Father Saša Petrović, parish priest of St. Nicholas Church in Omaha, Nebraska, was elected president of the oldest Serbian national organization, the Serbian National Defense (SNO), a few days ago in Chicago, by a majority vote at the organization’s Congress.
Father Saša has long been known for his fierce media appearances against the current government in Serbia, and as one of the few clergymen who openly supported the student protests.
He is also the first priest to be elected president of the SNO, which is where we began our conversation…
“Yes, this is the first time in SNO’s history that a priest is at the head of the organization. What’s unusual is that I don’t live in Chicago, from where presidents were usually elected, but some people recognized my work and engagement and felt that it would be beneficial for the organization, to make its name known among the younger population, to whom I am known from the media and social networks for ‘controversial statements.’
And at the same time, to keep the organization on that true, authentic, Saint Sava path. We know that whenever there was a project to separate Serbian identity from Orthodoxy, it always turned into something terrible, like the so-called Kosovo Covenant that Milošević wanted to build on a five-pointed star, not on the cross, and that’s why it failed. Given the great historical moment and the crossroads where the Serbian people find themselves, I decided to accept this duty.
You have accepted a difficult duty. What do you believe needs to be done to strengthen, recover, rejuvenate, and thus await a brighter future for the SNO as the oldest Serbian national association?
“The best guarantee for an organization to disappear is for it to become a museum of memories of past times and our great figures. Of course, memory must always be present, because it is our history and the history of the Serbian people. We must remember our great men like Pupin and Dučić, but we should ask ourselves what we are willing to do and what we are willing to give up to be their worthy successors. It’s not enough just to boast about what they did.
Apathy and Division – The Biggest Serbian Ailments!
“The guarantee for the survival of an organization and its peace is constant movement, action. Any static position is like pushing a car uphill. If you stop, the weight of the car will pull you downhill. Similarly, SNO stagnated, it didn’t adapt in a certain historical moment, it didn’t understand the seriousness of the historical situation, and a vacuum was created, which is why it is in the state we found it in today. My plan is precisely – action. On two fronts. Primarily in America – for our very numerous community here to become part of SNO. It is incomprehensible that there are 10 times more Serbs living in this country than Albanians, Croats, or some others, and yet their voice is heard more than ours.
This is because we are disunited and because apathy has taken hold of our areas here too. I will primarily rely on the younger generation in this endeavor, as they have shown both the desire, knowledge, and will. Our greatest contribution in this country can be to constantly impress upon American officials the significant role the Serbian people have played in American history, from people who brought much to America like Tesla and Pupin, to the rescue of 500 American airmen in the largest rescue mission behind enemy lines in World War II. Especially since the full truth about General Mihailović and his movement has not come to light, neither here nor in Serbia. The best way for our people to be recognized here is to advocate in Washington for that truth to be known and for him to receive the monument he deserves in the American capital.
HOW TO RESTORE OLD PRESTIGE AND ATTRACT YOUTH: From the Serbian National Defense Congress
Once, when SNO was significant, American senators competed to be seen at SNO banquets, and today 90% of Serbs in this region don’t even know this organization exists. Why create a new one when we have an organization with a resonant and historical name, we just need to refresh and rejuvenate it.
The second vector of action will be towards Serbia. We now have a phenomenon, the newest generation of young, skilled people, who fled Serbia due to nepotism, crime, and corruption. They are ready to do something, as they are currently doing through some smaller organizations, so it would be good and much more effective if everyone joined one organization and directed all their energy in one direction.
How will you achieve this, how will you attract young people?
“First of all, by a greater presence on social networks, which unfortunately the older generation does not understand and does not use. And by personal missionary work among our immigrants in other American cities. Chicago is not the only place where Serbs live in America. In fact, in some smaller places, they are much better organized and more united than here. Our large communities are in Dallas, Las Vegas, Fort Worth, San Diego, on the East Coast. All these communities should be visited, forums held, reminding them what SNO is and what its potential is, and affirming their activity, not just membership.
And this very step, for the president to be someone outside Chicago, testifies that we are ready to step out of the box we were in.
Students Follow the Kosovo Covenant
Are Serbian students an example of activism worth following?
“Of course. It makes me happy to see these young people following the Kosovo Covenant, that they are imbued with authentic Saint Sava Orthodoxy and the cross. By all human standards, this generation of Serbs should have been the worst, because they grew up with TikTok, social networks, reality shows, in a sick system. However, the blood of their ancestors still flows in their genes and veins, and that blood has now boiled, and it is truly moving to see these young people traveling across Serbia, carrying Serbian and church banners and icons, and slogans like ‘No Surrender’ which refer to Kosovo. They should be offered an authentic, true Serbian identity…
Does another kind of Serbian identity exist?
“It does, and we see it every day. That’s ‘Ćacilend,’ that’s the counter-culture which is actually no culture at all. But it’s a project that should show us what the ruling Serbian oligarchy aspires to. The discarded flags on the streets and in containers after every one of their rallies tell us everything about those people and their idols, or rather, their paymasters. Is that authentic Serbian identity? Or when we replace Mother Jugović with Ana Brnabić? Certainly not, and it causes disgust in young people. That happens when you stray from the path. The people suffer, Serbia suffers. And it’s better to suffer honorably and honestly than in shame. At the Congress, a decision was adopted to sever relations with the government in Serbia until state security files are opened and until it is revealed who brutally murdered Dragiša Kašiković and his stepdaughter Ivanka Milošević in Chicago in 1977…
“We have a large boil that has swollen on the body of our people, and until that boil bursts, there can be no cleansing. And that boil is located in the secret files of Tito’s infamous UDBA, and BIA as its successor. I would just remind readers that Kašiković and little Ivanka were murdered in the most monstrous way, with countless knife wounds on their bodies. Someone who deals with violent crimes would interpret that the killer was enraged, doing it with pleasure. The beast that committed it was never punished, and the instigator was Tito’s regime. How can we, as the successors of Dragiša Kašiković, overlook their tormented blood and sit with representatives of a government that has decided to keep secret archives closed until 2060?
