University of Sussex B.Ed Hons Degree thesis The Beginnings of the Serbian Orthodox Church in England

C O N T E N T S

Chapter 1 Activities and formation of Church Committee; Publications; Problems of Committee; internal disorder; Bishop Irinej ; Return from Cairo; finding new clergy. Chapter 2 Father Nikolic; buying of 12 Egerton Gardens; post war chaos of displaced persons; Serbian EVW.’s; creation of parishes; religious festivals . Chapter 3 Welfare Committee and social work; Father Nikolic and changing face of Church Committee. Chapter 4 Serbian Church's relationship with Anglican Church; aquisition of St. Sava Church; further churches acquired; Church becomes Pan Slavonic; conclusion. SOURCES OF REFERENCE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Archpriest Miloje Nikolic for his personal testimony, reading of the thesis for factual accuracy and allowing the use of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s archives. D r. M.Purkovic, Church Committee Secretary for his invaluable Advice for suitable reading material needed for the thesis and for factual accuracy. M r. K. Pavlowitch, former diplomat, now Cambridge University Librarian, for his personal testimony, reading of first draft for correct spelling of names and accuracy of dates. Captain V. Jovanovic, ex adjutant to Queen Mother of Yugoslavia, for his personal testimony.

M r.V.Delibasic, for his personal testimony. M r. Aca Petrovic for his help in translating various documents from Serbian Cyrilic into English, and his personal testimony. Personal testimony of Mr Vlada Opacic, ex prisoner of war. Personal testimony of Prof. Stajic . The setting up of the Serbian Orthodox Church in London during the 1940’s and 1950’s and the problems it struggled through draws parallels with the setting up of the first Serbian Church in the Middle Ages. In both cases the story begins with the movement of the Serbian people to a new land and home. The first Serbs were one of the main tribes who originated from an area behind the Carpathians, between the Baltic and the region of Kiev, who at the beginning of the 6th century began moving 'in compact masses to the left bank of the Danube as far south as the Peloponnese’. (1) Their modern counterparts were the Yugoslav Royal family and it’s exiled government, who left Yugoslavia to come to Britain. The next parallel development was that a Serbian Orthodox Church was set up in both instances. Although the setting up of the Church and the particular problems and circumstances it faced in the different eras, the London Church having to set up a Church without money, having to deal with incoming refugees, finding work for them, organizing them, setting up parishes, setting up links with the Anglican Church and above all surviving in a strange country, rivalled the fervour with which the original Church carried out its functions. In both cases the Church was a spiritual, as well as a political and social force, and the priests were both organizers and leaders of men. It was the strength of the relationship built between the State, Church and the Serb people during the Middle Ages, combined with the Serbian independence of spirit and love of freedom that enabled this tradition to continue into the 20 th century and allow the setting up of the Serbian Church in London. In order to understand how this relationship was built up and how the role of the Church developed, enabling the continuance of the Church's tradition, a look at some of the main events in Serbian national and Church history should be taken. The Serbs first taste of Christianity came from the Byzantine Empire, which sent missionaries to convert the new Slav tribes, the Byzantines possibly using Christianity as a vehicle to bring about its political influence. Despite mass christenings of the Serbs during the rule of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610 - 641) the Orthodox religion was accepted

superficially and without real belief because people felt it was being forced on to them by foreign rulers. ( 2 ) However, two hundred years later, Christianity acquired a new meaning and was accepted more spontaneously, after the missionary brothers, Cyril and Methodius, the ' Apostles of the Slavs ', created a new Slavonic alphabet, Cyrilic, adapting the Byzantine liturgy to native ecclesiastical needs and enabling it to be understood. By the 12th century the Serbian Great Zupan, (Duke), Stevan Nemanja ( 1170-1169) created an independent Serbian state, which fostered the right political and national conditions in which an independent and national Church was to be created. By opting for the Eastern Orthodox Church, Nemanja determined Serbian Church orientation which proved to be the most crucial action in Serbian history, both for the people and its Church, whose founder was his youngest son Prince Rastko Nemanjic who went on to become the greatest Serbian saint, St Sava. Hitherto, the Church in Serbia had been ruled from Constantinople and was not interested in promoting Serbian Church interests . But the young Serbian state needed the support of its national Church and in 1219, at an opportune moment, while Constantinople was in the hands of the Crusaders,Prince Rastka Nemanjic and his brother Stefan,who was on the Serbian throne at the time, went to see the Patriarch of the Byzantine Church who then proclaimed the Church in the Serbian state autocephalous and consecrated Nemanjic, the first Serbian archbishop.(3) By then creating a national Church organization with eparchial seats strategically chosen, so as to protect national and Church interests, Nemanjic removed all Greek bishops in Serbia and replaced them with Serbian ones so that the Church could get closer to its congregation . By this act he demonstrated his intention of leaving nothing to chance where Church and political independence were at stake .This act of vision , this perception affected the historical future of the Serbian people, this creation of closeness between the Church and the congregation would prove later as the main source of spiritual strength in the ensuing centuries of foreign occupation.'Because St Sava (Nemanjic) knew only too well that Serbs alone can feel and understand the Serbian cause, to live for it, to stand up for it, to defend it, and to ward off attacks against it.’( 4 ) The seeds of the relationship that bound Church, State and people had been sown - the State couldn't do without the Church.The strength of this relationship was seen in the 1940's when the exiled Yugoslav King and government felt the need to start a Church in London because through tradition they had seen its importance, a lasting tradition built upon by the influence of St.Sava.(5) The development of the Serbian medieval Church went hand in hand with the development of the Serbian state . When in 1346 the Serb army proclaimed King Dusan Emperor, the Serbian autocephalous Church

was elevated to the rank of patriarchy.The first Serbian Patriarch Joanikije , crowned Dusan Emperor.(6) The strength and unity of the Church and state and how the people saw Church and state as one was seen as a result of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. The Turkish army headed by Sultan Murad crushed the Serbs and the whole Serbian army together with it leader Czar Lazar perished. Politically it was a disaster, but from a religious point of view it was thought of as the greatest of victories. To Czar Lazar and his contemporaries this battle meant more than just defending their State, it also meant defending Christianity. At the Battle of Kosovo, and in many previous battles, they fought ' for the holy cross and the golden freedom' (7) The underlying principle of this spirit and of the suffering Serbian people throughout the coming centuries was: conserve that for which the glorious ancestors gave their lives and which they valued more than their lives - Christian faith and national freedom.This is how the faith and national philosophy of the Serbian people survived five centuries of slavery under the Turks (8 ).In those long years of darkness, Church leaders became the national leaders.This was also the case in London - the priests did all the organizing and leading of the refugees, but the fact that the Serb refugees knew that there was a Church in England, gave them the hope and will to carry on, just as it had been throughout Serbian history. The only places where Serbian refugees could gather in numbers were Churches, just as in the past, when under Turkish rule, Serbs gathered in monasteries. The national Epic, that told in a synthesis of truth and legend of the Serbian struggles against the Turkish invaders kept the national spirit and hope alive (9) as will be seen through all the troubles the Church and Serbian people faced during the 1940’s. Like the rest of Europe during World War 2 ,Yugoslavia was by July 1942 occupied by the Axis powers, except for Croatia ,where an independent state was set up in 1941, after Yugoslavia had collapsed. Serbia was going through the most difficult phase in its history. The greater part of its captured army was sent to prisoner of war camps in Italy and Germany. Those who were not captured fled to the mountains of Serbia from where they conducted guerrilla warfare against the occupying German forces. To discourage this resistance German punitive expeditions retaliated by carrying out ruthless reprisals against the civilian population by executing one hundred Serbs for every one German soldier that was killed (10 ) In addition to what was taking place in Serbia, in Croatia a wholesale massacre of Orthodox Serbs( estimates put the number of victims between 750,000 and one million ) was carried out by the fanatical Croatian nationalists, the Ustaci.(l l) About 170 Orthodox clergy were killed in Croatia and many Orthodox Churches destroyed.(l 2). Elsewhere in Yugoslavia the Orthodox Church suffered,with many priests arrested and interned or shot by the occupying authorities(13). The Bishop Platon of Banja Luka, Metropolitan Peter of Sarajevo and Metropolitan Sava were murdered.

Metropolitan Dositej of Zagreb was so badly beaten that he went insane,to die later in a mental hospital ( l 4 ). The three most important heads of the Serbian Church were sent to concentration camps: Bishop Irinej of Dalmatia to Italy while both Bishop Nikolaj of Zhicha and Patriarch Gavrilo to the infamous Dachau.( l5). By July 1942, the Serbian community in London was numbering 150 people (l6). After the Yugoslav Royal family and its exiled government, who arrived in Great Britain soon after Yugoslavia was overrun by the Axis forces, settled in London permanently, a steady trickle of Yugoslavs into Great Britain continued. Apart from a few students and businessmen who were already in the country at the outbreak of war (17) the rest of the Yugoslav community contained mainly officials of the Yugoslav government, diplomatic corps , officers who had escaped together with the Yugoslav government, and also those who had managed to escape from German prisoner of war camps (18)) . Many of these people had miraculously escaped to freedom and now away from their families and their country from which frightening reports about the war were coming in daily, their spiritual need for a place of worship of their own had become overwhelming. Being fully aware of this necessity, the Yugoslav government approached the then Bishop Dionisije, Head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States of America and requested him to send a priest who would take care of the religious needs of the Serbian community in London(19). The Bishop sent the capable Archpriest Zivojin Ristanovic (29.1.1897 – 4.12.1967) who spoke fluent English and was a great preacher (20). Soon after he arrived in London on April 24th 1942 the first meeting of the Orthodox Serbs in London took place on the 3rd July and a committee of St Sava Church was elected . It’s members were: General M. Radovic, T.Nikolic, A.Micovic, Dj. Stojanovic,T. Djurovic ,J Plamenac,P.Jeftic and the Archpriest Ristanovic . On the 24th July, as it was customary in the Serbian Orthodox Church, the elected members took an oath , in the presence of Archpriest Ristanovic “that the vow by Almighty God that their duties as church wardens would be carried out conscientiously and that they would promote and look after the interests of the Church' (21). In August, a second meeting of the Serbian people in London was held at which the congregation was organised.( 22 ) On the 6th August, on behalf of this Church Committee, a letter was sent by Archpriest Ristanovic and the Committee's secretary, P.Jevtic to M.Gavrilovic,Minister of Justice of the exiled Yugoslav government, In the letter they informed Gavrilovic that a church committee had been formed and they requested formal Ministerial approval for the setting up of the Church parish in London and the Committee's rules (23). This letter marked the formal beginning of work begun by the Serbian Orthodox Church and its Committee in London.

Chapter 1

The main activities of the Church and the Yugoslav Embassy in London in the ensuing months were to find a suitable place of worship for the Serbian Community. Fortunately such a place was quickly found. It was a house at 12, Lennox Gardens, Chelsea, belonging t o Her Serene Highness Mary Ekaterina Romanovsky Pavlovski and her husband Prince Vsevold from Russia. The Yugoslav Embassy immediately wrote to a Mr. Glasse an official at the British Foreign Office, enquiring whether, in the event of the Embassy taking over a house in London belonging to Prince Vsevold as part of the Embassy's premises, and to contain the Embassy's Orthodox Chapel and offices of the Serbian Orthodox community, such premises would be free from the usual taxes and other charges, as was the case with the premises of the Embassy in Queen's Gate and Upper Grosvenor Street, (24). On the 13th October, the Yugoslav Embassy received a reply which notified them “that all Churches, as is the custom in this country, were exempt from payment of local rates, Income Tax…”(25)

The Yugoslav Foreign Office instructed the Yugoslav Embassy to draw up an agreement with the Romanovsky’s (26). Before the actual agreement was signed, the Church Commitee had written to the Embassy, drawing their attention to the fact that the use of the Romanovsky’s house was given to the Serbian Orthodox Church free of rent, and that this should be shown in the agreement (27) The Agreement was finally signed on the 29th March,1943. It was signed by Monsieur Vladimir Milanovitch, Yugoslav Charge de Affaire, on behalf of the Embassy.The most important clause of this agreement was that the Embassy should have the use of these premises for the duration of the war, or for the term of five years, whichever was the shorter(28). Although the formalities of taking over of these premises were concluded in 1943, the Church had been dedicated to Saint Sava and consecrated on December 12th 1942, by His Grace Archbishop Germanos, who was a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Greek Archimandrite Virvos, the Russian Archpriest V.Teokritov,and the very Reverend Z.Ristanovic. On the next day,St. Andrews Day, who was patron saint of the Yugoslav King, the first liturgy was celebrated (29). The first donation to St. Sava was made by the Yugoslav Royal Family to the amount of £1500.This donation was used towards the "building of an iconostasis(screen separating the sanctuary from main body of church),buying the holy symbols and robes and everything else that was necessary to make the Chapel usable for the Church services” (30). On the 5th June 1943, the Serbian Orthodox Church received its formal Certificate of Registration from the Borough of Chelsea, London. Meanwhile, on the 28th January 1943, a new Church Commitee was elected. Among the new names which appeared on this Committee were S.Rasic, A.Crnjanski, B.Pepic, V, Raicic, P,D. Mihajlovic, S.Vohoska and S.Milisavljevic.This Commitee took their oath on the 3rd February l943 (32) after which they held its first meeting and agreed to send a letter of

thanks to Prince and Princess Romanovsky.Unlike the first Church Commitee who only had an acting Chairman,(General Ristanovic), Mr.B.Pepic,a diplomat, was to become the first Chairman of the Church Commitee. Under his active guidance, from the day of his election until 30th September1943(33),

when the term of this Commitee had expired, the Commitee had given the Church its full support and also engaged itself on several projects, which served to promote both work and interests of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain. Its first important task was to try to get a priest to assist the Archpriest Ristanovic in his duties.The reason for this being that Archpriest Ristanovic often served and preached in Anglican Churches outside London(34). The idea that the Archpriest would have a permanently resident priest in London whose work would be mainly within the London parish had already been taken up by the Yugoslav Minister of Justice, M.Gavrilovic. He advised the Yugoslav Government that the priest Ocokoljic Firmilijan should be brought over from Detroit, USA, to fill this post (35).The urgency over this matter was shown when the Committee's deputation consisting of the Archpriest, Mr.Pepic and General Radovic decided to go to see the Prime Minister of the Yugoslav Government S.Jovanovic, and give their full support to the advice given to the Government by Gavrilovic(36). On the 23rd May,Mr.Pepic received a telegram from Father Firmilijan, which read, “New priest has been chosen here.Arrange so that my arrival there is not delayed any further (37). On receiving this telegram,Mr.Pepic wrote immediately to Minister Gavrilovic , urging him to do everything he could to arrange the swift arrival of Father Firmilijan, (38). Eventually Father Firmilijan arrived on August 5th 1943 and took over the duties as Church rector and also a position as a member of the Church Committee for the first time on the 23rd of August 1943 (39). During its term of office, this Committee had to deal with various forms of financial matters.The expenses directly involved in maintaining the building which housed the Chapel, Church offices and also the Archpriest's residence , were to be taken care of by a special grant from the Yugoslav Government amounting to £60 a month, which started on the 1st February 1943, in addition to the £110 the Archpriest was receiving each month(40). The Committee used this money to pay a resident caretaker £20 a month, electricity and water £3, for cleaning of the premises £5, rates £10, which left them with over £20 to put in the Church fund.(41) Having formed a Church Fund, the Committee opened a current account at Barclays Bank. The new Treasurer, P.Mihajlovic, informed the Committee that he had received all the books and accounts dealing with the Church’s finances, from his predecessor, T. Vlajcic, which were all up to date(42). At the following Cornmittee’s meeting, Mihajlovic announced the figures of the Church fund from the 3rd July 1942 to the present day of the 3rd March1943, stood at £154.5.5 (Total received £216. 5. 0 - spent £61.19.7 ) but this did not include the Government Grant of £60(43). In order to supplement the Church Funds further, it was decided at the Church Convention held on 28th January 1943. that the parish subscription paid by all members of the Church, which was five shillings a month, should be back dated to October 1942.(44) The final

