthodox Church! Would that his suggestion had been heeded! In 1919, he was awarded another honorary doctorate, this time by the University of Glasgow, Scotland.
When Archimandrite Nikolai returned home toward the end of the war, he was able, with his language skills, to serve as an interpreter during the formation of the new Yugoslav state. He was selected by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church to serve as the new bishop of Zhicha. His work as a pastor was much needed to help heal the hearts of those who had suffered so much during the war. He was instrumental in uniting the Serbian and Macedonian churches, always preaching peace and unity. He visited Greece and Mt. Athos during this time and wrote several new works.
Bishop Nikolai received many requests to return to America to speak and in June of 1921, the Holy Synod of Bishops allowed him this opportunity. This time, in addition to giving 150 lectures at universities and churches, the bishop was requesting funds for setting up orphanages in Serbia for the poor children who had lost families during the war, and visiting the Serbian immigrant flock to thank them for their earlier support. He spoke at Columbia University, the African-American church of St. Philip in Harlem, and at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, among many others. In these talks, Bishop Nikolai urged Americans not to blame the poor Serbian peasants for the last war and warned them of newly-approaching disaster.
The bishop had been transferred to the Diocese of Ochrid and Bitola in 1921 (a result of the Serbian-Macedonian union) and for the next six years, he spent much of his time and concern on the orphanages (where the children called him “Deda Vladika” – “Grandfather Bishop”) and on helping to organize the Serbian-American diocese, with Serbian priests who would understand their language (most parishes had Russian priests), and to establish monasteries to help protect the people from encroachment of secularism.
Bishop Nikolai was chosen to be the first Serbian bishop for America, but the people of Serbia were not ready to give up their beloved bishop. For several months, the bishop went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and spent Pascha at a monastery there in order to pray, removed from the stresses of this situation. Upon his return home, he nominated another archimandrite to be the American bishop and Nikolai, following God’s will, began an evangelistic movement to spiritually fire the hearts of his people who had suffered so much. During this time, he met and worked with a seminary professor, John Maximovitch – another of our new Orthodox saints. He wrote what is perhaps his most famous work, the Prologue of Ochrid, a four-volume collection of the lives of saints and brief homilies which are a treasure of spiritual wisdom.
In fulfilment of Bishop Nikolai’s earlier prophecy, World War II began and with the German occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941, the bishop and Patriarch Gabriel were both arrested and sent to the infamous Dachau prison where they were tortured and witnessed the worst horrors of the war. Bishop Nikolai attributed their survival to the prayers of the Theotokos. When the war ended in 1945, the two clergymen first sought sanctuary in England and later, the Patriarch returned to Yugoslavia and Bishop Nikolai went to America for the final time. He believed that he would be silenced if he returned to his homeland and that he could fight more effectively for his people on foreign soil.
During these years, Nikolai taught at the Serbian seminary which had been established (with a monastery) in Illinois, at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, at Holy Trinity Monastery and Seminary in Jordanville, New York, and he spent the last five years of his life at St. Tikhon’s Monastery and Seminary in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. Despite objections from some, he insisted on preaching and teaching in English for the benefit of those students who had been born in this country.
St. Nikolai died while saying his prayers during the night of March 17-18, 1956, at the age of 76. His funeral service was held at the Serbian Cathedral in New York, and he was first buried at the monastery in Illinois. After twenty-five years, his body was translated to his beloved Chelije Monastery in his homeland. His simple monk’s room at St. Tikhon’s has been turned into a shrine for prayer and meditation.
Like St. Paul, St. Nikolai was a scholar, a preacher and evangelist, he suffered imprisonment and hardships, and cared for those in need. Having “run with endurance the race” and “fought the good fight”, St. Nikolai now prays for us on our journeys. May we have the perseverance to follow his example.