It's Like Religious Disneyland Here

The Balkans are Like Disneyworld for a Theologian 

A reoccurring theme of my posts is the melting pot of religions which is the Balkans. I started with a discussion of the faith of the Bosnian kingdom, discussed the roots of Mormonism here, and also gave four views of Islam. I have not, however, spent as much time on the other two major faiths here in Bosnia; Croat influenced Catholicism and the Serbian Orthodox church (Pravoslav).

I'm standing with my good friend John Paul II in front of the main Catholic cathedral in downtown Sarajevo.

 This post shares three "miracle" stories (or myths depending on how secular you are) from little villages that we have visited in Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro. Pilgrims flock to these villages to edify their faith. Dionne and I have kind of stumbled upon these stories as we have traveled the land and feel a sense of reverence for the beliefs of the locals and pilgrims.

A Pravoslav church in downtown Sarajevo.

When Joseph Smith told the Methodist preacher about his experiences in the grove, we assume that the preacher "freaked out" because of how different and foreign Joseph's story surely sounded. But, as Joseph's best-known historian Richard Bushman points out, it is likely that the preacher's reaction was completely opposite of what we suppose. Rather than being foreign and unique, the preacher likely reacted because of how similar it sounded to other claims of visions all across frontier America at the time.

I am not sure why the world reacted so violently to Joseph's claims of divine visitation. Stories of visions, prophets, and miracles have long been a part of religious communities of worship. Generally they are revered and not reviled. And there are three such tales here in our little corner of the world.

I will share them in the order in which we discovered them.

The Miraculous Painting

The tiny city of Perast is located in the Kotor Bay, Montenegro.  The main attraction to Perast is a little island church that you can ferry out to.

Riding the ferry out to the island church at Perast.

The island church has a fascinating history. On July 22nd, 1452, two fishermen, one who was crippled, were sailing by a small monastery in the bay. They passed a small crag jutting out of the water and one of them noticed a painting of the Virgin Mary and child in the rock. They pulled their over to the crag, removed the painting, and took it home with them.

When they awoke the next morning (Sunday), the painting had disappeared. But the crippled sailor, miraculously, could walk!

Dionne enjoying the trip out to the "crag."

A few months later, the two sailors passed by the small crag again and noticed that the painting was there again. They reported this to the local priest, told him the story of the miraculous healing, and then collected the painting again. Because of the miracle, the town decided that the painting should enjoy a permanent home on this crag. But since it was only a small rock formation jutting out of the ocean, they would need to do something to make the home more permanent. So sailors brought rocks to the location and dumped them into the sea. Soon they had built a suitable island for the painting (and a church to house it in). Every year a boat procession gathers on July 22nd to dump more rocks and make sure that the island remains strong.

Our Lady of the Rocks.

The church that was built is called the Our Lady of the Rocks. It has become a shrine for sailors who believe that paying a tribute of "silver" will help keep them safe. The inside of the church is filled with silver art work contributed by grateful ship captains who have felt protected by the Lady of the Rocks.

One of the many sets of silver art work donated by sea captains.

As we walked through the church, I was pleasantly surprised to see the painting of Mary displayed prominently. I had kind of assumed that the painting that started it all had been lost to the world. But there it is placed in a prominent position on the wall.

The painting of Mary that the fishermen found on the crag.

I can only imagine the spiritual comfort that this icon and the legends offered to so many fisherman and their families. While the roots of this community are founded in Catholicism, this miracle gave them additional legends with which they could make their beliefs more real.

The Mountain Prophets

For senior conference last spring we visited Zlatibor, Serbia. Visiting an ethno-village near Kremna we were introduced to the writings of some late 19th-century mountain prophets.

The community near Kremna.

The Tarabići family is known throughout the regions for their Nostradamus-like prophecies. The most famous were Miloš and his nephew Mitar. Both were illiterate peasants whose sayings were likely recorded by the village Pravoslav (Serbian Orthodox) priest.

Wood carvings of Miloš and Mitar Tarabići. Although he is writing on a scroll, it is not likley that the brothers were literate.

There are many who believe that the Tarabići family had the gift of true prophecy. Many of their prophecies concerned Balkan wars in the early 1900s. But as Serbia became more important to the world, some of their prophecies also had a much more global reach. Here are some of the prophecies along with the associated WWI "facts" laid side-by-side.

Prophecy - "Soon after this war, another war will start...the Big War in which a lot of blood will be spilled. If that blood were a river, a huge stone of 300 kilograms would roll in its current easily. A mighty army from across a river, three times bigger than ours, will attack us... They will destroy everything on their way. They penetrate deep into our land... Hard times will come upon us... Our army will almost give up, but than suddenly an intelligent man on a black stallion will take command and cry out, ’Forward to victory, my people! Forward, brother Serbs!’ Our army springs to life. Its fighting spirit wakes up and the enemy is chased away across the river..."