Treasurer's report of this Committee was made on the 23rd August, where the fund stood at £284.12.1.(45) Apart from the mandatory sources of income the Church received an unexpected bequest of £5000 from the late owner of the Birmingham Post, to be used in looking after the children of war torn Yugoslavia. In addition to the regular Church fund, a symbolic fund called ‘Kragujevac' was started.This fund was dedicated to ' this town of martyrs' in Serbia, where the first German reprisals took place (47).The first contributor to this fund was the 'Never Again' Association, whose Chairman was the Earl of Mansfield, and whose motto was "Never Again must we lose peace after winning the war, never again must the Germans be allowed to organise for war, never again shall Britain be disarmed to danger point"(48). The most important work of the Committee throughout its term was centred on its publishing activities. At the annual convention of the Parish held on the 28th January 1943, it was decided that the new Committee has to take all the necessary steps to bring to the notice of British public opinion the plight of the Serbian Orthodox Church in occupied Serbia, as well as the Serbian people.To do this it was proposed that various publications should be prepared and also a fortnightly or monthly news letter be started(49). A week later at the first Committee Meeting, an editorial board was elected.Its four members were Archpriest Ristanovic,M.Crnjanski, T.Djurovic and P.Jeftic (50). It was also decided that this monthly newsheet should be called ‘Serbian Orthodox Church Herald" .However,any form of publishing under war conditions was subject to limitations imposed and controlled by the British Ministry of Information.For that reason an application was made on behalf of the Committee,by Dr.P.Jeftic, Press Attache at the Yugoslav Embassy, who,despite every justification in publishing the material that was relevant to the state of affairs in an allied country, could not obtain the necessary permit.The first issue of the Church Herald was printed without the responsible Ministry's permit “since there were no grounds to suspect that this won't be forthcoming(51). In the meantime, the second issue was ready for publication, but the printers told the editors that it cannot appear under the same name without the proper Ministry Licence. As a result this issue went into circulation under the shortened name of ‘Serbian Orthodox Church', and the same procedure was followed with the next third issue, which came out under the title of 'March 27th 1941-1943,Second Anniversary of Spiritual Rebirth of Yugoslavia ' (52). This particular issue dealt with the coup carried out on the 27th March against a government that had signed a treaty with Axis powers and did not have popular support. It was a coup, the news of which gained a welcome from Churchill in a statement to the House of Commons on 28th March 1947, that " Yugoslavia has found its soul"(53),but it was actually the Serbian people who had regained their self respect and a new place in their turbulent history. On the 29th March, the Church Committee received the long awaited reply from the Ministry of Information, with its disappointing contents " that due to the great shortage of printing paper, the Ministry cannot recommend the

issuing of the licence for the paper required for the Church newsletters".(54)This decision was difficult to understand until something most extraordinary happened, which in fact explained the reason behind the Ministry's decision. The newsletter titled ‘27th March 1941 – 1943’ was mistakenly delivered by the printers messenger boy to the offices of the Yugoslav Information Office at 61 Kingstone House, instead of to 12 Lennox Gardens where the Church Committee's offices were.Despite the fact that the parcel was addressed to Dr Jeftic, Vilder, head of the Information Bureau, having opened the parcel, decided to confiscate the newsletter, on the grounds " that his office had not been previously informed of the publishing of this material."(55) Committee Chairman Pepic intervened immediately and confronted Vilder and together with Mr S.Jovanovic, the Yugoslav Prime Minister requested the return of unlawfully appropriated church property(56),but without any success. As a result, the Committee decided to re print the same edition of the newsletter ‘27th March 1941-1943’, with an additional front cover change: there was a picture of the town of Sarajevo taken on the jubilant day of 27th March with an explanation that this was a publication of the Church Committee. (57) Many members of the Committee were infuriated by the unreasonable manner of Vilder’s behaviour and some of them like Crnjanski even suggested that the Committee should seek legal advice in case a similar thing happened again.But the matter did not rest there as Vilder also took steps to ensure that there would not be further Committee publications by advising the British authorities that his office should be consulted as to which future Yugoslav publications should be allowed(58).The reasons that Vilder gave for this recommendation was that these Church publications tend to present Croats as bandits and that it was also anti Catholic, but this was refuted most categorically by Dr.Jeftic.He read out and explained the contents of the newsletter to the Committee on behalf of the Editorial Board, who agreed that there was not a grain of truth in Vilder's allegations(59). However, it appears that the last laugh in this somewhat bizarre encounter, which underlay the unhappy Serbo-Croat relationships (Vilder was a Croat) was with the Committee. They sent the printer's bill for the pubilication which they never received to Vilder with an accompanying letter(60). The response in some quarters to these publications was very encouraging. Canon John Douglas, General Secretary of the Church of England Council on Foreign Relations, had written to the Committee after having received one copy of their first newsletter, congratulating them on their publishing activity and placing an order for 80 more copies, and offering to subscribe to it with as many Anglican clergy(61). Also, David Shillan from the Instituto Britanico Em Portugal (former Director of Yugoslav- British Institute in Belgrade ) wrote to the Committee requesting any future bulletins or news sheets regarding the Church in Serbia(62) and there were also a further fifteen letters requesting copies of these. After all that had been said and done, another Committee publication did get printed, though not with the same printers.The previous newsletters were

printed by St. Clements Press Limited, while the new one bore the name of Fawit Press.The discrepancy between the time when Mr Jull, Assistant Director of Production Division of Ministry of Information(63) informed Dr Jeftic of the Ministry's decision not to issue the Licence (under the control of Paper Order no 48) and Dr Jeftic’s announcement of this decision to the Committee on the 21st May (64) may have something to do with this in what appears to be an ' illegal act’ by the Committee.

The new publication (which first appeared in the American Serb newspaper 'Srbobran’) issued on the 19th December 1942, was called Memorandum on the Quisling - Created 'Croatian Orthodox Church' and was written by Rt. Rev. Bishop Dionisije of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States, " in the name of the Serbian Orthodox Church as her only free Bishop in the world,"(65). Since this Memorandum was dealing with a matter (very important to the Serbian Church) which was taking place at this time in the Nazi created 'Independent State of Croatia', it would be only too easy to assume that this publication would have never appeared if the request for it was to go through the usual channels. The Memorandum was presented in a different format as a formal letter of protest to the government of the USA, drawing their attention on behalf of the "Mother Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade" to the creation of "The Croatian Orthodox Church' as an Axis attempt to perpetrate fraud upon the world (66).Furthermore the Memorandum pointed out that " the primary purpose, plan and design in creating the ' Croatian Orthodox Church' was to cause a break and to disrupt unity among the Serbian people and its Serbian Orthodox Church, and also to aid in the forcible conversion of the remaining Orthodox Serbians living in Croatia to the Roman Catholic faith." After some more indictments against this Nazi conspiracy, the Memorandum concluded that the Serbian Orthodox Church "shall always remain as one, whole and indivisible body, in closest canonical ties with the Holy Orthodox Churches of the world."(67) The first response to this distressing piece of information, where an evil ideology was using every conceivable means, even religion, in order to destroy those who were giving very tough resistance to Nazi plans to conquer Yugoslav land for ever came from the Anglican clergy again. Canon Douglas wrote to say how impressed he was by this Memo and wishes a copy to be sent to each of the ninety members of the Church of England Council (68). A similar reply was received by the Church Committee from The Hon.Mrs.Beryl Ryder, Hon.Secretary of the ‘Never Again’ Association , who ordered several copies for their members(69).This publication appears to be the last one undertaken by the Church Committee during its term of office. In the meantime, the British Foreign Office sent circulars round to all the allied governments in Britain advising of the curtailment of all publishing activities due to a shortage of paper(70). At the Committee’s meeting held on the 21st May 1943, Dr. Jeftic read a letter received by him from Dr. Irinej Djordjevic, Bishop of Dalmatia,who was interned in Italy,a copy of which was also sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Yugoslav Prime Minister (71). In this letter the Bishop had

expressed his hope that he may be exchanged during the prisoner exchanges which had often taken place between British and Italian governments. The dreadful conditions under which he was kept in captivity was revealed to the Committee in a report from a reliable source, which stated that he was ‘locked up with a crowd of international bandits, brigands, hooligans, etc.' and that he was also seriously ill and could not get the necessary treatment (72). This prompted the Committee to write to the Yugoslav Prime Minister and urge him to take the necessary steps to obtain the Bishop's release from internment. Similar letters were sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England Council on Foreign Relations (73).In his reply the Archbishop informed the Committee that he had been in touch with the British Foreign Office regarding the release of Bishop Irinej, and he assured the Committee that he was doing his utmost to help his case(74).The Committee had also approached Mr.Mirosevic - Sorgo, accredited Yugoslav ambassador to the Holy See in the Vatican and who was also the Yugoslav delegate with the Red Cross in Lisbon, and asked him to use all his connections, especially ones in Catholic circles to try and arrange for food parcels to be sent to Bishsop Irinej. Towards this end the Committee approved of an outlay of nine pounds a month from its fund(75).But it would take yet another five years before Bishop Irinej, the former President of all the Anglo-Yugoslav Societies in pre-war Yugoslavia landed in Great Britain on the 17th March 1948 (76). Surveying this first period of the beginning of work and organisation of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain, in fact in London during 1942-43 one had formed the following impressions: To begin this work with their kind of constructive enthusiasm, half way through the war in London, a city subjected to intensive bombing, proved most conclusively that these people strongly believed that this war was to be won by the country who offered them shelter and who herself professed her belief in Christianity and Democracy; but it also showed that the first steps of the Serbian Church in this country were taken under strenuous conditions , which at the same time did help create the right spiritual conditions. However, it needed some strong and purposeful personalities who could see through its aim and task successfully. Three outstanding members of the Committee who appear to be constantly present behind every creative action undertaken by the Church were Archpriest Ristanovic, the Committee's first Chairman Bozidar Pepic, and its first Secretary Dr.Pavle Jeftic. While they were often faced by many problems caused by war, and also conditions of a foreign country, and let us not forget that they all, apart from the Archpriest, also had their professional obligations to their respective departments to fulfil. They also had to face from time to time some members of the Committee who lacked their insight and who, forgetting the general situation, often engaged in some petty dialogue within the Committee itself.Two such dissenting members were Gen. M. Radovic and Major S. Vohoska, But while Radovic,after an exchange of letters with Pepic, was persuaded t o Remain on the Committee, Vohoska, after serving on the Committee for only two months, tendered his resignation over some trivial matters on the 24th March 1943 (77). The last meeting of this present Committee

took place on the 2nd September 1943, on the eve of departure of most of its members, who were about to leave for Cairo along with the Yugoslav King Peter II and the Yugoslav government (78).The idea behind this move was that they wanted to be available at the forthcoming rumoured landing on the Yugoslav Dalmatian coast by the Anglo-American forces. However, proclamation of a new Tito led communist government inside Yugoslavia, and the formal recognition of Tito by the Allies(79), had made this whole exercise futile. As a result of these new political developments which had a terribly upsetting effect on members of the Yugoslav government and their staff, parish life as a consequence was also seriously affected. After their return from Cairo, from February 1945, parish life remained quite uneventful until the Committee again met on 23rd March l945.The meeting was called for the purpose of announcing the departure of Archpriest Ristanovic for the United States, having been recalled by Bishop Dionisije.At the meeting with only few members present (Pepic, M. Bobic, Gen. Radovic, Z.Tomic,B.Popovic, A. Vlajcic, Hristanovic and Firmilijan). Pepic and General Radovic expressed their thanks on behalf of the Committee and parish to Archpriest Ristanovic, for all his work within and outside this parish, in promoting the interests of the Serbian Orthedox Church(80) but Ristanovic actually took his leave from his London parish at the church’s Annual Meeting, that was arranged for the 29th March 1945. At this meeting the same sentiments about Ristanovic were repeated and it was also requested of him to try to raise financial aid in the United States for the Church in Great Britain(81) Among the twenty four members who attended this annual meeting, there was a new priest , Father Miloje Nikolic, who had recently joined the London Parish(82). After hearing the Annual Report, members were quite critical of the lack of any activities by the Committee in the past year, even the meetings in the Anglo- Serbian Circle were not held regularly. (This organisation was formed sometime in 1944 with the purpose of promoting Anglo- Serbian understanding). The meeting further heard the financial report made by the Treasurer,A. Vlajcic, which covered the whole of 1944 and the first three months of 1945.During the debate of this report, members were very alarmed at the prospect of losing the Government Grant that was likely to happen with the new changes in the Yugoslav government. Another piece of disturbing news that the meeting learned about was that there recently appeared an advertisement placed by Prince Vsevold that 12 Lennox Gardens, was put up for sale. The final act of the meeting was to elect a new Committee. After M. Crnjanski turned down an offer to replace the retiring Pepic, D. Zobanica became the new Chairman of the Church Committee (83). Before Archpriest Ristanovic left in April for the USA, he wrote a letter to Canon Douglas and begged him to convey to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, " his gratefulness for the kindness and gracious way in which I have been received by the Church of England during my three years residence here, and it is my earnest and prayful hope and intention to do all in my power to work for the further understanding and co-operation of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Church of England "(84). At the same time

