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Gentlemen and friends, I have come from Serbia, from Europe’s
deepest night where there is no ?icker of light. All the light has
vanished from the earth and escaped to the skies and only from
above shines on us. Despite that, we who are weak in everything,
are now strong in our hope and in our faith that dawn will break
out soon. I am grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury for mak-
ing it possible for me on St Vitus’ Day this 1916th year of Our
Lord to address you in this magni?cent cathedral of St Paul’s in
the presence of His Majesty King George and some of the most
distinguished English personalities…

He ended by saying: “On St Vitus’ Day in 1389 Serbian Prince Lazar with his
gallant army stood on the ramparts in the ?eld of Kosovo and laid down his life
in defence of Christian culture. At that time Serbia’s population equalled Eng-
land’s. Now there ten times fewer Serbs than the English. Where have they
gone? They were killed defending Europe. It is now time for Europe to repay
this debt to Serbia”.

When lecturing, Nikolai had the habit of quoting examples, proverbs or
verses. He was helped greatly by his knowledge of English history, literature
and life in general. He had no di?culty in winning over people to the Serbian
cause since he spoke from his heart. He would fearlessly expose errors, ours
and other people’s, but always stressed that which was positive, useful and
pleasing to God.

Thanks primarily to Nikolai a signi?cant number of Serbs came to Eng-
land to study. Among the ?rst arrivals were some who later became well known
?gures: Irinej Djordjevic, Jovan Stojanovic, Jelisej Andric, Pavle Jevtic and
Justin Popovic. They were followed by many others. A report from 1920 says
that these studies were organised by the Anglican and Eastern Churches Asso-
ciation, especially by Anglican clergyman L. Pulan and Father Nikolai Velimiro-
vic.

Father Nikolai enjoyed general respect. He made many friends both in
England and the USA. In 1971 Dr Muriel Heppell published a book about Nik-
olai Velimirovic and George Bell, the Bishop of Chichester, entitled The Story
of a Friendship. The book has been translated into Serbian. Dr Heppel relates
how the two men ?rst met when Nikolai came to England during the First
World War and stayed in touch until Nikolai’s death in 1956. Bell attended the
memorial service for Nikolai in St Sava’s church in London and said of his
friend in an inspired eulogy: “A marvellous man, yes. A great patriot, yes. But he

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