Theodulia (Greek: teodul - servant of God) is a theological-political term used by Saint Nikolaj Velimirović to describe the desired relationship between the church and the state modeled on Byzantium. The relationship between church and state in Byzantium is traditionally called a symphony.
Velimirović presented the teaching about Theodulia in his work "The Serbian people as Theodul", proving that "the Serbian people are servants of God". He advocated for the establishment of "harmony between the Church and the State in the service of God".[1] The political system of Theodulia is characterized primarily by the ruler's service to God.[2] Velimirović distinguishes between medieval Western theocracy and Byzantine theodulia, which he compares to the difference between "an imposed master and a willing servant"
Saint Nikolaj Velimirović considered the separation of the Church from the State as a "sick state"[3]
"Wherever the church is separated from the state, there is a sick state of either the church or the state or both. A divided church and state means serving two different masters. And since there is only one true master who can be consciously and honestly served, i.e. the Lord, means that one of the quarreling and divided institutions, be it the church or the state, must serve God's adversary, the devil. The discord, strife and war between church and state disgraces the history of Western baptized nations for the last thousand years. Sometimes the church was in the service of the opponents of God because of its theocracy, sometimes again the state because of its autocracy, sometimes the former because of clericalism, i.e. wrong service to God, sometimes the latter, because of laicism, i.e. complete renunciation of serving God. Not by reason, but by the malice of the warring parties. And malice darkens the mind, which is why there is a warning in the Holy Scriptures: Beware that malice does not darken your mind."
Velimirović writes that the meaning of Serbian history is service to Christ:
"The basic and continuous line of Serbian history for the last 800 years can be expressed with two words: CHRIST-SERVING. In this period of time of 8 centuries, the Serbian people were truly a Theodul, i.e. God's servant, or Christodul, i.e. Christ's servant, which is one and the same."
The concept of Theodulia is based on medieval Serbia. Velimirović describes all Serbian medieval rulers as servants of Christ God, as Saint Sava instructed them. He considered Teodulia as "the way and way of life of the Serbian people" and as an opponent of theocracy, autocracy and Western democracy.[3]
Nikolaj Velimirović believed that the Serbian people through Theodulia, through their service to Christ, learned about the meaning, path and goal of human life on earth, and to a clear vision of the Kingdom of Heaven.[4]
In the international field, Velimirović advocated for the "Theodulia of peoples of the same faith", that is, the Alliance of Orthodox Peoples of the Balkans with a focus on Orthodox Russia, whose goal would be to serve Christ. He believed that the "Empire of the Balkan peoples with the empire of Holy Russia" would represent the realization of the thousand-year reign of peace on earth, which St. John the Evangelist spoke about.[4]
References
edit- ^ "NIN / Naličje kulta". www.nin.rs. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ "Filozofsko-Teološki Izvori Antievropskog I Antizapadnog Diskursa U SPC | PDF". Scribd. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ a b "СРПСКИ НАРОД КАО ТЕОДУЛ – Светосавље". svetosavlje.org. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
- ^ a b "СРПСКИ НАРОД КАО ТЕОДУЛ – Светосавље". svetosavlje.org. Retrieved 2024-09-27.