he informed Canon Douglas of his successor and requested him to notify the Church of England authorities about this matter. Ristanovic appointed the Reverend Father Firmilijan Ocokolic, Chaplain of the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Sava in London to be acting representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain(85). Hardly had Ristanovic left Great Britain when Bishop Dionisije wrote to Father Firmilijan,asking him to return to the States as well, to take up a new appointment as his assistant and Secretary to the Eparchy(Diocese)(86). Although Father Firmilijan was honoured by the offer of this new appointment, he wrote back to the Bishop requesting that his departure may be delayed for a few months because of the delicate situation of the Serbian Church in London(87). To lose two experienced priests from the London parish within such a short space of time, and with the new priest, Father Nikolic, not quite prepared, through language difficulties, to take over, would have been a great blow to the Serbian Church in London. In order to overcome some of the difficulties, Father Firmilijan and Committee Chairman Zobenica further requested that Father Nikolic be officially appointed as a Chaplain to the St.Sava Church in London(88) The Bishop answered by agreeing to Father Firmilijan’s request to stay on until the situation had eased and that Father Nikolic had been officially appointed.In his letter the Bishop he also pointed out that according to the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchy, all the missions abroad were under the direct control of the Serbian Patriarch himself. Since the Patriarch was interned during the war, the Bishop took it upon himself to look after the interests of the Church in London.The Bishop asked whether the Orthodox Church in Britain wanted to remain under his jurisdiction until the situation of the Church in Yugoslavia became clearer (89). The Committee wrote back thanking him for his understanding of their position and accepting the offer of his jurisdiction. This decision was a unanimous one reached by the Committee at their meeting on the 6th of July, since they felt that with the situation being as it was, there was no alternative. They also notified the Bishop that Father Firmilijan had introduced Father Nikolic to the authorities of the Church of England with whom Father Nikolic would be maintaining the Serbian Church's future relationship. Finally, they asked the Bishop to arrange some sort of financial aid to help Father Nikolic, who was only receiving £20 a month from the modest church fund(90). Once officially appointed (91),Father Nikolic began to take full charge of the affairs of the Serbian Church in London and by September Father Firmilijan was on his way to the States(92) Firmilijan arrived back in the States on the 15th September 1945. As Father Nikolic appeared on the Church scene in London, he had to face and deal with some very grave problems. The head of the Yugoslav government at this time was Dr. Ivan Subasic, a Croat, who tried to come to terms with Marshal Tito and his provisional Government born out of the Communist Revolution in Yugoslavia. One of the acts of this

government was to stop all financial assistance the Serbian Church and its priests in London On 31st August 1945, a letter to that effect was received, sent by The Delegation of The Ministry of Finance of the Yugoslav Federal Democratic Republic, addressed to The S e r b i a n Orthodox Church " St. Sava" in London, which stated , "You are being informed that by the decision of the Ministry of Finance of the YFSR (Yugoslav Federal Socialist Republic) from now on every grant for the Church and its priests has been discontinued, Death to Fascism - Freedom to People!" (93) Another problem was that a new place of worship had to be found, since 12 Lennox Gardens had to be vacated, as it was stipulated in the agreement regarding this property on the 29th March 1943. In spite of all this Father Nikolic managed to find answers to most of these problems, Chapter 2.

During the last war, Father Nikolic belonged to the National Movement of Resistance, and as such had been captured by the Gestapo in 1942 and sent to a concentration camp in France called Herville, near Metz (94). With the help of the Maquis (French Resistance movement), Father Nikolic together with four of his friends escaped from Herville.They joined the Maquis and with their help they succeeded in freeing yet another group of 152 Yugoslavs from other concentration camps, eventually forming a Yugoslav unit attached to the French movement of Resistance. The American forces who arrived in France treated these Yugoslavs in the beginning as their allies . Soon afterwards, as a result of international trends of the time (whoever happened to be anti – Titoist was treated without any discrimination to be anti – Allies as well) the Americans changed their attitude towards them and placed them in a concentration camp called Compiegne; the same camp where they kept captured German prisoners of war. While interned the Americans asked these Yugoslavs to choose between returning to Titoist Yugoslavia or to remain as refugees in the West. Since the majority from this group were nationalist Serbs, they refused to return to their native land, which was in the hands of the Communists. Father Nikolic was amongst those who opted for staying in the West, and as a result he and a few others were brought over to Britain. They arrived in Scotland via Cherbourg in France on the 14th of September 1944.Four weeks later they were transferred to a camp in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex which had been used by the Czechs during the war, and from here Father Nikolic made his way to London and the Serbian Orthodox Church (95) where he arrived on the 1st of December 1944. At the time he became the Chaplain of St.Sava Church in London, he was faced with a personal problem along with other Yugoslav Royal Army Officers. The Yugoslav Communist Government, demanded the extradition of all Yugoslav officers who were in this country at the time. On the unofficial advice of the British War Office, in order to protect themselves from extradition, Father Nikolic and twelve other officers joined the Polish Army in Great Britain.They all remained as salary receiving officers of the Polish Army until 1948.They were greatly helped in this matter by a Polish ex- military

attache in Belgrade before the war,Mr Javorski,who was known by one of the Yugoslav officers (96), who in turn introduced them to the Commanding Officer of the 11th Polish Army stationed in Great Britain, General Kopanski. He took them immediately in as Polish Officers. This situation did not interfere with Father Nikolic’s duties as the Chaplain of St. Sava Church(97), but had at least temporarily solved his income problem. However, he still had the problem of finding a new place of worship for the Serbian community in London. Father Nikolic and his Committee did not have to look very far for a replacement as 13 Lennox Gardens was available for sale.Having decided to buy this building, they instructed an architect, Mr. Cyril White, to prepare the necessary specifications and costs of all repairs, including decorations and electrical fittings. They further instructed White to get in touch with the Church’s solicitors, Messrs. Sydney Redfern and Company and also with the solicitors of Captain King, the owner of 13 Lennox Gardens. Finally, they urged White to speed up the purchase of this house, as there was little time left to get things settled (96) before having to leave 12 Lennox Gardens. Having learned from the architect that the present condition of 13 Lennox Gardens was in such a bad state of repair due to dry rot and neglect, which would have required far larger sums of money than previously calculated (99),Father Nikolic wrote to the estate agents,Hampton and Sons, withdrawing his offer for this building.At the same time he requested them to let him know of any other property of similar size that they may have at their disposal (100). While looking for another suitable building for the new St. Sava Chapel the Church Committee sent a letter, approved by the Committee at their meeting on the 16th of October, to the Manager of Barclay’s Bank in Brompton Road, London, and signed by Father Nikolic, Committee Chairman D. Zobenica and the Secretary Dr.Jeftic, applying for a loan of £3000.In this letter they informed the Manager that their intention was to utilise this loan in the purchase of a leasehold property for use as a chapel and offices for the Serbian Orthodox Church, and it would be against the security deposited by H.M. King Peter of Yugoslavia (101).The leasehold property for which the loan was applied for was 12 Egerton Gardens,South Kensington, London,S.W.3. It was being bought from the estate agent, W.A. Ellis,Brompton Road.The lease had another thirty years to run and the purchase price was £5,350 (102). The Committee was of the opinion that the bank loan of £3,000 would be paid off within five years by quarterly instalments of £125,commencing on the 20th March 1947(103). At the time of these negotiations the balance of the Church accounts at the same bank stood at something just over £4,700.This amount was acquired earlier in the form of donations by F.Nikolic - £3,000 from the Yugoslav Queen Mother Marie, £1,000 from Christian Mission and £200 from other sources (104).With the loan of £3,000 this balance would be increased to £7,700.Although the amount necessary for the purchase of the house was not going to exceed the sum of £6,000, the balance was needed for outgoing expenses involved in maintaining the building (105). On the 21st of December

1946, the completion of the purchase of 12 Egerton Gardens was effected (106). However, this building was paid off sooner than hoped for in the beginning of 1948. At the request of the Committee, King Peter,with help from other members of the Yugoslav Royal Family, was able to provide the necessary funds in order to do this (107).King Peter and his mother,Queen Marie,each donated £1,000,while his brothers, Prince Tomislav and Prince Andrej,£500 each (108).This generous gesture by the Royal Family at last meant that the Serbian Church and the Serbian Community had their own chapel and a permanent centre of gathering for the resident refugee community and for the Serb Orthodox ex – servicemen who were either demobilised or under rehabilitation training under the same scheme as the Polish Resettlement Corps (109). The purchase of 12 Egerton Gardens happened at just at the right time because only a few months later, as a result of the British Government’s decision to bring to this country a large number of displaced persons from the continent, meant that thousands of Yugoslavs began coming into Britain as European Voluntary Workers (EVW).In fact, up to the end of June 1948,there were already nearly 8,000 Yugoslavs in this country(110),dispersed in 130 camps. At this rate of arrival, Father Nikolic expected that the resident Serb population would be 10,000 by the end of the summer. Many of these Yugoslavs coming to Britain was as a result of being dispersed throughout Europe caused by an exodus of people for a number of reasons. By April 1941 with the war against the Germans being lost ,caused an initial exodus of those captured units of the Serbian army who were sent to German prisoner of war camps(111).The greater part of the Yugoslav army had not even seen action and many of them, following the Yugoslav Governments capitulation either returned home or sought refuge in the hills and uplands. During the war a second exodus took place involving many hundreds of political prisoners who were sent to infamous concentration camps or many more thousands who were sent to forced labour camps to be employed in the German war industry (112).The final exodus of this period took place towards the end of the war, when several thousands of those involved in the Nationalist – Communist ideological warfare were faced with a lost struggle and began a two pronged retreat towards Austria and Italy. Those who headed for Austria met with a most cruel fate. As soon as they came in contact with British troops inside Austria, they were put in special trains, told that they were being transported to Italy, but in fact were being returned to Tito’s partisans who were inside Austria, to be slaughtered in mass executions in places alongside the Austrian-Slovenian border. At the end of May and beginning of June,15,000 Yugoslav anti communists were brutally killed (113).The only apparent sin they committed was that they were ideologically opposed to the new Communist regime. A similar fate did not befall those crossing into Italy, mainly due to the deteriorating situation in Trieste, where Tito and the Western Allies had fallen out over the ‘Trieste

dispute’. The new mistrust between the two had in turn saved several thousand of the innocent Yugoslavs intended for Tito’s slaughter-house (114). Those 20,000 Yugoslavs who came to Italy were only certain of non repatriation after many protests by leading Yugoslav political leaders in Rome, Dr.M.Krek and Z.Topalovic together with the definite ’Order of the Day’ by the Supreme American Command in Europe during June 1945,which guaranteed that there would not be any forcible repatriation in the future (115), but it will always remain a mystery why the British Military authorities did send many others back to Yugoslavia and certain death. The chaotic situation in Germany after the war ended and with many hundreds of thousands of captives having broken out of barbed wire compounds, could be easily imagined. Prisoners of war and concentration camp inmates together with those who were in ' forced labour' were all on the loose throughout Europe. The immediate task facing the Western Allies was to bring some order in devastated Germany and also help repatriate back to the countries of origin all those Russians,Ukrainians,Yugoslavs, Baltic States nationals and many others. Forcible repatriation was soon begun by the Western Allies, who were looking for a quick solution to the problem they were facing at the time and were backed by their Soviet Communist ally, because many of these repatriates were their nationals. Obviously the Communist concern was not for the well- being of those wretched human beings caged for such a long time but for their physical liquidation, which would ensure that there wouldn’t be any potential opposition of tomorrow left outside their borders and outside their control. The forcible repatriation of these people who were to meet their certain death, as was shown in the Yugoslav as well as the Russian Cossacks' case was the equal of Nazi brutality(116). For those Western countries who professed to be bringing liberty to Nazi occupied Europe, this will remain in history as a serious black mark. In May 1945 there were no less than 164,000 anti-Communist Yugoslavs dispersed throughout Europe (117).The Serbs who were ex prisoners of war, many of who under pressure from the Allies were returned to Tito’s Yugoslavia to suffer all kinds of humiliation and death(118), were eventually reprieved by the new attitude taken by the American High Command in the previously mentioned ‘order’ giving the Serbs the option to refuse repatriation and returning to their previous status of ‘recovered allied military personnel’ (119).A large number of these prisoners of war in the first few months after the war ended, although the majority of them were not ideologically committed, hesitated in making the first final decision whether to stay or return to their country they had not seen for the past four years (120). The majority of the common Serb soldiers were of peasant stock and his desire to be back with his family and on their farms was quite strong.They did not have any knowledge of Communism and how it worked and consequently did not have any fear of it. On the other hand, the belief that some change might come within the foreseeable future, and with their King still abroad, they were hesitant as to which decision would be the right one,to remain or to return home. But as time went on and letters from home began to arrive and families kept on urging them to return with reassuring information that nothing would happen to them since they were only prisoners of war, a steady flow of returning ex war prisoner began to move (121).

