MOSTAR – Blessed Bishop Atanasije of Zahum-Herzegovina and Primorsko was a prophet of his time and left a great mark on Orthodox theologians, it was said at the lecture “Remembrance of the theological and literary work of Bishop Atanasije” which was held tonight in the Žitomislić Monastery Museum.
The dean of the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Foča, Vladislav Topalović, and the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of East Sarajevo, Vladan Bartula, spoke about the theological and literary work of Bishop Atanasi, while the moderator was the abbot of the Žitomislić monastery, Danilo Pavlović.
Abbot Danilo said that this is the second year that the Žitomislić Monastery organizes the memory of Bishop Atanasi, who restored the Eparchy of Zahum and Herzegovina and set new standards.
“Bishop Atanasije was a layered and multidisciplinary personality, and tonight we wanted to focus on his theological and literary work. In the coming period, we will deal with other branches that Bishop Athanasius dealt with, such as liturgy, patrology and other scientific fields,” said Abbot Danilo.
He emphasized that Bishop Atanasije is getting closer from this time distance.
“We understand him more and more clearly and see more and more his greatness, which we might not have been able to see in the time when we lived together with him.” “Today we see that Bishop Atanasije is a man who owed us a lot and who had incredible importance for the Orthodox theological mission,” said Abbot Danilo.
Topalović said that Bishop Atanasije was a prophet. “When we say that someone is a prophet, thinking of a writer, such as Dostoevsky or Solzhenitsyn, we can freely say the same about Bishop Athanasius.” One should avoid the classic definition of the noun prophet, which implies people who predict the future, which is a common banal opinion. A prophet in the true sense is someone who is able to speak the truth uncompromisingly, without flattery, to anyone and is ready to die for that truth,” said Topalović.
He said that Bishop Atanasije always warned the people and the rulers and all actors of social life, as well as people in high positions in the Church.
“His speech is already prophetic in form. “All of his theological works that we talked about tonight are works that belong to the spirit of prophetic literature,” emphasized Topalović.
He said that Bishop Athanasius left a great mark on Orthodox theologians.
“I hope that his influence will remain for centuries behind him.” The time is yet to come when he will be properly valued in our theology,” Topalović pointed out.
Bartula spoke about Bishop Athanasija’s attitude towards literature and art, as well as his literary work, stressing that his work is extremely rich and multi-layered both in the theological and literary-poetic sense.
“A lot of what he wrote, interpreted and explained is par excellence value of Serbian theology and Serbian culture in general.” From his rich and layered work, we can see a lot of what is important to us if we want to properly look at Serbian literature and Serbian culture from the Middle Ages to the present day. He refers to many authors of both Slavic and Serbian medieval culture, and before that to ancient and Byzantine writers, but also to contemporary literature,” said Bartula.
He noted that Bishop Atanasije is one of the greatest Serbian translators from the Greek language.
Bishop Athanasius is not just a mere transmitter of meaning from one language to another, he is also a creator of the word. He interprets, explains to us the history and genesis of a certain term, and leaves Serbian culture with value – both theological, philological, literary and philosophical, from which we have more scientific benefits,” said Bartula.
Atanasije Jevtić, the retired bishop of Zahum, Herzegovina and Primorje, passed away on March 4, 2021. The Eparchy of Zahum-Herzegovina and Primorje has been organizing the “Days of Remembrance of Bishop Atanasi” in Trebinje since last year in March.
(www.palelive.com / Srna)
