A Masterpiece of the Art of War

In the midst of ceremonies marking 95-year anniversary of the Battle of Cer [pronounced Tser], the first Allied victory in WWI, archpriest of Serbian Šabac Diocese announced building of a church dedicated to the heroes fallen in the First World War and to the glorious Serb-Russian saint, St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco.

- Mr. Colonel, Sir! Requesting permission to retire. I have been wounded.

- Permission denied, – the colonel responded over the field phone.

- Mr. Colonel, Sir! Requesting permission to go to the unit’s infirmary to get the wound bandaged, I will return immediately!

- Permission denied!

Few minutes later, the winded messenger brought a letter to the wounded lieutenant from the colonel, reading:

“My son, I beg you as I beg the Lord, do hold on — the auxiliary is on its way. The eyes of all of Serbia are upon you!”

Dialogue of the commander of the Third Division of Serbian Army with his son, officer in charge for the combat security, took place 95 years ago, on the slopes of Cer Mountain in central Serbia.

The famous battle, deemed a masterpiece of the art of war for its brilliant strategy, command and execution, courage, heroism, tactics, sacrifices and triumphant outcome, broke out near the village Tekeriš on Cer Mountain, in the night between 15 and 16 August 1914.

By 24 August, there wasn’t a single Austro-Hungarian soldier left on the territory of Serbia.

The Battle which Marked the Beginning of an End of Habsburg Empire

Austro-Hungarian soldier Egon Erwin Kisch described in his personal diary the devastating defeat Austro-Hungarian army suffered in Serbia in the following way:

“Our army has been crushed and it is running away in utter disarray, in a wild and panic-stricken flight: a beaten army — no!, an uncontrolled mob running towards the border in senseless panic. Drivers whipped their horses, artillery troops jabbed their horses with spurs, officers and soldiers shoved and squeezed through between the columns of wagons, or ran in bunches through the roadside trenches…”

Kisch also made a following note:

“These Serbs are remarkable guys, they know how to defend their land.”

In the Battle of Cer Serbian forces lost more than 16,000 soldiers, while the Austro-Hungarians, who invaded Serbia from Bosnia, suffered a loss of over 25,000 troops.

“In honor of those known and unknown Serbian heroes of the Battle of Cer, whose immense sacrifice marked the beginning of an end of the Habsburg Monarchy, we have started building a wooden church near the mountain summit, for which we have received a blessing by the Šabac Diocese Bishop Lavrentije,” Father Vojislav Petrović from the town of Šabac told Belgrade daily Politika, adding that “Cer Mountain is Serbia’s undeniable Olympus of Freedom, and it should also be its spiritual junction.”

St. John the Wonderworker, Cer Heroes Patron Saint

“We shall do everything to make sure the Cer heroes finally have their own church. Back in 1939, the reserve officers from this region collected money and received a permission to build the holy temple by the Tekeriš Memorial, but the war thwarted their plans. Many of them lost their lives while fighting in Chetniks, and those who survived the war ended in communist prisons. St. John of Shanghai — missionary, wonderworker and benefactor, will be the patron of the church,” Fr. Petrović said.

St. John, born as Mihail Maksimovič, Archbishop of Shanghai, San Francisco and the West, who was glorified in 1994, earned his living in the 1920s selling Politika in Belgrade. The poor newspaper seller was well known by everyone in Belgrade, among else because he walked barefooted all year round.

St. John the Wonderworker was born in 1896, in a village Adamovka in Russia’s Kharkiv province, into aristocratic family with Serbian roots. As a Kharkiv Imperial University law graduate and Russian officer, he fought against the Bolsheviks and then emigrated to Serbia with his family. In 1925 he graduated at the Belgrade Theology University and 9 years later he was ordained a Bishop of Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), and sent to serve in Shanghai, China.

Regarded a saint already in his lifetime (with St. Nikolaj of Žiča sending the faithful to him “if they wish to see a living saint”), St. John the Wonderworker renounced all the worldly comforts — including the pleasure of sleeping in a bed, or sleeping at all — and dedicated his entire life to serving Christ at the Altar and through the poor, ill, deserted and needy.

Almost three decades after his passing, as his tomb was opened, in a stark contrast to rusted cross, heavily deteriorated icon and vestments falling apart, St. John’s relics were found wholly incorrupt and exuding sweet fragrance.

St. John the Wonderworker’s holy relics can be venerated at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral he had built in San Francisco, dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos, Joy of all who Sorrow, on Geary Boulevard in the Richmond district.