The status given to those anti – Communist Serbs who went to Italy was that of ' the enemy surrendered personnel '(122). The British Command in Italy was very anxious not to upset Tito, and the status of these people who were in their care was formally retained by them during all of their stay.In spite of this status, many Yugoslavs had joined the RAF service and were guarding their installations throughout Italy and many Yugoslav army units were assisting the British army in looking after depots all the way from Naples to Milan. It was a strange relationship. Most of the Serbs engaged on these duties with their pride somewhat restored, believed that they were fighting during the war for the same war aims as the British. The decisions taken at the Teheran Conference during November and December 1943, that they were not recognised any more as allied soldiers was incomprehensible to them (123). How could they be rejected as allies now after two years of fighting both Germans and Italians? Just because they were fighting Communists at the same time should not make them any less loyal to the allied cause. By instinct they identified Communism as yet another totalitarian movement and a threat to their future freedom. But rejected they were, and that was heartbreaking to those "who were fighting in both World Wars on the side of the Allies"(124). In 1946 all these Serb units were moved from Italy to Munster Camp in Germany formerly reserved for SS prisoners of war, under pressure from Tito’s government. They were back to the treatment as specified by their status of "enemy surrendered personnel " : barbed wires, Alsation dogs and new interrogation by British political officers. Three agonising months of degradation and uncertainty were to be spent in this camp.(125) Had the decision not to forcibly repatriate ex prisoners of war been revoked?Are the British going to try to please Tito again and sacrifice these people as yet another concession? Tito’s mission for repatriation was hovering nearby, like a bird of prey, but the British authorities did not let them into the camps. Finally, cleared of Tito’s government accusations that these people were being wanted for war crimes, they were to be accorded yet another, but not the last, post – war status, that of Displaced Persons (126). From Munster they were sent to different Displaced Person’s camps throughout Germany. By now some of the western countries had evolved different re settlement schemes under which they wanted to bring into their countries a number of displaced persons who could play a part in their post war economic recovery. Under the scheme known as ‘Westward Ho’ (127),Great Britain began recruiting the DP’s who were in the British zones in Austria and Germany.The number of Yugoslavs in these two zones in November 1946 totalled 40,545 (128).The main transit centre in Germany was in the town of Munster. Under this scheme about 75,000 displaced Eastern Europeans found jobs in Britain in the undermanned industries and services like mining ,farming and textiles. Also,about 2,500 female displaced persons, mainly from Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia were brought to Britain under the ‘Balt Cygnet’ scheme, for domestic work in hospitals and similar institutions (129).The final new name conferred on these people,who were moved from one point to another in the chaos that engulfed Europe at the end of the war was ‘European Voluntary Workers’.In conclusion to this it ought to be pointed out that Great Britain in accordance with its traditions of providing shelter to those who were persecuted or forced to leave their own countries as was the

case of many Allied Governments and royal families in the last war as a result of a foreign aggressor, had given the lead in this re settlement action and had in its first year taken more DP’s than any other country (130). The Ministry of Labour and National Services had made an agreement with each of the European Voluntary Workers, under which each worker had to take up any work offered to them by the Ministry during the first year of their residence in Great Britain.This agreement , however, not properly explained in the beginning, was often the cause of misunderstanding and consternation after it went into its second and then the third year of its running. What happened was that in the beginning the signed agreements contained a clause which embraced a principle of British government policy, that no alien would be allowed to stay longer than one year in Britain, or if they were allowed, then their permit is going to be considered for extension at the end of that year. Being faced with the misunderstanding of its intention, the Ministry had substituted this form with a new one which read “…and after five years from taking up regular employment in Great Britain, each worker would be entitled, if his behaviour was exemplary, to apply for British nationality…” (131).But the position of EVW’s was finally defined in the Ministry’s letter of the 13th January 1949,which read “…that the restrictions on the employment of certain European Voluntary Workers,who have been in this country for at least three years,will be removed on and after 1st January 1951…” (132).It meant that after the three year term the conditions of their employment as British workers in so far as the freedom to choose their own employment is concerned. In September 1947,the first contingent of Serbian EVW’s arrived in Britain. By the end of 1948 there were approximately 10,000 Serbs living in Britain,”all penniless and varying professions…..army officers, teachers, doctors,lawyers, judges,priests,technicians,craftsmen,peasants and workers” (133).On landing in Britain,every one of them received £1 from the British government as a gesture of goodwill, before they were sent to different parts of the country according to their personal choices of the listed industries they each opted for. They were dispersed in 130 camps throughout Britain. Literally,Serbs could be found all the way from Lands End to John O’Groats (134).This meant that many people who came a long way together were often split up and as a result losing contact with each other. Being in a foreign country and without any knowledge of the language or local customs, greatly increased their difficulties in settling down. Being cut off from their homeland and having endured all kinds of humiliation during and after the war, being abandoned by their allies and without any news from their families for years, and now having to do jobs they were not trained for and which they often disliked (135), with an uncertain future in front of them, all of these people were going through the most agonising times in those first few months following their arrival in Britain (136).But their outlook was soon to change.The Serbian Orthodox Church was anxious to attend to the spiritual needs of these people but at the same time by the tradition of the Church, it was expected of its priests to take care of their welfare needs as well (137).To be able to carry out efficiently the spiritual duties amongst the Serb workers in the camps throughout the country, Father Nikolic needed in the beginning the assistance of at least four more priests (138).

To solve the welfare needs of the people, the Church created a Welfare Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr.B.Jevtic and with Milivoje Gavrilovic as its Secretary (139).The priests Father Nikolic was looking for were to be found amongst the EVW’s who were already in Britain (140).The difficulty was to have them released from the Ministry of Labour conditions. In order to achieve this, Father Nikolic wrote to the Foreign Workers Committee of the British Council of Churches (141) requesting their assistance in obtaining the release of the following Serbian Priests: Djordje Uvalic in London; Emilijan Popovic,YMCA Agricultural Hostel,Wakes Colne,near Colchester,Essex; Milan Gruncic,living in Carlton Road Miners Hostel,Barnsley,Yorkshire and Justinijan Ilikic from Dallachy Camp,Spey Bay, Morayshire, Scotland. At the time of this request being made, Father Firmiliajan Popovic was already exempt from work and was carrying on with his religious duties amongst the Serbs in Essex (142).Once the rest of these priests were exempted from the the Ministry of Labour’s terms and conditions, Father Nikolic’s next task was to locate the whereabouts of all the Serbs. He wrote to different Ministry of Labour branches in all the major towns requesting lists of hostels in their region at which Serbian EWV’s were at the time accommodated (143). In this particular task he was greatly aided by the Yugoslav Welfare Committee which also engaged itself in this effort to establish contact with Serbs in this country (144).Once they had the addresses, the priests set about visiting these people and setting up a basis for the future Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain (145).By the end of 1948,there were seven parishes of the Serbian Church whose areas were defined at the meeting of the Brotherhood of the Serbian Orthodox Priests St.Sava on the 6th and 7th December 1948 (146).At the same meeting, it was decided that in each hostel be formed a Church Sub Committee, consisting of three to five members, with a chairman, secretary and a treasurer.The function of this body would be to assist their priest in his duties while visiting their hostel and also to collect the parishioners’ subscriptions, which the parish’s priest would be sending monthly to the Central Church Fund along with all the receipts of the takings and expenses. The money from the CCF would be exclusively used for the needs of the Church and when it was possible, for welfare purposes as well (147). At the next meeting of the Brotherhood of Priests, held on the 12th and 13th July 1949,it was decided that a new church body was to be formed, whose main function would be to prepare the estimates and certify expenditures of the CCF. This new Church Trusteeship was to consist of each parish priest and also one parishioner elected by the sub committee (148).Father Nikolic who had been decreed by the Patriarch Gavrilo of the Serbian Church to be head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain and also personal representative of the Patriarch to the Archbishop of Canterbury, remained in charge of the London parish (149).His aide, Father Uvalic, became responsible for the East Anglia area;Father Miljkovic,who had recently joined the Church on his arrival from Germany, became responsible for the Midlands;Father Popovic looked after the area in the Home and West Counties;Father Gruncic was in charge of the Welsh counties; the sixth parish covering the north of England, including Lancashire and Yorkshire, although defined was still without a priest to fill its vacancy;Father Ilikic was responsible

for the seventh parish covering Scotland (150).These parishes were devised for rendering the best possible religious services to the greatest number of Serbs. In the beginning it involved these priests in a great deal of travelling from one place to another, but while it was physically tiring, at the same time it was spiritually rewarding (151) , since they brought comfort and a new hope to their dispirited flock. Seeing their Orthodox priest in their midst and attending a church service for the first time after so many years, usually in a barrack specially converted for this occasion (152) was a very moving experience, both for the priest and his congregation, of whom many would be weeping throughout the service. In Upper Benfield Hostel, near Peterborough, for example, when Father Uvalic arrived to hold the service on the 26th September 1948,he was pleasantly surprised when he discovered that the parishioners from this hostel had newly built a special barrack which held a Serbian Chapel. For this purpose all the building materials were given to the Serbs free of charge by Mr.Harding, the manager of the camp (153).While in Atherstone,Warwickshire,on the 27th March,1948,during a service held by Bishop Irinej, there was not left ‘one dry eye’ in the attending congregation of 500 (154). After this first phase of worshipping in the manner of ‘Church on Wheels’, whereby the priest had carried with him basic church requisites wherever he went to deliver a service, the next stage, especially in areas where the congregation was not very far from a big town, was to obtain either an Anglican or Methodist Church for the purposes of conducting future religious services (155) and which was put at their disposal during the time they wanted to hold a service in a particular area. On one such occasion, on the 6th September 1948,in Worcester, at the Holy Trinity Church, when two Serbian priests, Father Uvalic and Father Miljkovic held a service, the Anglican Bishop Lasbury and all the other Anglican priests from the town were in attendance as well (156). Apart from all these local parish religious activities, several church festivals were held as well in order to mark various religious and national occasions. This type of gathering is a traditional one for Serbs throughout their history. Whenever an important decision was to be made in difficult times, people used to gather round their churches and their priests. But these meetings were also a social affair, especially now in their new country. Apart from their church leaders, the people were provided with an opportunity of seeing members of the Serbian Royal family, national and political leaders and also their own friends, who were living in a different part of the country (157). The first of these festivals was held in London at Easter on the 24th April,1949,in the King George V Hall of the YMCA,112 Great Russell Street, London WC1.People began arriving in London for this occasion on the Good Friday and were still coming the following day with the majority arriving in numerous buses and coaches on a beautiful sunny Easter Sunday morning. The morning service was conducted by Bishop Irinej, who was assisted by Father Nikolic and Father Uvalic and was attended by over a thousand Serbs. King Peter and his mother Queen Marie were out of the country at the time but were represented on this occasion by Prince Tomislav and Prince Andrej. After the service, Bishop Irinej delivered a moving Easter sermon. In the afternoon when the congregation gathered again for the social celebration of the festival, they were first addressed by Mr.Milos Bobic,the Chairman of the

Church Committee of St.Sava Church in London.This was followed by various entertainments, which included folk dancers and an opera singer. At the end of these festivities, Father Nikolic, who organised the whole occasion, along with Father Uvalic, thanked all those who took part, both those who attended and those who entertained. Long after the programme had ended, people carried on with their rejoicing by joining hands in a traditional Serbian folk dance, the kolo, which overspilled out into the streets to the amazement of passers by (158).On the same day yet another festival was held in Leicester, attended by over 500 people, with the service conducted by Father R.Miljokvic in St.Marks Church,Belgrave Road,in the presence of the Anglican Bishop V.G.Smith, who had at the end of the service gave his personal blessings to the Serbian congregation as well as wishing them a Happy Easter (159).This was also followed by a similar social event as that in London. Another memorable festival was held in Cardiff on the 12th June 1949 on the Orthodox Whitsun. It was attended by over 500 Serbs residing in Wales who,after the church service, were addressed by the Queen Mother Marie, who began her speech by saying, “My dear children”,and then went on to advise them “to live in harmony, to help one another, to live and behave respectably….” While she delivered her speech, hundreds of people were moved to crying (160). The most memorable of all festivals was held in Bristol on the 4th September 1949,in the Church of St.Mary, Radcliffe. Over 2,500 people from all over Britain came to the service which was held by Bishop Irinej and assisted by Fathers Popovic, Miljkovic, Uvalic and a Polish Orthodox priest. These people arrived in a procession of coaches and cars all gaily decorated with flags and flowers. Many of these people were not able to get into the church but had to stand outside during the Liturgy, which was also attended by the Anglican Bishop Ivor Watkins and the Mayor of Bristol,Mr.Percy Cann. King Peter flew especially from Paris with his wife Queen Alexandra to be able to join in this great occasion. His mother Queen Marie, his brother Prince Andrew were also there.The Mayor of Bristol gave a special lunch in honour of the Royal Family. In the afternoon a programme of entertainment was held in the hall of the Embassy Cinema and was formally opened by Father Nikolic. He was followed by King Peter, who spoke to this impressive gathering and amongst other things called for unity amongst Serbs (181).Local newspapers commented on this occurance, that, in their opinion, such religious fever had not been experienced in this country for a very long time (162).The success of occasions like this must have brought great satisfaction to Father Nikolic, who had two years earlier by his pioneering visits, along with some members of his Church Committee, established the first contact with many new arrivals (163).

