The following interview with His Grace Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina took place with Mirjana Radetic of the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti and was published in the paper on September 6, 2004:
Apparently parrot-like stories of how the Church is overstepping its mandate and getting to involved in state affairs are not foreign to any regime. In response to these stories, of which we are all already sick and tired, I would say just the opposite is true: the state is meddling far more in the decisions the Church makes than the Church is interfering in state affairs.
These are the words with which His Grace Bishop Grigorije of Zahumlje and Herzegovina comments on individual attacks on the Serbian Orthodox Church allegedly provoked by the reaction of official representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church to concrete developments in society. According to the Bishop, it is as if we have not yet overcome the psychology according to which the Church should stick to censing and keep its opinion on state affairs to itself. If there is anyone who best aware of the suffering of the people and who shares in that suffering with the people, says the Bishop, then that is the peoples Church.
WITHOUT DENIAL OF FREEDOM
Quite a bit of dust has been raised after the Patriarch sent a letter to the highest officials of the state union with regard to the selection of the state anthem, says this member of the Holy Assembly of Bishops. What does the Church have to do with the anthem? Why did the Patriarch wait until the last moment? These were typical reactions but no one wanted to see the essence of the problem. The problem was that the anthem issue had become extremely unpleasant. There was no one in the government who would finally stop it and say: Ladies and gentlemen, what you are doing is not correct and does not lend to the honor of our country.
The Patriarch was watching and enduring all this, just as every sensible person was enduring it, and when he saw it was leading nowhere, he gave his opinion without any pretensions that it had to be acknowledged. The Patriarch does not have an army or a police force that would enable him to implement his thoughts in deed nor does he need them. However, a democratic state should not be bothered by the opinion of the Church given with the best of intentions. If someone says to us: It is not your business to talk about the anthem or to discuss Kosovo or any other deed on our part that means we are not free. Because if you have a state telling you something like that, it is automatically denying your freedom, both religious and human. The worst thing of all is that the very people who like to criticize the Church for meddling in their affairs just love to meddle in church affairs. They just adore having their photographs taken with the Patriarch, especially just before the elections, which is generally the only time they like to visit him!
Of course it is not the Churchs fault that everything in our state is more de facto than de jure, that everything in the state apparatus is barely functional because one system has collapsed and another has not yet been established to take its place; however, the Church is called upon to state that this is the case and to discuss it freely. People are seeking an institution that has internal cohesion, that can accept the peoples suffering and articulate it in the proper manner. Obviously, right now that is the Church.
The Church by its nature values the unity of the people. There is a written record from the first century discussing the nature of the Church, which begins: Just as with wheat that is sowed on hills and mountains and scattered in billions of grains the grains perish only to grow again and yield a harvest that is formed into a single bread, so too from many grains of people the Church is formed like a single bread. We are One in Christ.
IF EVERYONE JUST DID HIS JOB
The authorities themselves are forcing the Church to deal with issues that are not hers because the people in power are not doing their job properly; they are not leading the people on the right path. We are a good people, a people with heart but we have the problem of failing to find the right path. There is the story of the man who purchased some sheep in another village and was driving them back to his own village. The sheep, however, refused to follow the road but walked through the scrub by the side of the road. Upon meeting a monk next to the monastery, the man said: Father, why will the sheep not follow the road? The monk replied: Probably because the sheep do not know the road. Upon which the peasant exclaimed: But do the sheep then know the side of the road?
I do not like this hiding behind the people. If you are a leader, then be one or leave.
The Church are pained when the people are not unified and when they like the sheep in the story do not follow the road but walk through the scrub. It is not necessary that we are all for the same option or share the same politics; it is good to have some differences. However, we should all gather in unity around what represents the essence. Our officials should not let their privileges make them forget why they have been appointed to their offices. They should always remember the words of St. Petar Zimonjic, who was told in 1941 not to go to Sarajevo because there the Gestapo and the Ustashe [Croatian Nazi-Fascists] awaited him. Should I not share in the evil that has befallen the people with whom I shared everything good? he asked and soon after was killed.
Bishop Grigorije comments on the present relations between the state and the Church as follows:
For twenty years I have lived intensively in the Church and I still have not seen a lot of clerics lingering in government and state offices; on the contrary, these people are coming to us. Unfortunately, they generally come only when they need the Church as a means of accomplishing something. Recently a man from Mr. Ashdowns office said to me: You meet so many people; you must have political influence! Many people do not understand that those of us in the Church would be happiest if we could do our job: to serve liturgies, baptize children and marry couples, to sing church hymns instead of worrying about Kosovo, refugees and the state anthem. The Church should not have to think about whether we will become part of a coalition with the UN, NATO or Partnership for Peace; the Church should preach the Gospel and offer the faithful consolation and hope.
It is extremely important that everyone does their job conscientiously, and of course there are irresponsible people everywhere. For example, for the past two years I have been watching the work being done on this road next to the Patriarchate; its only about 50 meters long but they cant seem to finish it. In my eyes the authority of the state is being undermined here and my heart grows even heavier when just a few meters further I see the painful column of people waiting in front of the Austrian Embassy to get their visas. But if we say anything to the government, when we propose or reprimand, they immediately become angry just as Milosevic in his time used to become angry. For me that is a sign that they are really guilty and that they are not good because the Most Wise Solomon says: Unmask the good and he will improve, unmask the bad and he will become angry.
QUICKER OPENING
Unfortunately, many people in the government do not have the most rudimentary knowledge of the church; they are bothered by the very word church. On the other hand, priests and bishops have still not managed to completely overcome the feeling of rejection they gained during the time of Communism when they survived various forms of torture, incarceration, punishment and murder. Even though the state today is different than the one before, they still have a sort of resistance. The pressure was so great in the past that even today there are bishops who consider it a small miracle when a minister wants to talk with them. In a normal society this is a normal thing. In resolving problems in the relations between Church and state, both sides should sincerely and quickly become more open and talk if we want to have some progress.