Historical Fact - The Austro-Hungarian Empire started a war against Serbia after a Serb nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and his wife in Sarajevo. This regional war soon developed into World War I (with 32 nations involved). In the beginning, Austria conquered the northern and central parts of Serbia easily but when General Alexandar Mishich—the man on a black stallion—took command, the Serbian armies were able to repel the Austrian invaders back across the River Drina until October 1915

"Then an even greater army will come from the north and run over us. Our land will be devastated. We will be dying of hunger and sickness in great numbers. For three years, Serbia will live in total darkness. During that time, our wounded army will be abroad. They will stay in a place surrounded by the sea and will be fed and nursed by friends from over the seas. Then, their wounds healed, they will come back home in ships. They will free Serbia and all of the territories where our brothers live."

Historical Fact - The Germans started their attack from the north and by December 1915 had defeated the Serbs. The Serbian Army and Government fled to the Greek island of Kérkira (Corfu) in 1916. There they regrouped, and after a full recovery they sailed for Salonika where they formed a new front with other allied armies. After much heavy fighting, Serbia was finally free and reunited with the other southern Slav nations (Croats and Slovenians), whose territories had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the German occupation, a large number of people in Serbia died of hunger and sickness.

"I will tell you one more thing, father: the invading army will come to Kremna exactly on your baptismal day, stay for three years and go away on the same day they came—St Luke’s Day. But you will not see the end of the war. In the last year of the world’s big carnage, you will die. Both these wars, the one with the Turks and the big one when the whole world will be at war, will take away two of your grandchildren—one before, and the other after your death."

Historical Fact - The Germans entered Kremna on St Luke’s Day, and the village was liberated on exactly the same date three years later. Zaharije Zaharich died in 1918, the last year of World War I, which also took the lives of two of his grandchildren—one before, and one after his death.

Just as believers do with Nostradamus and other prophetic writers, they have worked out what they argue are viable interpretations of all of prophetic words of the Miloš and Mitar. As you can imagine, skeptics of these prophecies abound. And the skeptics seem to be winning because the world is not flocking to Zlatibor, Serbia to learn God's word.

Dionne and Sister Bradford discussing WWI prophecies?

For those of you interested, here are what some of the believers say are Mitar's prophecies concerning "WWIII".

1. "When they start to meditate more, they will be closer to God’s wisdom, but it will be too late because the evil ones will already ravage the whole Earth and men will start to die in great numbers. Then people will run away from cities to the country and look for the mountains with three crosses, and there, inside, they will be able to breathe and drink water. Those who will escape will save themselves and their families, but not for long, because a great famine will appear. There will be plenty of food in towns and villages, but it will be poisoned. Many will eat because of hunger and die immediately. Those who will fast to the end will survive, because the Holy Ghost will save them and they will be close to God.
    
2. "The greatest and the angriest will strike against the mightiest and the most furious! When this horrible war starts, woe to those armies that fly over skies; better off will be those who fight on ground and water.
    
3. "People waging this war will have their scientists who will invent different and strange cannonballs. When they explode, these cannonballs instead of killing will cast a spell over all that lives—people, armies and livestock. This spell will make them sleep, and sleep they will instead of fighting, and after this they will come back to their senses.
    
4. "We will not fight in this war, but others will do battle over our heads. Burning people will fall from the sky over Pozega [a town in Serbia]. Only one country at the end of the world, surrounded by great seas, as big as our Europe [Australia?], will live in peace, without any troubles... Upon it or over it, not a single cannonball will explode! Those who will run and hide in the mountains with three crosses will find shelter and will be saved to live after in abundance, happiness and love, because there will be no more wars..."

Real or not? I'll let you decide.

The Međugorje Pilgrims

The world is flocking, however, to Međugorje Bosnia. At least the Catholic world. Međugorje is a pilgrimage site with hordes of visitors seeking their own renewal and experiences with the spirit. Dionne and I visited last Monday and we were surprised at how many visitors had come to Međugore.

Dionne and I in front of the church in the Bosnian town of Međugorje.

The church building there is relatively small and constructed pragmatically. No gothic style middle ages architecture here...it looks like it was built in the past 100 years. Behind the church they have an outdoor amphitheater for conducting services and mass and it looks like it can hold thousands of worshipers. Outside of the church there are confessionals in dozens of languages...I must have counted 20 confessional booths. Clearly this church is built for revival, renewal, and repentance!

A tour group listening to a devotional in front of a small outdoor mural of Christ surrounded by children.

The streets are lined with restaurants, new hotels being built, and vendors who sell Catholic worship paraphernalia. Clearly this is a site for believers. There is a quiet, hushed reverence that permeates Međugorje; very similar to that I feel when I visit Mormon historical sites.

Crosses, prayer beads, candles, and religious pamphlets were for sale everywhere.

The real pilgrims hike up the mountain to the place where it all began. The path is intentionally difficult to walk...rocky and unpaved. To increase their suffering, many pilgrims will walk up this mountain in their bare feet. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the piety seems to be the belief.