As the organisation of the Serbian Orthodox Church began to get established, which involved all these priests in a great deal of travelling, the problem of financing them became very serious, since most of them were receiving only the money which was earned by an average EVW at the time. Apart from the modest donations given by the parishioners, they received no other income.To supplement their salaries and cover the travelling expenses, Father Nikolic estimated that up to £2,000 would be needed (164) during 1948.Eventually,the initiative was taken under the auspices of the British Council of Churches (which is the representative organisation of all the

Christian Churches in Great Britain except the Roman catholic Church) which was to provide the initial financial needs of the clergy regarding their salaries and travelling and other incidental expenses.”The Foreign Workers Committee of the British Council of Churches especially established to promote the spiritual welfare of the various national groups of workers in Great Britain, believed that within a short space of time each national religious group will be able to make its Christian witness in the community completely independent of any external help, after its proper church organisation and activity had been established “. (165) During the last eleven months of 1949 and the whole of 1950,the Serbian Church received from this committee £250 a month. From this sum each priest received an income of £7 a week which was only a half of what an English priest was receiving at the time and out of this he had to pay his income tax, his insurance, accommodation and food (166).With this aid coming to an end, Church Trusteeship, which apart from the priests consisted of Dr.Radoje Marinkovic,Nikola Nikolic,M.Bobic,Bogdan Vidanovic,Svetolik Sretanovic and Milorad Nikolic, appealed to its parishioners for donations, explaining that in the near future, starting from January 1951,when the British Council of Churches was to reduce considerably the monthly aid (167),and eventually discontinue it, the Serbian Church would be living exclusively from its own sources of income. Since the Serbian Church had no funds or estates from which they could draw money, these donations would be vital to its existence (168).The Church decided to make these donations a compulsory fixed sum of twelve shillings a year from April 1950 – April 1951,which was to come in the form of parishioners subscriptions since the Church could not depend on goodwill donations only (169).The urgent need for parishioners subscriptions (which was to become the main future source of income),was because at the time the Church estimated that it would need £5,228 to be able to carry on with its religious and welfare work during the 1950/51 financial year.This sum was to be used in the following ways: salaries of Bishop Irinej and other priests (two more priests were expected to join the other six in the coming year) came to £3,516;travelling expenses at £7 a month per priest came to £672;administrative expenses £350: for inter church relations and representation £110;and for the Church reserve fund £580 (170).

Chapter 3 In the first years of the EVW’s coming to Britain, the Welfare Committee also greatly assisted the church in its welfare work. On the 31st October 1948,the Committee held its first meeting with the Serbian delegates from all the EVW camps based in Britain.This meeting was held at the Hans Crescent Hotel in London,attended by 98 delegates.The main issues which were discussed concerned EVW employment in Britain and also to create a relief fund from which aid could be sent to the sick, old and invalid Serbs left behind in the Displaced Persons camps.The first person to contribute to this fund was King Peter,who came to address the delegates (171).This Committee also played an important role as go – between for the Serbian ex prisoners of war resident

in Britain who may have a claim against the German Government and the authorities in the British zone in Germany (172). Besides the activities of the Welfare Committee, the Church was also assisted in its social work by the Serbian Ladies’ Welfare Guild, who occasionally organised church bazaars. The purpose of these bazaars was to create funds out of which badly needed parcels of food and clothing could be sent to the Displaced Persons (DP) camps. Similar activities had been undertaken by the British Yugoslav Aid Committee under the chairmanship of the Duchess of Atholl.The other well known names on this committee were Sir Thomas Moore M.P.,Lady Padget,Lady Hatton,Mrs Carr and others (173).One such successful bazaar was held on the 20th November 1948 in the hall of St.Sava Church,under the patronage of Queen Marie,the Queen Mother.Sir Thomas Moore in his welcoming speech greeted the Queen Mother warmly and then he invited the numerous British guests to “buy as many of the objects on sale as possible and in that way repay some of the debt that Great Britain owes to Yugoslavia” (174).An equally successful bazaar was held by the Yugoslav Aid Committee in the home of Lady Padget in Kingston upon Thames on the 15th December 1948.The Duchess of Atholl introduced Sir Thomas Moore to the numerous British guests,who then opened the sale,explaining that the proceeds were to go to the less fortunate Yugoslav friends still living in the DP camps (175).Lady Padget (Dame Louise Leila Padget) in whose house the bazaar was held had a special place in the hearts of the Serbian people.She had been associated with the Serbs since 1910,when her husband,Sir Ralph Padget became the British envoy in Belgrade. During the Balkan Wars and later in the First World War she joined the Serbian army as its first voluntary nurse and was later to become the head of the British sanitary mission attached to the Serbian Army. As a result of her contribution to the Serbian war effort, she was awarded the highest military decorations of the Serbian Army by King Alexander I of Yugoslavia.This relationship with the Serbs was to be renewed after they began coming to Britain during World War 2 helping both the people and the Serbian Church.

“The Serbs can never forget Lady Paget because if the floors needed cleaning it was her who provided means for it;if the grass was needed for Whitsun or straw for Christmas Eve services in the church,the church had them because she saw to it;if someone was seriously ill she looked after him as if he was her own son;if a Serbian child needed to be schooled or provided with a sponsorship,she took care of it with the love and enthusiasm of a mother.For five decades she tied her life to that of the Serbian people.The Serbs must never forget her” (176). And they never did.After she died on the 24th September 1958,this “greatest friend the Serbs ever had”, she had a church hall named after her and a commemorative book devoted to her with contributions from many Serbs who had known her. The role played by the Church Committee during the first years of the foundation of the Serbian Church in Great Britain could be divided into two periods:from 1942-5 it was the powerhouse behind the formative years of the

Church’s organization;from 1945 onwards the initiative in church affairs had been taken up by the priest,Father Nikolic himself, while the Committee remained more in the background in an assisting capacity.In the early years the initiative was in the hands of people like Pepic and Dr.Jeftic,who appear to be men with strong personalities and plenty of drive, who got many things done on behalf of the Church. However, when Father Nikolic took over, he appeared to posses these same qualities, which overshadowed the work of the Committee. He initiated many letters of protest and appeals on behalf of the Serbian Church and its people. When General Mihaijlovic (leader of the Serbian National Resistance during the Second World War) was taken prisoner and was in the hands of Marshall Tito’s authorities, he wrote a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, “respectfully appealing to Your Grace to help Mihaijlovic in his present peril…” (177).Then during the trial of Archbishop Stepinac, head of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia by Yugoslav Communist authorities, he wrote to His Grace the Cardinal Griffin expressing his horror at the treatment of Archbishop Stepinac and assuring the Cardinal that he would “pray to Almighty God in our modest chapel to give strength and succour to Archbishop Stepinac in his suffering for justice and freedom” (178).Further,he wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo,who was anxious to leave Italy (where he was staying after being released from Dachau) and hoping to eventually go to Greece.He requested of the Archbishop, “to use his good offices with the Greek government to support the Patriarch’s demand for his transfer to Greece,where he would feel far happier,owing to his sincere attachment to the Mother Church” (179).Nikolic also wrote to the Archbishop when Rev.Kosta Lukovic, Archpriest of Belgrade Orthodox Cathedral was arrested in Belgrade after he translated the sermon of Dr.Parsons, Bishop of Hereford,who was visiting Yugoslavia on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury. At the same time,Yugoslav police arrested 250 of the congregation when the Bishop preached in Belgrade. Father Nikolic expressed hope,”that Your Grace will find a way of expressing a protest against this act on the part of the Yugoslav police and intervene on behalf of Rev.Lukovic…” (180). Also, as the church organisation grew with the creation of the new parishes,the authority of the Church Committee was confined to the London parish.As the parishes became established, new church bodies became more important, like the Church Trusteeship.In May 1949,the Church Committee of the London parish was reformed and divided into two bodies known as the The Church Board and The Church Executive.The new chairman of the reorganised committee became Mr.Milos St.Bobic,ex Mayor of Belgrade and “the first gentleman of the London parish”, as Father Nikolic named him, and the new Secretary was Mr Miodrag Purkovic,ex lecturer at the University of Skoplje and who still today (in 1975) holds the position of Secretary (181).After what followed these organisational changes,one must ask oneself the wisdom of it. Certainly,Father Nikolic must have posed that same question to himself soon afterwards. When Father Nikolic came to London,he was then in his early thirties.His ecclesiastical experience was mainly confined to a village near Belgrade,called Barajevo.This village had a reputation for its crime rate which was above the national average.Father Nikolic remained there much longer

than any other of his predecessors and this fact speaks for itself. His methods were not always very ‘orthodox’ but he succeeded in engaging the villagers on many constructive projects like building a new school, etc (182).But this kind of experience,although helpful, was hardly adequate for his new parish in London where his first appearance away from his modest chapel was when he officiated at the birthday service of Prince Alexander (King Peter’s only son and heir) at the Westminster Chapel on the 24th October 1945,in the presence of King George VI and Princess Elizabeth, who were the Godfather and Godmother to the baby prince and in front of numerous dignitaries from State and Church(183).Father Nikolic’s own new parish was in fact the establishment itself of the First Yugoslavia.His parishioners were members of the Yugoslav Royal family,ex ministers and diplomats and high ranking officers of the exiled government. A most impressive body of people .Until recently they were the powerhouse of the destiny of the Yugoslav people.To look after them and deal with them, one would have needed more the experience of a Holy Synod rather than that of a village priest. With all the sudden political changes which took place, they all became powerless and redundant. Apart from the young King Peter and his brothers, the majority of those dignitaries were in their advanced years and with a lot of time on their hands. At the same time Father Nikolic was very busy establishing the organisation of the Church throughout Britain. He badly needed some help and support and counsel since at times the whole task looked in surmountable.This readily available ‘brains trust’ could be put to good use since Father Nikolic did not intend to monopolise church, welfare and national work with regards to the Church alone. But the administrative experience and expertise that these elderly gentlemen had and which was expected to be of benefit to the Church was met with suspicion and accusations from a dissented group of the London parishioners led by the ex chairman, Colonel Zobenica. They circulated a ‘statement’ (184) accusing the ex politicians for the way “they had got elected in the new council and also for the lack of their constructive contribution in managing the Church’s affairs” (185).At the Church meeting of the Council Board all these accusations were refuted.But the negative sentiment towards the ex ministers from the Yugoslav Royal Government were widly spread and felt amongst many EVW’s who in the majority came from General Mihajlovic’s ranks. While the motives of the signatories of the ‘statement’ were not quite clear, the sentiments of the Mihajlovic men were easy to understand. Although they were not happy about what was happening in the London parish and the way they were not consulted (186),they were more angry with the ex Government ministers and even the King himself in what happened during the war years. Mihajlovic’s men felt that the bickering in the Government between the ministers from the different parties and poor representation of Mihajlovic’s cause to the Allies, together with the King’s speech on the 12th September 1944,in which he ordered Mihajlovic’s men to switch over to Tito (187),were chief factors of a lost ‘revolution’. While they were prepared to forgive King Peter on account of his age and alleged pressure exercised over him by Churchill, the negative feeling towards the politicians was far stronger than Father Nikolic expected or even reckoned with. But despite their feelings the EVW parishioners were not involved with this or any other protests. To make sure that the Church is left free of any similar exercises and that it is kept in close contact with what is

going on amongst the Serbs in future, who despite many great qualities can be very sensitive and individualistic, the Brotherhood of Serbian Priests called a conference with the leaders of various groups who had differing shades of opinion from all over the country on the 11th December 1949(188),to consult and hear their opinions.This kind of consultation, mutually beneficial to all involved, was to be followed for a considerable time in the coming years. But despite this upset and ‘vote of no confidence’ in the upper house of the Church Committee, the Committee and later the Executive were quite active in promoting and propagating the cause of the Serbian Church between 1947 -1952.With only modest means at their disposal, they organised several receptions and tea parties in honour of British friends who were helping the Serbian Church. This included one given for the Anglican Bishop Buxton, on the 26th June 1948 (189).Then there was a reception for King Peter and his Queen during their visit to London when they attended the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Another celebration they organised was the Patron Saints Day of St.Sava Church on the 27th January 1948.In the evening of this memorable occasion, there was a revue in which Serbian students from the theological college of Dorchester (stipendaries of the Church of England) took part and sang religious and folk songs ,which made a great impression on the audience, with nearly the whole of the London parish present (190).The Church Executive was also behind numerous memorial services and commemorative gatherings which was their prime task in the coming years. CHAPTER 4

In 1950,the Serbian Church suffered a great loss when its head Patriarch Gavrilo passed away, because he had done so much to foster contact with the Anglican Church.The first contact between the two churches was made during the First World war in 1915,when Bishop Nikolaj was staying in Britain.He was the first clergyman from another denomination to preach in St.Pauls Cathedral. Memory of this occasion was evoked by Dean Alexander on the 28th October 1945,when the Serbian Partiarch and Bishop Nikolaj attended an evening service,”We are happy to be able to greet you today in our midst,Patriarch Gavrilo and you Bishop Nikolaj,whose eloquence was heard here many years ago and whose sermon I still remember well…” (191). Similar sentiment was expressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Geoffrey Fisher,when he said,”…We have admiration for Serbs who did come during the First World War to this country and especially for these two Bishops who had to escape again from their own country, Bishop Nikolaj and Bishop Irinej…” (192) In connection with Patriarch Gavrilo’s death, services were held in St.Sava Church from the 8th to the 14th May 1950.On the 14th, in the Russian Church of St.Phillip in Buckingham Palace Road,a special seventh day memorial service was held participated by the highest representatives of the Orthodox and Anglican Church dignitaries in London: Greek Mitrapolit Germanos,Bishop Atanasije Papa – Konstantin,Roumanian Father Galdu,Russian Father Uspenskij,Anglican Bishop B.Roberts,Father Wadham

and Father A.Oakley.On the 6th June, the Association of the Anglican – Orthodox Churches held another memorial service for the late Patriarch at the Church of St.Cuthbert,where Bishop Buxton and Mitropilit Germanos both took part.(193) In reply to Father Nikolic’s letter of condolence,which was sent on the death of Archbishop Lord Lang, Dr.Geoffrey Fisher wrote the following,”…Among his many services to the whole Church,he did much to develop brotherly relations between the Orthodox Churches and the Church of England.I hope that the work which he did in this connection may be continuously developed in the future…”(194). Dr.Fisher was to continue the same kind of work that his predecessor had begun.Under his guidance the ties between the two Churches became very strong indeed.He recognised the fact that the Serbian Orthodox Church had suffered more than any other Church in Europe during the Second World War (195) and did everything possible to help her efforts in getting established in this country.In fact if it wasn’t for this help the Serbian Church could not have made the same kind of progress.For every project that was started by the Serbian Church,the Church of England was there to achieve a satisfactory conclusion.This was the background to the success story of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain. The second Serbian clergyman to preach at St.Pauls Cathedral was the Archpriest Ristanovic.He was appointed by Bishop Dionisije to be the Head of the Serbian Orthodox Mission in Britain and official representative of the Serbian Church to the Archbishop of Canterbury.In this capacity Archpriest Ristanovic did a great deal in promoting good relationships between the two Churches (196).This relationship was further enhanced when contact was maintained between the two Churches by Bishop Dionisije during the war and later by an official visit by Patriarch Gavrilo and Bishop Nikolaj to the Archbishop of Canterbury immediately on their arrival to Britain on the 16th October 1945.Of this meeting it was said that,”it was very cordial and that they talked and discussed all the current news from church life,like old friends…” (197).But the true Christian spirit of this relationship was to be demonstrated when both Churches came to face a number of problems together.These problems were mainly connected with the establishment and growth of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain. As we have seen the intervention of the Church of England with the Ministry of Labour in securing the release of the Ministry’s conditions for the Serbian priests together with financial aid were just two prime examples.Less well known was the amount of work that was done on behalf of those unfortunate Serbian Displaced Persons in Germany who had a miserable status once they had lost the protection of the International Refugee Organisation (IRO).Through the intervention of the Church of England their status had been reinstated (198).Also little known was the unselfish work of Bishop Harold Buxton and Father Dakin,who taken a lot of trouble along with their committee to bring another group of twelve Serbian students to a theological college in Dorchester thus bringing the number of such students and their lecturers to forty (199). Another link in the relationship between the two Churches was seen when the Very Reverend Father Nikolic was invited by the Anglican Church to attend their conference at Lambeth Palace which was attended by the highest

