Church and Communist Regime in Serbia

Christianity as a religion is not anti-political, but as in other segments of its existence, it overcomes politics and human organizations, for the Lord tells us that ’My Empire is not of this world’ (Jn 18:36). Moral, which is so important for Christ’s faith, invites people to accept authority and comply to civil obedience. Everything can be misused, or misunderstood, however, the general moral significance of the State is needed to limit evil and to maintain good for everyone when it comes to social relations between people. The State, as a system of legal regulation that manages interpersonal relations in one community, exists in various forms, almost as much as mankind. Unfortunately, Christianity wasn’t well understood from its very beginning in the country where it appears – Roman empire, because of suspicion that it’s anti-state and anarchist, even thought that is far from truth. It took some time until the State realized the meaning of St. Paul’s words: ’Let everyone put himself under the authority of the higher powers, because there is no power which is not of God, and all powers are ordered by God’ (Rom 13:1), these words apply that Christians can be good citizens only if a common language is found. However, Church has, at certain times even after gaining the freedom, brought a wreath of martyrdom because of State’s prosecution. History shows us that the systems that fought against the Church, actually fought against God, and the one who fights against God is always defeated in the end. Keywords: Church, Yugoslavia, Communism, suffering