Bishop Nicholai of Žiča in Vojlovica Monastery — Captivity, Activity, and Heritage

Abstract

Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich of Žiča was imprisoned by the Germans in the Vojlovica Monastery in Banat from December 16, 1942, after which he was transferred from a detention facility to the Ljubostinja Monastery, until September 14, 1944, when he was taken to the Dachau concentration camp. Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo Dožić was also imprisoned in Vojlovica during the Second World War, alongside many other clerics of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The text first briefly describes the circumstances that led to the Bishop’s imprisonment, after which it continues with the Bishop’s stay in Vojlovica. He was imprisoned due to his actions posing a threat to the German occupation authorities in Serbia. He spent almost two years in Banat, passing his every day in prayers, writing, and translating. Following that, in the next, larger part of the text, his literary and translation activity is analyzed. His most important literary works include the Vojlovica Stoslov [Vojlovica Century] and the Canon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As for his translation work, the most important is the one of the New Testament. In the end, the spiritual and material heritage of Bishop Nicholai in Vojlovica is discussed and a kind of museumization is proposed for his personal items and manuscripts. The research material is drawn first from published historical sources, i.e. diaries and memoirs from other Vojlovica prisoners (Vasilije Kostić, Jovan Velimirović, Gavrilo Dožić) together with the published works of Bishop Nicholai, on top of relevant historiographical studies, as well as based on insights into the Bishop’s legacy, which is kept in the monastery, and oral testimonies. This text is a modest contribution to the biography and bibliography of Saint Nicholai Velimirovich and the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Vojlovica Monastery during World War II.