ecclesiastical and spiritual leaders of the Anglican Church,held in the summer of 1948 (200).At this conference,held every ten years,Father Nikolic,representing Patriarch Gavrilo,conveyed the Patriarch’s greetings and blessing for “the work and deliberations” of the conference.He went on to say, “It is my first duty to inform you your Lordships that the friendship of the Serbian Orthodox Church for its brothers in the Anglican Communion remains steadfast and continual whatever may be the changes which take place in external conditions.As you all know,the war has resulted in many difficulties for all of us,and not least for my own beloved Church and people in my homeland.They have suffered great destruction and many trials during the war and are still suffering from severe shortage of priests and of material necessities for the reconstruction of their church life.Help has already been given in some measure by our Anglican friends from across the sea as well as from this country and I have to express on behalf of my Patriarch and my Church the sincere and deep gratitude for this evidence of brotherly Christian feeling” (201). The gratitude for everything that the Anglican Church had done for the Serbian Orthodox Church was seen when the Archbishop of Canterbury,Dr.Fisher was invited to St.Sava Chapel in Egerton Gardens on the 27th January 1948 (202).This invitation on St.Sava’s Day,the London Church’s Patron Saint,was in order to present the Head of the Anglican Church with the highest decoration of the Serbian Church,the Cross of St.Joanikije,the first Patriarch of the Serbian Church.At the ceremony,in his address to his Grace the Archbishop,Father Nikolic said, “…I rejoice to see how much the Church of England has done for the unity of our Churches and for the good of our people.Great traditions bind,and will continue to bind your Church,My Lord Archbishop,with ours and with the other Orthodox Churches.Your Church was the first to lay the foundation stone of fellowship and through the years to foster the strength of the unity of all our Churches – unity and Christian love – unity which will weaken none and give strength to all …but it is especially we Serbs and above all our Church who owe you gratitude for your unfailing help. I shall only mention that during the last war you helped us to educate a great number of theologians who are today the most learned representatives of our Church.That beautiful tradition you have kept alive and today you are helping us to educate a great number of theologians of this generation.You are doing this despite all the difficulties your people have to combat today.So much more we appreciate it as a true and great example of Christian life…Neither our Church nor our people have forgotten the service you have done us in the past and we have always tried to return to you and to your people good for good…For the time being we have no better means of showing our love and our friendship than to carry out the decision of His Lordship,Dionisije,The Head of our Church,outside of our country,in bestowing upon you Your Grace,and upon you, Your Lordship this cross of St.Joanikije,our First Patriarch.” (203). And to this address ,His Grace replied,

“…This ever increasing fellowship between our Churches of which there are so many fast and manifold evidence,finds striking expression in the presence of Serbian professors and theological students in our midst.That this should occur twice within thirty years is a sign of the hard and turbulent times in which we live, but it is also a noteworthy and significant token of our friendship which exists between our Churches and peoples.We are honoured by their presence with us in England,and rejoice that to our mutual benefit we are enabled to render this service to your Church in its time of sorrow,suffering and trials.” (204) By receiving the Cross of St.Joanikije the Archbishop expressed, “the honour conferred upon me in its bestowal,” and further added that he would “always treasure it as a token of that love and friendship which in the mercy of God exists between our churches and peoples,binding us together in the Christian bond of faith and hope and charity.” These two speeches as well as Father Nikolic’s address at the Lambeth Palace conference summarised the true feelings of great friendship between the two Churches. The climax of this great relationship came about when the Anglican Church of St.Columb,Lancaster Gate,was handed over by the Diocese of London to become the first Serbian Orthodox owned church,on the 30th April 1951 (205). With the ending of the three year agreement for EVW’s by the Ministry of Labour, which meant that they were now free to change their place of residency and find their own jobs (206),many Serbs moved to the big industrial centres such as Leeds,Birmingham,Halifax and London.With these new concentrations of Serbs the need for their own permanent places of worship became apparent.With the residence of the head of the Serbian Church being in London ,the London parish was to get the first church (207).The need for Serbs to have their own and bigger church instead of the small chapel in Egerton Gardens, became clear as church festivals and other religious occasions began to draw in large numbers of Serbs to London.With an increase in numbers of the London congregation,the need for a new place of worship became urgent.The first steps in this direction took place on the 7th January 1951, Serbian Christmas Day.On this occasion the Anglican Church had lent the Serbs for their Christmas Liturgy,Christ Church in Woburn Square,Chelsea.The celebrant was Bishop Irinej,assisted by Archpriest Nikolic and Father Uvalic.Large crowds of Serbs from all over Great Britain poured into the church. After the service a concert of Yugoslav national songs and dances was given at Kingsway Hall in order to raise money towards a fund to acquire a church for Serbs in London. King Peter, who had flown in from Paris for the concert, launched an appeal for £10,000. He said, 'We are here to proclaim our belief in the incarnation. I am convinced that the new church will , by God's help, be a rallying point for Serbs, and will remain here in London as a monument and a reminder to our people to come

and pray, as good brothers and sisters”.A sum of £363 was collected on the spot (208). The Serbian Church had to deal with two problems: one was to find a suitable church and the other was to raise adequate funds. To help Serbs to solve their first problem, the London Diocese of the Anglican Church had offered one of its churches, near St. Paul's Cathedral. However, since this church was badly damaged during the war, and the repair work on it had just begun, and with it being a rather long distance away from the Serbian Church's offices in Egerton Gardens, Father Nikolic wrote to the London Bishop, requesting if he could find them an alternative place. (209) A further offer of a Congregationalist Church in Markham Square, Chelsea, was also found to be unsuitable (210). Eventually, the Bishop of London, Dr. Wand, offered the Church of St, Columb in Lancaster Road, Notting Hill Gate, and this was accepted. This church was a gift from the Anglican Church to the Serbian Orthodox Church, and it came into possession to the latter on the 30th April 1951 (211). Although this church was in a much better state of repair than the others that were previously offered, it still required certain internal and external repairs and decorations. By this time, the ‘Appeal' launched by King Peter raised £2,200, and this was to go towards the cost of church repairs. But this was not enough, and a special Committee was formed and a new appeal was launched(212).In order to obtain the maximum support for raising the necessary funds, the church had invited into this Appeal Committee the representatives of all shades of political opinion amongst the Serbian community in Britain, under the chairmanship of Father Nikolic.This Committee was formed on the 18th March 1951 (213). Amongst the numerous donors were the Yugoslav Royal family who contributed Symbols of the Church and Robes; (21 4), Mr. Vane Ivanovic with his mother, Mrs. Milica Banac,who donated £1,000 and whose generous contribution enabled the church work to be started immediately. Architect Dushan Miletic designed and supervised the building of the iconostasis, a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, which gave the church its Orthodox appearance. (214b), and from the old Serbian Church in Trieste came a hundred year old Icon of The Virgin Mary; and another beautiful icon was donated by the Serbian community in Brussels.Lady Padget did not forget her Serbian friends on this occasion either. She donated them the special carpet for the church, which gave the church a pleasing appearance. (214c) When the renovations in the church were completed. the dedication service took place on 29th June 1952. The Church Times contained the following account of the dedication service, “The new Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava was dedicated by Bishop Nijcolaj Velimirovic in the presence of over 3,000 members of the Serbian Orthodox Church now living in England. They had come to join King Peter and other prominent Yugoslavs, in a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing. Those who arrived on Saturday attended Solemn Vespers. with which the celebrations began. Only a thousand early arrivals could be accomodated in the new Cathedral. The precincts of the church in Lancaster Road made a striking picture. Gay national costumes, materials as soft as gossamer, contrasted with the formal morning dress of the principal

guests. There walked in procession to the church, the Orthodox bishops chief among them Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic, who had come from America for the ceremony, the beloved Bishop Irinej, who has become a familiar figure in England, and Bishop Matthew of the Polish Orthodox Church, The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London were represented by the Rt. Rev. F, Q, T. Hawkes, and the Rt. Rev Harold Buxton. Serbs, Romanians, Greeks, Poles, Ukranians and Russians, and behind them came 20 Orthodox priests, “The interior of the cathedral had been wonderfully transformed. There was colour everywhere.Candlelight sparkled on jewelled vestments, lighted up the iconostasis, and revealed the fine art of a set of religious pictures, copies of fifteenth century works which the Holy Synod in Belgrade sent as a gift to their compatriots in England.The Serbs crowded the cathedral to the point of suffocation - dark, suntanned people separated by cruel circumstance from their loved ones in the Balkans. By sacrificial giving they had made a dream of a cathedral of their own come true ..... Many wept unashamedly as Bishop Nikoaj began the familiar liturgy and the men's choir intoned the responses with deep throated resonance. (215) And for every Serb who attended this memorable occasion, this was their finest hour since they left their own country, Yugoslavia was also able to hear the whole service transmitted by the BBC (216). By acquiring this church, a whole decade of hard work and struggles and problems of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Britain had been richly rewarded. After the acquisition of St, Sava’s Church, other Serb communities began looking for their own places of worship and also trying to create some kind of centre for themselves (21 7). In Halifax, the Serbians managed to buy outright a church, Holy Trinity Church, Simpson Street, Boothtown, with a small hall alongside it and a house for a priest, In Bedford they bought a church house, which held a chapel and a small hall which was used for a Sunday School .The chapel which is at 62 Kirnbolton Road, did not hold regular Sunday services, since the priest had to travel around and hold Mass in different areas of his parish(218). In High Wycombe the Anglican Parish Church of All Saints had a celebration of the Liturgy for Serbs on the first Sunday of each month. In Reading, the Holy Liturgy was sung at St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church every fourth Sunday. In Derby the Anglican Church of St. Ann, and in Wolverhampton St. Stephen’s Church were used for the Orthodox service. In Donnington, Nr Wellington, Shropshire, where a large community of Orthodox Serbs were living after the last war, a permanent church was established in 1968 (219). But in Birmingham , an earlier bought church building was replaced by a first ever newly built Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain. As for St. Sava Church in London, appeals for donations for this new building were also made. The appeal was launched in September 1962 in a scheme known as Lazarica , under the patronage of Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia,.Launching the appeal, Prince Tomislav had written “…In times of triumph and defeat, peace and war, freedom and occupation,

Christian nations turn to their churches for thanksgiving and for refuge. Serbs, during many centuries, have passed through these phases in our country, but it is the Church which has helped and guided us through our difficulties to final peace and happiness, May of us living in a free and friendly country which has extended her Christian hand to help us during our present times of difficulty and suffering.What is better to show our appreciation and thanks than to build a memorial in which we can worship and give thanks for our fortune? A church in our style and architecture, a monument of freedom, of thanks and of worship to stand for future generations to remember what friendship and peace between two great nations can achieve." (220). As a. result of this appeal, Serbs managed to raise the impressive total of £65,000, but it was not sufficient to complete the new church building, A new appeal was launched for £150,000 which also included the building of a community centre next to St. Sava Church for Serbian Orthodox refugees arriving in London. Among notable patrons supporting this appeal were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Arthur Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal John Heenan, Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev. George Dwyer and Jeremy Thorpe, Liberal M.P. (221 ) In 1968 the building of the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Birmingham was completed and dedicated to St, Lazar.It was consecrated in June 1968 by Metropolitan Vladislav of Bosnia and Bishop Stefan of Dalmatia. This church was a replica of the original which was built by Czar Lazar in the 14th Century, in the town called Krusevac. The consecration took place in the presence of members of the Yugoslav Royal Family, Prince Paul of Ethiopia, representing the Ethiopian Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Greek Metropolitan of Thyatira and thousands of Serbs who had taken put in this historical occasion, (222) The Community Centre was completed in 1972 and was blessed in an opening ceremony by Bishop Lavrentije, Serbian Orthodox Bishop for Western Europe, on the 17th September 1972. (223) 'This Community Centre was dedicated to Bishop Nikolaj, which was a great tribute by the Serbian Church to the very great Bishop. In 1960 the Polish Orthodox Church requested the use of the St.Sava Church where they would be holding occasional services, for a few months, until they acquired their own church building.The Polish Orthodox Church headed by Bishop Matthew were allowed to use the Serbian Church premises, As it happened, instead of the requested few months use of these premises, they still remain there today(1975), holding their church services every other Sunday for both their own and the Serb community.A few years after the Polish Church had joined the Serbian Church,as a result of a split in the Ukranian Church,a number of Ukranians also joined the Serbian Church in London.In 1973 a newly arrived Latvian priest also joined the Serbian Church.Like the others,he also was in the same position i.e. small congregation and lack of facilities to serve God.As a result the Serbian Church in Britain had become the only Pan Slavonic Orthodox Church.(224) Conclusion

The success story of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Great Britain is attributable to many factors.The most important of which was the work of three priests:Ristanovic,Firmilijan and Nikolic.Their work can be seen in two stages.The work of Ristanovic and Firmiljan was more of a missionary nature,in a small congregation during the war years,when they laid the early foundations of the Church.The second stage,when Father Nikolic took over,was a kind of re birth of the Church and the reconstruction of the Serbian Orthodox Church organisation in Britain.He took over with a lack of Church funds,with the Lenox Gardens church building about to be lost and with 10,000 Serbs coming into the country.Inspite of all these problems that he faced he managed to create an efficient church organisation,setting up parishes,each with their own priest,made it possible for Serbs to have their own churches in Great Britain,and above all kept the will of the Serbian people going as they started life in a new country.But the results the priests achieved would not have been possible had it not been for the generosity of the Yugoslav Royal Family,kindness of Lady Padget,great understanding by the Church of England and the wonderful response of the Serbian congregation who have accepted Britain as their second fatherland. SOURCES OF REFERENCE The Serbian Orthodox Churches archives are at 91, Lancaster Road, NottingHill, London, W.11., and will be known as 'Church archives , ' in the below list.

