A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

Naše postojanje skriva mračne i svetle strane, i veliko je umeće prepoznati ih i razlučiti

Nesvakidašnja knjiga „Portreti junaka i junakinja Dostojevskog“ vladike Maksima je i monografija i teoretsko-filozofski pogled na književnost velikog ruskog pisca, a u njoj su sabrani i likovni radovi vladike inspirisani Dostojevskim i njegovim junacima. Knjiga je uz prisustvo vladike predstavljena 8. novembra 2022. u knjižari Delfi SKC. O knjizi je govorila i urednica Dubravka Dragović Šehović koja je istakla da i sama izuzetno voli ovog ruskog klasika i da je rasla i sazrevala čitajući njegova dela: „Specifičnost ove knjige u odnosu na druge koje se bave likom i delom Dostojevskog jeste činjenica da je ovo monografija obogaćena sjajnim esejima koji su veoma lepo povezani u celinu tako da u njoj mogu da uživaju i oni koji vole Dostojevskog i oni koji tek treba da ga otkriju.“

Na pitanje o motivima da se ovako studiozno i uz brojnu literaturu bavi Dostojevskim vladika Maksim je odgovorio:

„Čini mi se da je glavni podsticaj za bavljenje Dostojevskim i njegovim junacima bio on sam, to jest njegovo dejstvo na sve nas od davnih dana, ali i u novije vreme. Dostojevski me je oduvek privlačio jer je posmatrao tamnu stranu postojanja, ne samo svetlu, pa samim tim mi je postao zanimljiv. Još je Umberto Eko rekao da se velika literatura bavi gubitnicima. Dostojevski je bio takav i zahvaljujući tome je postao glas bezglasnih i nada za obeznađene. Priče o uspešnima i pobednicima nisu zanimljive. To me je privuklo: njegova dubina i svest da naše postojanje skriva i mračne i svetle strane, i da je veliko umeće prepoznati ih i razlučiti.“

Vladika Maksim je istakao da u svetlu novih političkih zbivanja nije prestalo interesovanje za Dostojevskim na Zapadu.

„Kod Dostojevskog nije tema samo Bog, niti je tema samo čovek, ni duša, već iskonska potreba čoveka da živi autentično. On opisuje neuspehe i promašaje na izuzetan način. Možda ne toliko stilski ubedljivo kao drugi ruski pisci, ali u svakom slučaju to čini širokim potezima poput Van Goga koga sam i prepoznao u njemu, a povezao sam ih upravo zbog tragičnosti sa kojom su se nosili.“

Knjiga sadrži brojne radove vladike Maksima, uglavnom akril na platnu, a oslikani su starac Tihon, Ivan Karamazov, Sonja Marmeladova, Klara Olsufjevna, Nikolaj Stavrogin, ali i sam Dostojevski i mnogi drugi likovi.

Izložba likovnih radova vladike Maksima „Silazak u podzemlje“ sa radovima iz knjige trenutno se može videti u Galeriji Narodne biblioteke „Dr Dušan Radić“ u Vrnjačkoj Banji, a publika bi početkom naredne godine mogla da je vidi i u Beogradu.

Izvor: Laguna


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People Directory

Michael (Miroslav) Djordjevich

Michael (Miroslav) Djordjevich, from San Rafael California, was one of the patrons of today’s Serbian Philanthropy in the United States. Mr. Djordjevich founded Capital Guaranty Corporation, one of the first companies in the US to insure municipal bonds, ensuring $18 billion in financing for various infrastructure projects in America, which company he took public on the NY Stock Exchange in 1993, and subsequently sold his stake to devote himself full time to Serbian philanthropy.

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Sailors of the Sky

A conversation with Fr. Stamatis Skliris and Fr. Marko Rupnik on contemporary Christian art

In these timely conversations led by Fr. Radovan Bigovic, many issues are introduced that enable the contemporary reader to deepen and expand his or her understanding of the role of art in the life of the Church. Here we find answers to questions on the crisis of contemporary ecclesiastical art in West and East; the impact of Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract painting on contemporary ecclesiastical painting; and a consideration of the main distrinction between iconography and secular painting. The dialogue, while resolving some doubts about the difference between iconography, religious painting, and painting in general, reconciles the requirement to obey inconographic canons with the freedom essential to artistic creativity, demonstrating that obedience to the canons is not a threat to the vitatlity of iconography. Both artists illumine the role of prayer and ascetisicm in the art of iconography. They also mention curcial differences between iconography in the Orthodox Church and in Roman Catholicism. How important thse distinctions are when exploring the relationship between contemporary theology and art! In a time when postmodern "metaphysics' revitalizes every concept, these masters still believe that, to some extent, Post-Modernism adds to the revitatiztion of Christian art, stimulating questions about "artistic inspiration" and the essential asethetic categories of Christian painting. Their exceptionally wide, yet nonetheless deep, expertise assists their not-so-everday connections between theology, ar, and modern issues concerning society: "society" taken in its broader meaning as "civilization." Finally, the entire artistic project of Stamatis and Rupnik has important ecumenical implications that aswer a genuine longing for unity in the Christian word.

The text of this 94-page soft-bound book has been translated from the Serbian by Ivana Jakovljevic, Fr. Gregory Edwards, and Andrijana Krstic. Published by Sebastian Press, Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Contemporary Christian Thought Series, number 7, First Edition, ISBN: 978-0-9719505-8-0