(Excerpts from St Justin Popovic (+1979), “The Orthodox Church and Ecumenism”, published at Hilandar Monastery, Holy Mount Athos, in 1975)

St Nicolai Velimiriovic

St Nicholas Velimiriovic (+1956) says: “On what side do you want to be, with the darkened and rotten Europe or with Christ?”

If the history of the last three centuries (the 18th, the 19th and the 20th) would have been called with one and fitting name only, it must have been that of “the protocol of the trial between Europe and Christ”. All these because in the last three hundred years everything that happened in Europe was against Christ:

Christ says to Europe that she is baptised in His Name and that she must remain faithful to Him and His Gospel. To that, the accused Europe answers: “All religions are equal. The French encyclopaedists told us so and besides nobody can be forced to believe one thing or another.”

Europe tolerates all religions as popular superstitions, for the sake of her imperialistic interests, but herself does not follow any. When Europe will reach her political targets, she will quickly finish with these things.

Christ is asking painfully: “How can you, human beings, live only with your imperialistic and materialistic intentions that are only with your animal-like will for bodily food? I wanted to make you gods and sons of God, and you run away, pursuing to become like beasts under yoke.”

To that, Europe answers: “Thou are outdated, instead of Thine Gospel, we discovered zoology and biology. Now we know that we are not Thine inheritors and not the inheritors of Thy Heavenly Father, but of the orang-utan, the gorilla and the monkey. Now we are completing ourselves to become gods, because we don’t know other gods, but us.

St Iustin Popovic

Christ says: “You are more stubborn than the Jews of the old. I lifted you up from the darkness of the barbarian age to the Heavenly Light and you go back to darkness, like the blind to a filthy dust. I shed My Blood for you. I showed My Love to you, at a time when all angels turned their heads for not suffering the smell of your hell. So, when you were just darkness and you were rotting, I was the Only One to clean you and to light you. Don’t be unfaithful now, because you will go back again to that unbearable darkness and stench.”

Europe, smiling with superiority, shouts: “Run away from us. We do not know Thee. We follow the Hellenic philosophy and the Roman civilisation. We have universities. Science is our guiding star. Our emblem is: freedom, fraternity and equality. Reason is the god of gods. Thou are an Asian. We deny Thee. Thou are just a fairy tale of our grand fathers.”

Christ, in tears, says: “Now I leave, but you will see. You left the God’s Way and you went on the way of Satan. Blessedness and happiness were taken from you. Your life and your death are in My Hands, because I gave Myself to crucifixion, for you. In spite of that, it is not I Who shall punish you, but your sins and your fall from Me, your Redeemer. I showed the love of My Father to all mankind and I wanted to save you all through love.”

To that, Europe says: “A healthy and manly hatred against everyone who is not agreeing with us, this is our program. Thy love is just a fairy tale. Instead of this, we raised the flags of nationalism, internationalism, statism, progress, evolutionism, scientism and culturalism. In these we find our salvation, and Thou go from us.”

Brothers, in our times, this discussion in disagreement ended. Christ left Europe, as He left the land of Gadara when He was asked to do so: but straight away after He left, there were wars, fear, ruin and destruction. The barbarian time before Christianity returned to Europe: that time of the Avars, of the Huns, of the Longobardians and of the Africans, but only one hundred times more frightening. Christ took His Cross and His blessing and left. He left behind this darkness and the horrible smell of that place.

And now you decide: do you want to be with the dark and putrid Europe or with Christ?

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The Saint Hierarch was saying these about the acquired blindness of the Western world: “The West sank in its second childhood. In this we can find the monstrosity and its madness. During the Christian epoch, when the West was Orthodox, the West could see with the Spirit and look with her mind, but becoming estranged from the true and good deeds, its spiritual vision became narrower, until it turned into a dark blindness, during the 20th century. Now the West has only bodily eyes to observe things falling under senses. The West armed her eyes with many stunning tools, to see better and closer the felt world, the shape and the colours of things and beings, their number and the distance between them. The West detects with the microscope, seeing the smallest worms, the microbes, in a way that never ever someone could see them before. The West is using the telescope detecting the stars above her home, in a way that never ever someone could see them before.

But here her sight stops seeing. Regarding the thinking sight and the spiritual eye looking for the hidden parts of things and the understanding and the importance of the whole creation and universe, so regarding all these, o dear brothers, mankind of the West is blinder than the Islamic Arabians, blinder than Brahmanic India, blinder than the Buddhist Tibet and blinder than the animist China. Indeed, Christ did not see a greater shame like this in the two millennia that passed with the baptised man being blinder than the ones who are not baptised!