1. S. Pavlowitch, Yugoslavia London 1971)) p.25 - 6. 2. D. Kasic, "A Short Survey of the History of the Serbian

Orthodox Church”, Serbian Orthodox Church: Its Past And Present, Vol. 1 No. 1 (Serbian Patriarchy, Belgrade 1965 ) p.12 . 3 Ibid p14 4 Dr.M. Purkovic, Serbian Patriarchs of the Middle Ages (The Serbian Diocese for Western Europe, Dusseldorf, 1976 ) p.10. 5 Bishop Simeon, "Our Orthodoxy”, Serbian Orthodox Church, Vol.1 No.1 (Belgrade 1965)) p.7 6 . D. Kasic, Ibid. p15. 7 . Elizabeth Hill , The Spirit of Kosovo (The Favil Tress L t d . , London 1945) p12. 8. D. Kasic, op. cit ., p16 . 9 Prof. Denis Saurat, The Spiritual Values of Yugoslavia (the Yugoslav Information Departmen,London 1942) p 10.Dr. I.Avakumovic, Mihajlovic According t o German Archives ( Nase Delo Library, London ,1969) p23. 11 Letter t o Dr. F.Tomkins, of t h e World Council of Churches, from Archpriest Nikolic. 8 Feb. 1946 , Church archives.

11 S. Pavlowitch,” The Orthodox Church in Yugoslavia”, Eastern Churches Review, Vol.11 No1 (1968) p30. 12 Ibid. p30. 13 Ibid. p30. 14 Letter to Dr.Tomkins from Archpriest Nikolic, 8 Feb. 1946. Church archives. 15 S. Pavlowitch op. cit., Vol 11 No.I (1968) p31. 16. Church Registrar of St.Sava Parishioners, June 1942 .Church archives. 17 Church Registrar, June 1942. Church archives. 18 Personal Oral Testimony by K. Pavlowitch. 19 The Serbian Orthodox Herald, Vol I. No.4 (Dec. 1945).Church paper, published by Serbian Orthodox Church in U.S.A. 19 “Iz Nasih Kolonija”, (Our People Abroad), articlee fromThe Srbobran, issue 5th, Feb. 1943, a Serbian Weekly published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U. S. A. 20 The Serbian Orthodox Herald, Vol I No. 4 (Dec. 1945). Oath by t h e Church Wardens. 24 July, 1942. Church archives. I The Serbian Orthodox Herald, Vol I No. 4 (Dec. 1945). ' , Letter by Church Committee t o Minister Gavrilovic, 6 Aug. 19 42. Church archives. Letter from Yugoslav Embassy t o M r . T. H. Glasse of t h e B r i t i s h Foreign Office. 9 Oct. 1942. Church archives. Letter from M r . Glasse t o M r . Protic, Yugoslav Embassy l 3 Oct. 1942. Church archives. ~ e t t e rfr om The B r i t i s h Foreign Office t o t h e Yugoslav Embassy. 7 Nov. 1942. Church archives. Letter from The Church Committee t o t h e Yugoslav Embassy 28 Dec. 1942. Church archives. Agreement between Romanovsky~s and t h e Yugoslav Embassy 29 March 1943. Church archives. The Serbian Orthodox Herald, Vol I No. 4 (Dec. 1945). The Srbobran, i s s u e 5, Feb. 1943. Letter t o M r . Pepic from t h e Borough of Chelsea, 5 June 1943, and C e r t i f i c a t e of Registration, 5 June 1943. Church archives. Text of t h e Church Oath and Signatories. 3 Feb. 1943. Church archives. 33- Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 2 Sept. 194.3. Church archives. 34. The ~ e r b i a nO rthodox Herald. Vol. I No. 4. Dec. 1945. Church archives. 35. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 3 Feb. 1943. Church archives. 36. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 3 Feb. 1943. Church archives. Letter from Pepic t o t h e Minister Gavrilovic. 24 May 1943.

Church archives. Letter from Pepic t o t h e Minister Gavrilovic. 24 May 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 23 Aug. 1943. Church archives. Personal o r a l Testimony by K. Pavlowitch. Minutes oP t h e Church Committee Meeting. 3 Feb. 1943. Church archives. Minutes of the Church Committee Meeting. 3 Feb. 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 3 March 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 3 March 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting, 23 Aug. 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 3 March 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 3 Feb. 1943. Church archives. ~ e t t e rfr om the "Never Againu Association t o Serbian Church. 1943. Church archives. Letter from Pepic t o t h e Minister Gavrilovic. 9 May 1943. Church archives. Minutes of the Church Committes Meeting. 3 Feb. 1943. Church archives. 51. Letter from Pepic to the Minister Gavrilovic. 9 May 1943. Church archives. 5 2 - Letter from Pepic t o the Minister Gavrilovic. 9 May 1943. Church archives. 53 . S. Pavlowitch, op. c i t . , Yugoslavia. 104. 54 0 Letter from Pepic to the Minister Gavrilovic. 9 May 1943. Church archives. 55. Letter from Pepic t o the Minister Gavrilovic. 9 May 1943. Church archives. 56 Minutes of the Church Committee Meeting. 29 March 1943. Church archives. 57 - Minutes of the Church Committee Meeting. 16 April 1943. Church archives. Letter from Pepic t o the Minister Gavrilovic. 9 May 1943. Church archives. Minutes of the Church Committee Meeting. 29 March-1943. Church archives. Letter from Pepic t o Vilder. 31 May 1943. Church archives. Minutes of the Church Committee Meeting. 3 March 1943. Church archives. Letter from D. Shillan t o the Church Committee. 28 April 1943. Church archives. Letter from J. J u l l t o D r . J e f t i c . 29 March 1943. Church

archives. Minutes of the Church Committee Meeting. 21 May 1943. Church archives. The R t . Rev. Bishop Dionisije, ?Memorandum on the Quisling- Created 'Croatian Orthodox Church ! 1 1 , Srbobran, 19 Dec. 1942. Church archives. The R t . Rev. Bishop Dionisije, IWemorandum on the Quisling- Created 'Croatian Orthodox Church 1 ", Srbobran, 1 9 Dec. 1942. Church archives. The R t . Rev. Bishop Dionisije, f7Memorandum on the Quisling- Created ! Croatian Orthodox Church ' ", Srbobran, 19 Dec. 1942. Church archives. Letter from Canon Douglas t o Pepic. 17 May 1943. Church archives. Letter from M r s . Ryder t o Pepic. 24 May 1943 Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 23 Aug. 1943. Church archives. Minutes of the Church Committee Meeting. 21 May 1943. Church archives, Letter from Secretary of the Church Committee t o M r . D. Shillan. 22 May 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 21 May 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 15 June 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 15 June 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Annual Church Convention 9947/48. Church archives. Letter of Resignation. 24 March 1943. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 2 Sept. 1943 S Church archives. M. Maric, King and H i s Government i n Exile (tf~poha"Z agreb, ~u~oslavia, 335/6. Minutes of t h e Church Committee Meeting. 23 March 1945. Church archives. Minutes of the Church Committee Meeting. 29-March 1945. Church archives. The Serbian Orthodox Herald, Vol. I No. 4 ( ~ e c .1 945). Minutes of t h e Annual Committee Meeting. 29 March 1945. Church archives. Letter from Ristanovic t o Canon Douglas. 2 April 1945. Church archives. Letter from Ristanovic t o Canon Douglas. 2 April 194s. Church archives. Letter from F i r m i l i j a n and Zobenica t o Bishop Dionisije. 9 May 1945. Church archives.

Letter from Firmilijan and Zobenica t o Bishop D i o n i s i j e 9 May 1945. Church archives. Letter from Firmilijan and Zobenica t o Bishop Dionisije 9 May 1945. Church archives. Letter from Bishop Dionisije t o t h e Church Committee. 7 June 1945. Church archives. Letter from t h e Committee t o t h e Bishop. 6 July 194.5. Church archives. Letter from t h e Bishop t o t h e Committee. 7 May 1945. Church archives. The Serbian Orthodox Herald, Vol. I No. 4. Dec. 1945 Letter from Delegation t o t h e Church. 31 Aug. 1945. Church archives. The Serbian Orthodox Herald, Vol. I No. 4. Dec. 1945. The Serbian Orthodox Herald, Vol. I No. 4. Dec. 1945. Personal o r a l Testomony of Archpriest Nikolic. Letter from Archpriest Nikolic t o the President of t h e Church Council f o r t h e Christian Reconstruction i n Europe. 22 April 1948. Church archives. Personal o r a l Evidence by Royal Guards Major B. Delibasic. Letter from Archpriest Nikolic t o President of t h e Church Council f o r C. R. i n Europe. 22 April 1948. Church archives. 98 9 Letter from Archpriest Nikolic t o C. White. 3 Oct. 1946. Church archives. 99 Letters from White t o Nikolic. 28 Sept. & 3 Oct. 1946. 100, Letter from Nikolic t o Hampton and Sons. 8 Oct. 1946. Church archives. 101. Letter from Church Committee t o Manager of Barclays Bank. 18 Oct. 1946 Church archives. 102. Letter from E l l i s t o D r . J e f t i c . 25 Oct. 1946. Church archives. 103. Letter from Barclays Bank t o Nikolic. 25 Oct. 1946. Church archives. 104. Personal o r a l Testimony of Archpriest Nikolic. 105. Church Committee I s Letter t o Bank Manager. 25 Oct. 1946. Church archives. 106. Letter from Bank Manager t o Archpriest Nikolic. 21 D e c . 1946. Church archives. 107. Annual Report of Church Committee f o r 1947/48. Church archives. 108. Personal o r a l Testimony of Capt. V. Jovanovic. 109. Letter from Archpriest Nikolic t o Father Jneson. 14 June 1948. Church archives. 110. Letter from Nikolic t o President of the Church Council. C. R. E. 22 April 1948. Church archives. 111. S. Pavlowitch, op. c i t . , Yugoslavia. 108. 1 1 2 , Ibid. Yugoslavia - 113. 2 . Topalovic, he Sacrificed Ally. h on don, 1970). 194.

114. Ibid. 174. 115. Ibid. 175. 116. A. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago. (Collins & Harvill Press, London, June, 1 9 7 4 r . 5 . 117- R. Knezevic, llInformation about Yugoslav E m i g r a t i ~ n ~ ~ , Poruka, 1952. Publication issued by ex. Yugoslav Goverment i n e x i l e . 118. Personal o r a l Testimony of V. Opacic. 118. Personal o r a l Testimony of Prof. S t a j i c , Editor of '~Rodoljubl~1, 945 p e r i o d i c a l of Serbian ex prisoners of war i n Germany. 119, 2 . Topalovic, op. c i t . , 17.5. Major M. ~ j o r d j e v i c , Between Black and Red Fascism, ( ~ a s eD elo Library, ~ G d o n ,1 966) passim. Major M. Djordjevic, op, c i t . 145. 2 . Topalovic, op. c i t . 175. S. Pavlowitch, op. c i t . , -Yu-gos-la-via . 155. Rebecca West, An Appeal Letter f o r cash f o r t h e building of t h e Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Lazar i n Birmingham. Published by t h e Serbian Orthodox Church Appeal, 1968. Ibid. John S a l t e r llOrthodox Serbs i n Great Britainll, ECNL publication of t h e Anglican and Eastern Churches Association New S e r i e s No. I (Autumn, 1975)) 35. J. Tannahill, European Volunteer Workers i n Britain, (Ifanchester University Press, 1958). J. Tannahill, Ibid. 0 Ministry of Labour Press Notice, rZrnplyment of EWsf. 13 Dec. 1950. Church archives. 4 Oslobodjenje (~ndependent half-monthly publication, ond don). 3 Sept. 1948. 131, Ibidl I1The f i g h t s of E V ~ S U . 22 Jan. 1949. Ministry of Labour & National Service. Press Notice. 13 Jan. 1950. Church archives. Rebecca West, op. c i t . J. Tannahill, op. c i t . , passim. 1 J. Tannahill, op. c i t . 83. Personal o r a l Evidence of A. Petrovic and numerous l e t t e r s sent t o Church Office. Church archives, J e Tannahill, op. c i t . , passim. Letter from Nikolic t o President of t h e Church Council, C.R.E. 22 April 1948. Church archives. Letter from Nikolic t o Father Ineson. 14 June 1948. Church archives. Minutes of t h e Meeting and Church Report f o r 1947/48. I l Church archives.

