Letter from Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich to Reverend Protopresbyter Stevan Dimitrijević on December 12, 1921

Abstract

In the Provincial State Archives of Kosovo and Metohija, in the legacy of the distinguished professor and dean of the Orthodox Theological Faculty Archpriest Stevan Dimitrijević, a letter from the Bishop Nicholai (Velimirovich) of Ohrid was found, addressed to Dimitrijević on December 12, 1921. It reveals the Bishop’s thoughts on the God Worshiper movement [or God–Prayer movement — Bogomoljački pokret in Serbian], a brief mention of the disorderly situation in the bishopric entrusted to him, as well as his position that the armed incursions of the Serbian army into the territory of Albania, after the end of hostilities and after the end of the First World War, were wrong. Bishop Nicholai did not comment extensively on Church issues, even though he was the canonical bishop of certain church municipalities in Northern Albania. Although he informed both the state Serbian authorities and the higher ecclesiastical authorities of the Serbian Orthodox Church about the fact that he was prevented from pastoral work and service in the mentioned geographical area, he did not describe it in more detail, because, most likely, he later talked verbally with archpriest Dimitrijević about all the mentioned issues in Southern and Old Serbia.