Which only means that even today, in the public sphere, we have, perhaps even in the church, people who were close collaborators of the Titoist regime or are collaborators of the current regime. We have fake patriots, a fake opposition, because many opposition parties, even during Milošević’s regime, were satellite parties, like the Serbian Radical Party, not to mention others… Until those files are opened and the boil bursts, there can be no cleansing, because it’s like leprosy.
Where are the remnants of that system seen today?
“It’s enough to see what programs the national television RTS broadcasts, promoting Titoism and how well people lived during that time. One nest of that ideology is RTS, and to know who is who and start dealing with the external enemy, we must first know who the Judases are. Just as John the Theologian leaned on Christ’s chest and asked him: ‘Who is it, Lord?’ So too must we find out who the Serbian Judases are.
UDBA files are not the only reason for the SNO to sever ties with Aleksandar Vučić’s current regime…
“We can have a minimal relationship with them, specifically consular staff, but if we pay them homage and invite them to our events, we would actually be giving them political support. When you take a picture with someone, when you are seen in public, that is political support. And lepers should be kept away from you, so they don’t infect you. As long as the situation is like this, we will not sit with them, eat, drink, and pretend that everything is okay, because it’s not! That is neither moral nor honest. Especially today, when Serbia is ruled by the most hated regime in history.
As a priest, how do you comment on the statements and the general attitude of the SPC leadership and the patriarch in the current political situation? Is it possible that only 6 out of 46 bishops raised their voices against declaring Serbian youth as Ustashas and foreign mercenaries?
“That was no surprise to me at all. Unfortunately, that is our painful truth that we cannot deny. But, on the other hand, each of us has our own historical and moral responsibility from which we cannot escape. No one will escape the judgment of God, the judgment of history, and the judgment of the people. How we inscribe ourselves in this life is how we will remain inscribed in history. And each of us should ask ourselves how the people will remember them in 20-30 years. As a patriot or as a traitor? I would like my descendants to remember me as a patriot. As someone who did everything in their power to ensure that Serbian identity does not perish but is free. The greater the rank and function, the greater the responsibility.
The Fullness of the Church Is Not Made Up of the Patriarch, Synod, or Assembly
You participated in all protests against the authorities from 1991 onwards, but I must admit that never before in the crowd of demonstrators have I seen so many Orthodox symbols and so many young believing people with so much national enthusiasm as during these student demonstrations. Is it possible that the church does not recognize this energy and is turning its back on its own future and the future of its people?
“The Church is a much broader concept than the patriarch, the Synod, or even the Holy Assembly of Bishops, which we can call the church leadership. And the stance of the patriarch, the Synod, and the Assembly does not necessarily reflect the stance of the fullness of the church. And that is the clergy and the people, together. I would say that the fullness of the church was expressed on March 15th because the majority of the 350,000 people who came out to that protest were faithful of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
And many local priests also supported the protests, welcoming the students. If you were to speak anonymously with many parish priests, they would tell you the same as I do, only that their name should not be publicly stated due to the persecution they face. We don’t even have a common stance from the Assembly, and you mentioned 6 bishops who don’t agree with the others. Perhaps there are more who would join them, but for certain reasons, they don’t.
Reading the Gospel, you can find a part where Christ says: ‘Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Who welcomed Christ when he entered Jerusalem? Youth, children. And the elders, those who should have pointed to the Messiah, shouted: Crucify him! They chose Barabbas instead of Christ. Which means that the elders are not always right. Secondly, Christ is always on the side of the oppressed and disenfranchised, always on the side of the victim and never on the side of the executioner. This is a universal truth, and to understand it, you don’t need to know Orthodoxy or the Quran; it’s a universal human truth.
If we believe in God, whatever we call Him, that God is always on the side of truth and justice, and here you have a clear line between justice and injustice. Between criminals on one side and victims on the other. Never in history has it been easier to make a choice. And there is no room for neutrality here. You cannot see someone beating a two-year-old child in the street and say: ‘That doesn’t concern me!’
The Student Battle Is Our Last Battle
Are you optimistic that this will be resolved in the right way?
“I think this is our last battle. If these young people leave Serbia, there will be no one left to rebel. Only crippled old and infirm people will remain, an SNS nursing home where people will depend on sandwiches handed out by the authorities. When one student, a young man, was asked on television, ‘what will you do if you don’t succeed,’ he replied:
‘Don’t worry about us; worry about yourselves who will remain in such a Serbia!’
Students have made a great sacrifice, sacrificing an academic year, enduring arrests, beatings, harassment, and they have resurrected from the dead the hope that the sun of justice, a better tomorrow, can also rise for us. I see God’s hand in their work, the hand of Saint Sava, the hand of Emperor Lazar. Many in Serbia had already given up on everything and on themselves, so if we don’t win this battle, we will invalidate all the victories of our ancestors in previous battles and wars. We simply must win this battle, and the Serbian people must understand that! And we seem to be a people who can only resurrect from the ashes. Until we hit rock bottom, we cannot push ourselves back to the surface of the water.
And I think we have now hit rock bottom, and there is nowhere further to go.
Written by: Antonije Kovačević | Photo: Antonije Kovačević/Private archive
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