"The Voice of t h e Canadian Serbs1I, issue. 1 2 May 1949. l (weekly publication from Windsor, Canada). Letter from Nikolic t o Ineson. 14 June 1948, Church archives. l l Letter from Nikolic t o Ineson. 14 June 1948. Church archives. Letter from Ministry of Labour t o Nikolic. 30 June 1948. , Church archives. Letter from Min. of Labour (Northern Regional Office) t o B. Gavrilovic. 15 Nov. 1947 & 20 March 1948. Church archives. l i < 8 ' I Oslobodjenje op. c i t . , i s s u e s from 4 Sept. 1948 t o 15 Oct. 1949, passim. Rebecca West, op. c i t e Oslobodjenj$ op. c i t . 25 Dec. 1948, i s s u e . l Minutes of t h e Meeting of t h e Churches of Brotherhood. July 1949. Church archives. l flGramatosllb y t h e Serbian Patriarch t o Archpriest Nikolic. ,II 31 Oct. 1945. Church archives. Oslobodjenje op. c i t . , i s s u e 25 Dec. 1948. Personal o r a l Testimony of Archpriest Nikolic. 5 Oslobodjenje op. c i t . , i s s u e 4 Sept. 1948 t o 15 Oct. 1949. Passim. Il l l I Oslobodjenje Ibid. Passim. I I "Voice of the Canadian Serbsll op. c i t . issue 1 2 May 149. ! L Oslobodjenje op. c i t . Issues 1948/49. Passim. :i Oslobodjenje op. c i t . Issues 18 Sept. 1948. i Oslobodjenje (An a r t i c l e by Archpriest Nikolic about t h e Easter F e s t i v a l i n London). Issue 16 April 1949. l Oslobodjenje op. c i t . Issue 30 April 1949. i i Ibid. Oslobodjenje Ibid. 25 June 1949. Oslobodjenje Ibid. 1.7 Sept. 1949. Tiverton Gazette. 7 Sept. 1949. Annual Church Report 1947/48. Church archives. Letter from Nikolic t o President of Church Council C.R.E. 22 April 1948. Church archives. Circular l e t t e r by t h e Foreign Workers Committee. 1949. Church archives.

Appeal l e t t e r t o a l l l S e r b s i n Great B r i t a i n ! , by t h e Serbian Church. 16 April 1950. Church archives. Letter from Ineson t o Nikolic. 24 Nov. 1950. Church archives. 'Appeal t o a l l Serbs 1 , . op. c i t . Church archives. Ibid. Ibid. Oslobodjenje op. c i t . , i s s u e 13 Nov. 1938. Ibid. Ibid. 27 Nov. 1948. Ibid. Ibid. 11 Dec. 1948. Lady Paget Memorial Bo-ok (pub. by The Serbian Thought, Melbourne, Australia, 1959 ) . 6 3. Letter from Nikolic t o t h e Archbishop of Canterbury. 29 March 1946. Church archives. ~ e t t e rfr om Nikolic t o His Grace Cardinal Griffin. 20 Oct. 1946. Church archives. Letter from Nikolic t o the Archbishop of Canterbury 1945. Church archives. Letter t o Archbishop of Canterbury t o Nikolic. 15 June 1946. Church archives. 181. Church Committee Report. 21 May 1949- Church archives. 182, Personal o r a l Testimony of Archpriest Nikolic, 183. Bilten Ravna Gora, No. 4. 1 Nov. 1945 ondo don). Church archives. Church Report i n connection with "The Statement". 21 May 1949. Church archives. Ibid. Church Committee Report f o r 1950. Church archives. S. Pavlowitch, Yugoslavia. Op. c i t . 124 & 161. The Serbian Orthodox Herald. Dec. 1948. Circular l e t t e r from Church Committee Secretary D r . purkovic Church archives. Church Committee Report f o r 1947/8. Church archives. Ibid. Bilten Ravna Gora op. c i t . OslobodjenjeJrDr. F i s h e r ' s Christmas Message t o Serbian Church Congregation i n Great B r i t a i n ' . 8 Jan. 1949. Church Committee Report f o r 1947/48. Church archives. Letter from D r , Fisher t o Archpriest Nikolic. 20 Dec. 1945. 195. D r . Fisherrs Christmas Message op. c i t . 196. The Serbian Orthodox Herald Vol. I No. 4. Dec. 1945. 197- Bilten Ravna Gora op. c i t , 198. Annual Church Report f o r 1948/49. Church archives. 199. Ibid. 200. Ibid. 201. Greeting t o t h e Lambeth Conference. Summer 1948. Church archives.

202. I n v i t a t i o n l e t t e r t o H i t s Grace The Archbishop of Canterbury. 22 Jan. 1948. 203. our Grace, Your Lordship. Speech by Archpriest Nikolic. 27r Jan. 1948. Church archives. 204. Archbishop of Canterbury Speech. 27 Jan. 1948. Church archives. 205. Letter from Dioces of London Reorganisation Committee t o ~ r c h p r i e s t Nikolic. 7 May 1951. Church archives. 206. J. Tannahill, European Voluntary Workers, op. c i t . 207. Church Committee Report. Oct. 1950 - March l g j l , Church archives. 208. John S a l t e r , op. c i t . 3 6 . 209. Church Committee Report. March 1950. Church archives. 210. Church Committee Report. March 1951. Church archives. 211. ~ e t t e rfr om Dioces of London Reorganisation Committee t o Archpriest Nikolic. 7 May 1951. Church archives. Church Committee Repo,rt. March 1951. Church archives. 213. Ibid. 214. (a) he ~ e m o r i a lB ook of S*, Sava Church. ( ~ e r b i ~Onrth odox Church, London, 1953.). 8. 214. (b) Ibid. 8, 214. ( c ) Ibid. 9. 215. John S a l t e r . op. c i t . 36. 216. Memorial Book of S*, . Sava Church. Op. c i t . 28. 217. Rebecca West Appeal. Op. c i t . 218. Ibid. 218. Personal o r a l Testimony of Archpriest Nikolic. 219. John S a l t e r , op. c i t . 38 - 39. 220. John S a l t e r , op. c i t . 37 - 38. Extract from a speech by Prince Tomislav, 45th i n l i n e t o t h e B r i t i s h throne, Sept. 1962. 221. Rebecca West Appeal. Op. c i t . 222. John S a l t e r . Op. c i t . 38. 223. Serbian Orthodox Church Messenger, no. 54. 1972. (Fublished by The Serbian Dioces For Western Europe, Dusseldorf, Germany). No. 15. 224. Personal o r a l Testimony of Archpriest Nikolic. LIST OF SOURCES PRIMARY : Documents The following are a l l found i n the Church archives: Church Registrar of S t . Sava Parishionners, June 1942. Oath by Church Wardens, 24 July 1942. Oath by Church Wardens and S i g n a t o r i e s , 3 Feb. 1943. rAgreement1 between Romanovskyts and Yugoslav Embassy, 29 March 1943. Minutes of the Church Committee Meeting - 3 Feb. 1943 3 March 1943

29 March 1943 16 April 1943 21 May 1943 15 June 1943 23 Aug. 1943 2 Sept. 1943 23 March 1945 29 March 1945. Memorandum 19 Dec. 1942. Minutes of Annual Church Convention 1947/48. Annual Church Committee Report f o r 1947/8. Ibid. 48/9. Ibid. Oct. 1950 - March 1951. Minutes of t h e Churches Brotherhood Meeting, July 1949. rrGramatostt, by Serbian Patriarch. t o Archpriest Nikolic, 31 Oct. 1945. Report by Church Committee.. 21 May 1949. Ibid. March 1950. Ibid. March 1951. Greeting t o t h e Lambeth Conference, ~urnmer 1948. '!Your Grace, Your L # o r d ~ h i p .S~p~ee ch by Archpriest Nikolic, Summer 1948. Archbishop of Canbarbury Speech, 27 Jan. 1948. PRIMARY: L e t t e r s Church Committee t o Gavrilovic, 6 Aug. 1942. Yugoslav Embassy t o Glasse, 9 Oct. 1942. Glasse t o P r o t i c , 13 Oct. 1942. U.K. Foreign Office t o Yugoslav Embassy, 7 Nov. 1942. Church Committee t o Yugoslav Embassy, 28 Dec. 1942. "Never Again" Association t o Serbian Church, 3 Feb. 1943. J. J u l l t o D r . J e f t i c , 29 March 1943. D. S h i l l a n t o Church Committee, 28 April 1943. Pepic t o Gavrilovic, 9 May 1943 & 24 May 1943. Canon Douglas t o Pepic, 17 May 1943. Secretary of Church Committee t o S h i l l a n , 22 May 1943. M r s . Ryder t o Pepic, 24 May 1943. Pepic t o Vilder, 31 May 1943. Ristanovic t o Douglas, 2 April 1945. F i r m i l i j a n and Zobenica t o Bishop D i o n i s i j e , 9 May 1945. D i o n i s i j e t o Church Committee, 7 May 1945. I b i d . 7 June 1945. Committee t o D i o n i s i j e , 6 July 1945. ~ e t t e rfr om Delegation t o Church, 31 Aug. 1945. D r . Fisher t o Nikolic, 20 Dec. 1945. Nikolic t o C. White, 3 Oct. 1946. White t o Nikolic, 28 Sept. & 3 Oct. 1946. Nikolic t o Archbishop of Canterbury, 29 March & 15 June 1944. Nikolic t o H i s Grace Cardinal Griffen, 20 Oct. 1946. '. '

Nikolic t o D r . F. Tomkins, 8 Feb. 1946. Church Committee t o Barclays Bank, 18 & 25 Oct. 1946. Barclays Bank t o Nikolic, 25 Oct. & 21 Dec. 1946- contd. . c o n t d , . . .../ E l l i s t o D r . J e f t i c , 25 Oct. 1946. Nikolic t o President of Church Council f o r the C h r i s t i a n Recons t r u c t i o n i n Europe. 22 April 1948. I n v i t a t i o n l e t t e r t o Archbishop of Canterbury from NikoLic. 22 Jan. 1948. Nikolic t o Ineson, 14 June 1948. Ineson t o Nikolic, 24 Nov. 1950. Ministry of Labour (Northern Regional Office), t o Gavrilovic 15 Nov. 1947, & 20 March 1948. Dioces;, of London Reorganisation Committee t o Nikolic, 7 May 1951. Letter of Resignation by Ristanovic, 24 March 1943. NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS Bilten Ravna Gora o on don). No. 4. 1 Nov. 1945. Oslobodjenje (~ndependent half-monthly publication, London). Only 32 i s s u e s ever published from 3 Sept, 1948 - 13 Oct. 1949. Those used: 3 Sept 1948 18 Sept. 1948 13 NOV. 1948 27 NOV. 1948 11 D e c . 1948 25 Dec. 1948 22 Jan. 1949 30 April 1949 25 June l 9 4 9 11 Sept. 1949 8 Jan. 1949. The Serbian Orthodox Herald (published by Serbian Orthodox Church, U.S.A. ) Vol. I No. 4. Dec. 1945). The Srbobran (Published i n Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U. S. A. ) . 5 Feb. 1943. The Voice of t h e Canadian Serbs ( ~ u b l i s h e di n Windsor, Canada). 12 May 1949. The Serbian Orthodox Church Messenger ( ~ e r b i a nD ioces f o r Western Europe, Dusseldorf, Germany). No. 54. 1972. Tiverton Gazette ( ~ i v e r t o n , Devon). 7 Sept. 1949. CIRCULARS AND APPEALS A 1 1 t o be found i n Church archives. Ministry of Labour Press Notice, 13 Dec. 1953, Ministry of Labour and National Service Press Notice, 13 Jan. 1950. Circular l e t t e r by t h e Foreign Workers Committee, 1949. "Appeal t o a l l Serbs i n Great E,ritain", by Serbian Church, 16 April 1950. Circular l e t b e r by Church Secretary, D r . Purkovic (see Ref. 188).

BOOKS D r . Ivan Avakumovic, Mihailovic According t o German Archives. ( ~ a s eE elo Library, London, 1949) . Major M. Djordjevic, Between Black and Red Fascism. ( ~ a s eD elo Library, London, 1966 ) . Elizabeth H i l l , The S p i r i t of Kosovo. ( ~ a v i l lT ress Ltd., ond don 1945 ) M. Maric, King and H i s Government i n Exile. ("Epoha, Zagreb, Yugoslavia, 1966). S. Pavlowitch, Yugoslavia. ondo don, 1971). D r . M. mrkovic, Serbian Patriarchs of t h e Middle Ages. (Serbian Dioces f o r Western Europe, Dusseldorf, Germany, 1 9 7 6 ) . $L- Prof. D, Saurat, The S p i r i t u a l Values of Yugoslavia. (The Yugoslav Information Department, London, 1942). A. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago. ( ~ o l l i n sa nd Harvill Press, London, June 1 9 7 4 . r J. Tannahill, European Volunteer Workers i n B r i t a i n . ( ~ u b l i s b e dby Manchester TJniGrsity Press, 1958 ). Topalovic, Yugoslavia - The Sacrificed Ally. ( London, Lady Paget Memorial Book. (Published by the Serbian Thought, Melbourne, Australia, 1959). Memorial Book of 5%. Sava Church. (Serbian Orthodox Church, London, 1953 ) Q ARTICLES The R t . Rev. Bishop Dionisije, ltMemorandum on t h e Quisling Created, Croatian Orthodox Church 11, Srbobran, 19 Dec. 1942. Church archives D r . Fisher I1Christmas Message1>, Oslobodjenje, 8 Jan. 1949* D. Xasic, IrA Short Survey of t h e Eistory of t h e Serbian Orthodox Churchlf, Serbian Orthodox Church - Its Past and Fresent, Vol. I No. I. ( ~ e r b i a nP atriarchy, Belgrade, 1965). R. Knezevic, llInforrnation About Yugoslav EmigrationI1, Poruka, 1952. (published by Ex. Yugoslav Government i n e x i l e ) . contd. . . . . . ./ ArticHes Archpriest Nikolic, a r t i c l e on Easter F e s t i v a l i n London, (no t i t l e j , Oslobodjenje, 16 April 1949. S. Pavlowitch, !'The Orthodox Church i n Yugoslavia", Eastern Churches Review, Vol. 11. No. I. 1968. J. S a l t e r , I1Orthodox Serbs i n Great BritainIf, ECNL publication of the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, New Series No. i. Autumn, 197 5. is hop ~imeon, !lour Orthodoxy", Serbian Orthodox Church, vol. I. No. l. ( ~ e l g r a d e , 1965). !IIz Nasih Kolonijau, (Our Feople Abroad), an a r t i c l e from t h e Srbobran, 5 Feb. 1943. "The Fights of El'l?~", Oslobodjenje, 22 Jan. 1949. ReSecca West, an appeal l e t t e r by her f o r cash f o r t h e building of t h e Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Lazar i n Birmingham. Published by Serbian Orthodox Church A.ppea.2, 1968.