On [[May 19]], 2003, the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, with one heart and one voice, unanimously decided to enter Bishop Nicholai (Velimirovic) of Ohrid and Ziča into the calendar of saints of our Holy Orthodox Church.
St. Nikolai Velimirovich is often referred to as Serbia's New Chrysostom. St. [[John Maximovitch]], who had been a young instructor at a seminary in Bishop Nikolai's diocese of Saint John the Teologican in Bitola Ohrid, called him "a great saint and Chrysostom of our day [whose] significance for Orthodoxy in our time can be compared only with that of Metropolitan Anthony [Khrapovitsky]. ... They were both universal teachers of the Orthodox Church." {{start box}}{{succession|before=?|title=Bishop of Žiča|years=1919-1920|after=Jefrem}}{{succession|before=?|title=Bishop of Ohrid|years=1920-1929|after=''see merged''}}{{succession|before=[[Jefrem (Miluntinovic) of Banja Luka|Jefrem (Miluntinovic)]]|title=Bishop of Žiča|years=1937-1956|after=[[German of Serbia|German]]}}<!--- {{succession|before=new creation|title=Bishop of Ohrid-Bitola|years=1957-1991|after=[[Platon of Banja Luka|St. Platon]]}} --->{{end box}}
==Hymns==
:And for Christ you endured suffering at Dachau.
:Therefore we glorify you, a new Nicholas well–pleasing to God.
==Quotes==
"We should not desire the death of a sinner but his repentance. Nothing so grieves the Lord, Who suffered on the Cross for sinners, than when we pray to Him for the death of a sinner, thereby to remove the sinner from our path. It happened that the Apostle Carpus lost his patience and began to pray that God would send down death upon two sinful men: one a pagan and the other an apostate from the Faith. Then the Lord Christ Himself appeared to Carpus and said: 'Strike me; I am prepared to be crucified again for the salvation of mankind.' St. Carpus related this event to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who wrote it down as a lesson to all in the Church that prayers are needed for sinners to be saved and not for them to be destroyed, for the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9)." -- ''The Prologue of Ohrid''.
_____________
"Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
"Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have.
"Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.
"Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.
"Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
"They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world.
"They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself.
"They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments.
"They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself.
"They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance.
"Bless my enemies, O Lord, Even I bless them and do not curse them.
"Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish.
"Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a dwarf.
"Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background.
"Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand.
"Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep.
"Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they have demolished it and driven me out.
"Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of your garment.
"Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
"Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more bitterly against me:
"so that my fleeing to You may have no return;
"so that all hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs;
"so that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul;
"so that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins, arrogance and anger;
"so that I might amass all my treasure in heaven;
"ah, so that I may for once be freed from self-deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life.
"Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies in the world except himself.
"One hates his enemies only when he fails to realize that they are not enemies, but cruel friends.
"It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world: friends or enemies.
"Therefore bless, O Lord, both my friends and enemies.
"A slave curses enemies, for he does not understand. But a son blesses them, for he understands.
"For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life.
"Therefore he freely steps among them and prays to God for them." -- From ''Prayers by the Lake'', published by the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of New Gracanica, 1999<sup>[http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/VelimirovichBlessEnemies.shtml]</sup>
==Works==
* Life of Bishop Nicholai (Velimirovich) in ''Portraits of American Saints'', Compiled and Edited by George A. Gray and Jan V. Bear, Diocese Council and Department of Missions Diocese of the West Orthodox Church in America, 650 Micheltorena Street, Los Angles, California, 1994, pp. 74-77 (Quoted at [http://www.serfes.org/lives/holyhierarchsaintnicholai.htm Serfes.org])
{{start box}}
{{succession|
before= ?|
title=Bishop of Žiča|
years=1919-1920|
after=Jefrem}}
{{succession|
before=?|
title=Bishop of Ohrid|
years=1920-1929|
after=himself as Bishop of Ohrid-Bitola}}
{{end box}}
{{start box}}
{{succession|
before=new creation|
title=Bishop of Ohrid Bitola|
years=1957-1991|
after=[[Platon of Banja Luka|St. Platon]]}}
{{succession|
before=Jefrem|
title=Bishop of Žiča|
years=1937-1956|
after=[[German of Serbia|German]]}}
{{end box}}
[[Category:American Saints]]