The good will Messenger, one with the Apostles (St Nicholas Velimirovic), says about the “White Demoniac” – Europe: “What do you think about Europe? The Africans and Asians call the Europeans the “white demons”. This is the reason that they could call Europe the White Demoniac. White because of the skin colour, “demoniac” because of the darkness of its soul, because Europe denies the Only God and took the throne of the hardworking Roman caesars. And exactly like the Roman caesars before the destruction of Rome, Europe assured all the people on earth that they can worship their gods in the way that they can and want, because they are allowed to do so. But firstly all people (nations) have the duty to worship the goddess of Europe, either under this name or under the name of “culture”. In this way, brothers, Rome resurrected like a werewolf, during these times. It is the satanic Rome before Constantine the Great, the Rome that destroyed Christians through fire and sword, trying to stop Christ to enter Europe. But the “White Demoniac” fell into a much worse illness that the older Rome. Because if the older Rome bowing down to idols was tormented by one demon, the White Demoniac is tormented by seven demons, much worse than that devil of Rome. Here we are with a new Rome bowing down to idols, which is a new martyrdom for Christians. Be ready to accept this martyrdom for Christ, from the White Demoniac…

The new Europe bowing down to idols does not praise anything “godly” less than her only entity. Europe praises herself, her wisdom and her power. But Europe is like a balloon ready to crack, in the laughter of Africa and Asia. Europe lives in the vicious circle of discoveries. Anyone who presents a new discovery is named genius. And again, anyone who brings news about discoveries is called with a Ph. D. appellative. But none of these discoveries makes anyone a better man, more honest, and more enlightened. Europe, in the last one thousand years, did not bring one discovery of the Spirit, but exclusively of the matter.

The discoveries of Europe brought mankind on the edge of a cliff. Those discoveries led Europe to a spiritual darkness not yet encountered in the history of Christianity. Because all these discoveries, (we do not know if they are from bad thoughts or produced under Jews’ influence) have been drawn against Christ. When the telescope was discovered for observing the stars, the European scientists put this discovery forward in opposition to Christ. When they discovered the microscope, there was also such laughter against Christ. When they built the train, the steam machine, the telegraph and the telephone, all the air was re-sounding of the self praise of Europe against God and His Christ. When men invented machines to travel over the sea, to fly through the air, to speak remotely, Europe saw Christ as useless as the Egyptian mummies.

But all these discoveries from the last two hundred years, Europe used for her suicidal in two world wars, for murdering, for hatred, for her fall, for tricking, for raping, for mocking the holy things found in peoples, for lying, for not venerating God, for the lust and the atheism spread all over the world. In reality, Europe did not trick anyone else but herself. The non-Christian people understood what Europe is and what she wills: for these reasons they called her the White Demoniac. Just listen to what David the King says: these ones are proud with their chariots and those ones with their horses, but we will be magnified in the Name of the Lord (Ps. 19:8). Those braggarts will sleep on pillows of lying glory, but we will rise up and we will correct ourselves. And Apostle Paul speaks out with even more strength: “And what has thou that thou deeds not receive? Now if thou deeds receive, why boastest thou as if thou deeds not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). You must know that all the discoveries have been made on earth, which belongs to God, and learn from these both the shame and the honour…

The numerous nations of Asia and Africa – even if they are not baptised, but with an inclination towards a spiritual life – would have understood and valued these things, because these nations praise their own faiths, their own gods and the books that they believe to be holy: the Koran, the Veda, and so on. They are not honouring with things made by their hands, with their “culture”, but with what they consider to be higher than themselves and with what they see as perfect in this world. Only the European peoples do not praise Christ, and His Gospel, but prising their dangerous machineries and their cheap goods, that is their culture. The result of this type of European worshiping for the famous European “culture” brought hatred towards Christ and Christianity.

Hating European goods and European people, the pagans also came to hate the True God. But, alas, Europe feels no pain for this! Because Europe herself was the first to hate God and to try to get rid of Him. This is the state not to be invidious about that the whole European mankind was brought to, through its wrong advancement, under the influence of a church found in the wrong, especially in the last 200 years. Not the people are responsible for this but the spiritual guides of these peoples. Not the flock, but its pastor. It could be very good if Europe was to praise Christianity, showing this Christianity as the most precious inheritance… like in the first centuries after Christ – if Europe was one and the same with Christianity, identifying herself with Christianity. Praise Christ God and His Name onto all continents – that was the job that Europe had from God. Without Christ, Europe is the poorest beggar and also the most lack of shame exploiter of this world!