This is the trailhead up to the top of the mountain. Dionne and I drove by but did not feel compelled to make the 40-minute hike up the hill.

The cross at the top of this mountain marks the spot where pilgrims hike.

We did not take this picture but it shows pilgrims hiking up to the cross. 

So what is going on at Međugorje? Why is it so famous? Why do pilgrims flock here? It is a long story which I am going to try and explain in two paragraphs.

About 5 p.m. on June 24th, 1981, two girls went up to Mount Podbrdo to look for their sheep when they suddenly saw a great silhouette of light and colors. It looked like the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child. Rather than come closer, they ran to find four friends and returned to investigate. All six of them saw the figure. Spreading news of their experience, they returned the next day with a handful of others. The children saw the figure again and dropped to their knees in fervent prayer. They began to converse with the figure. The 15 others who had come did not see anything except the children acting and conversing with "something." But those people had a conviction that something had happened. This process continued everyday for a few weeks. The children would go to the spot on the mountain, become entranced with a vision of Mary, and others would follow and observe their behavior. None of the observers ever saw or heard Mary but most had a strong conviction that the children were having visions of her. Probably the only physical sign that these observers witnessed was on August 6th, 1981 (the local priest was one of the observers this day). In the sunshine people started claiming to see signs of the "cross" and of the "sun." But on August 6th many also feel like they could see the letters "MIR" (Bosnian for "peace") written in the sunset.

Picture of some of the children and the local Catholic priest during the summer of 1981.

Later that year the children began to have these visions in the local church rather than on the top of the mountain. From Jan 1982 to April 1985, the children had a vision of Mary in the church every single day. Soon they began to receive messages from Mary for the parishioners. At first the children were receiving daily messages. Then weekly and then monthly. There are estimates that the children have been visited by Mary tens of thousands of times. And the children (now middle-aged) are still receiving visions, sometimes daily.

Five of the six children receiving a vision while worshiping at the Međugorje church.

The shrine where the children would receive visions.

So what is the content of some of the revelations that these children have received? Their visions have been collected and are available on-line for anyone who is interested. As I glanced through them, I fell in love with this early recording of a vision (Aug 1981). Some visitors were with the children as they claimed to be witnessing a vision of Mary. The visitors asked "can we touch her" to which the children replied "our lady says you can." So they approached the spot where the children said Mary was. Some declared that they felt her presence. But Marija began to cry as this was happening. Someone asked her why she was crying. She said "I cried because some people have dirtied her gown. I asked the Blessed Virgin why and she said those who live in sin have dirtied my gown. Tell the people to go to confession and to make up for their sins."

One of the original six children, Marija...in a more recent photo. She still claims regular visitations from Mary.

As you can imagine, these visions are well-known and quite controversial. Over 30 million pilgrims have visited Međugorje and more seem to come every year. The local clergy waffled between support and oppression. The bishop of Mostar at first said "if these apparitions come from God, no one will be able to stop them." Later, however, he became a tormentor. It did not take long for the word of the visions to reach the Vatican. Initially Pope John Paul II was reasonably supportive of the visions. Benedict, on the other hand, felt otherwise. In May of this year Pope Francis was asked about Međugorje. Here is the text of his answer (although he stressed that this is just his opinion):

“I personally am more suspicious, I prefer the Madonna as Mother, our Mother, and not a woman who’s the head of an office, who every day sends a message at a certain hour. This is not the Mother of Jesus. And these presumed apparitions don’t have a lot of value.”

My Perspective

When we received our mission call, I knew that Dionne and I were moving to a land at the cross roads of the ancient religions; Islam, Catholicism, and Orthodox (and until the 1970s, there was a sizable Jewish population in Sarajevo). I did not know that we were also moving to a land of prophets, visitations, and mystical paintings.

Boyce in Our Lady of the Rock church.

 To the "educated" world these tales are interesting to study under the academic discipline of folklore. But few actually are willing to take these stories seriously. The famous statement from Sterling McMurrin about Joseph Smith ("God does not appear to 14 year-old boys") applies equally well here. Mary does not appear daily to children, illiterate Serbians peasants cannot prophecy, and paintings do not swim out to "crags" in the bay.

Dionne and Sister Ezard chatting near Kremna.

But I have personally experienced revelation from God. I have conversed with him. Many of the actions that I take on a daily basis are directed by him. So if I can have these types of experiences, why do I assume that others cannot?

So I am open to the possibility of Međugorje. I can believe that a crippled sailor was healed. And that a righteous family of farmers could have received real inspiration about what would occur in their village.

Does this mean I believe any of the three experiences? No. But I at least am intellectually open to the possibility. And for someone whose biases leans towards the scientific method, that is saying something.

At Međugorje there is a walking path with 14 paintings that tell the story of Christ's crucifixion. One thing that is undeniable about the children's visions is the effect that they have had upon belief. Many have had personal witnesses at Međugorje and their faith strengthened.