Contemporary Ecclesiological Reminder about Diaspora

History and analysis of so the called “American schism” (1963–1992) and Recommendations for Its Overcoming

In the history of the Serbian Church there were only a few schisms. In our time, there was a well-known American schism (1963–1992). Bishop Atanasije has placed all questions tied to the schism under the light of Orthodox ecclesiology and Tradition, which was the only way to deal with them in order to arrive as close as possible to the healing of the schism. The concrete result of Bishop Atanasije’s ecclesiological proposal was the reestablishment of the Eucharistic communion and reconciliation which was accomplished on the Feast of the Meeting of our Lord, February 15, 1992. The book speaks not only about the meaning of bishop, clergy and people and their interaction, but, also, about the need for catholicity and synodality of the Church.

Athanasius Yevtich (Atanasije Jevtić) was born on January 8, 1938, near Sabac. He graduated from the Orthodox seminary in Belgrade, along with Bishops Amfilohije and Lavrentije. While studying at the Orthodox Theological Faculty, he served a two-year military service. Then, he was ordained a monk with the blessing of the Bishop of Sabac-Valjevo Jovan Velimirovic (St. Nikolaj Velimirovic’s niece), by St. Justin Popovic in Pustinja Monastery near Valjevo, in 1960. He graduated from the Orthodox Theological Faculty in 1963. He then (1964) went to Constantinople (Halki) to study theology and attended courses in the Theological Faculty (Athens). Under the mentorship of Professor of Dogmatics, Dr. Jovan Karmiris, he defended a PhD thesis in Greek on the topic: “Ecclesiology of Paul the Apostle after St. Chrysostom” (1967). In autumn 1968, with the blessing of the Serbian Orthodox Church, he went to Paris to teach at St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute. After one year, he became professor of Patristics at the Institute. While in Paris, he occasionally attended lectures on Patrology at the Roman Catholic Theological Faculty (Institut Catholique de Paris) and some lectures on Byzantine literature at the Sorbonne (Hautes Études). As a professor at the St. Sergius Institute, he participated in the First Theological Conference of Orthodox Theologians in America, in September 1970 in Boston (Holy Cross). In 1972, he came back to Serbia at the Orthodox Theological Faculty, to teach History of the Christian church, History of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Patrology. He has published about a thousand scientific papers and fifty books. He became involved in the cultural movements of the country, with his open speeches, excellent knowledge of theological and philosophical thought and his erudition and versatility, he gained great sympathy and support – especially from youth. He served as Bishop of Banat from 1991 to 1992 and as Bishop Zahumlje and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1999. Due to a serious injury, he retired from archpastoral duties in 1999. During the civil war, he helped the people, the army, orphans, refugees, the wounded and other needy people and the suffering in many ways, restoring the Orthodox faith in Herzegovina through mass baptism and communion. He was a participant in many domestic and international scientific gatherings in the field of church history, theology, philosophy and Christian culture. At the same time, he collaborated in many church and secular journals at home and abroad. Bishop Atanasije has published many translations from Ancient Greek, Ancient Slavonic, Hebrew, French, Russian and other languages. His theological, anthropological, patrological, church-historical works go into all periods of the Church’s history and cover almost all the important issues of Orthodox biblical theology. After the fall of communism in Yugoslavia, he actively worked to strengthen the Orthodox faith among people. Because he never agreed to compromises, Bishop Atanasije was often in conflict with the authorities, mostly secular ones. He was not a politician in a cassock, but a fiery orator. His spoken words are feared by everyone, even by himself, as one journalist said in 1999. He was one of St. Justin Popovic’s spiritual children. The others are Metropolitan Amfilohije (died of COVID-19 in October 2020), Bishop Artemije (who was defrocked in 2010 and excommunicated in 2015, died of COVID-19 in November 2020), Bishop Irinej of Backa (tested positive for COVID-19 in February 2021). Bishop Atanasije’s well known spiritual children are: physicist Emmanuel Sarris, iconographer Stamatis Sklirs (holyicon.org), Bishop Grigorije Duric, Bishop Maxim Vasiljevic, Bishop Dimitrije Radjenovic, etc.