The Head of the Missionary Department of the Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci and the Coordinator of the Synodal Programme for Spiritual Guidance of Martial Arts Coaches, Presbyter Dr. Oliver Subotic, gave a lecture titled “Christian Virtues and Martial Arts” on June 4, 2024, at the parish house of the Holy Trinity Church in Mošorin (Diocese of Bačka). The lecture organiser was the Karate Club „Mladost“, from Mošorin, whose founder and coach is the karate expert Ljiljana Slavnić. She acted as a moderator and introduced the speaker to the audience, explaining that he trained karate in his youth, as well as other martial arts.
Father Oliver pointed out in his lecture the need for the Serbian martial arts coaches to eliminate the Zen-Buddhist elements from their training practices, such as the meditative techniques and rituals of a Far-Eastern religious origin, and to introduce the essential elements of Orthodox Christianity instead. The speaker reminded the audience that there has been an initiative, for nearly three decades now, by Serbian martial arts experts to systematically introduce the Christian principles and ethos into the practice of martial arts, while retaining and, where necessary modifying the techniques of Far-Eastern martial arts systems, while at the same time introducing the elements of hesychasm which relate to the noetic (Jesus) prayer. He also stated that in the 1990s, when the idea of the fusion between the Christian virtues and martial arts was first born, the same group of martial arts experts suggested that the Serbian martial arts coaches begin to uphold the seven centuries old Serbian tradition in this regard. It originated from the times of St. Despot Stefan Lazarević, who was a distinguished statesman, a knight and a diplomat, the first Christian knight belonging to the Order of the Dragon, and also, broadly speaking, the first Serbian martial arts expert.
The speaker particularly highlighted the case of Protopresbyter- Stavrophorous Vojislav Bilbija, a karate champion and priest, who is the main coordinator of the Synodal Programme for Spiritual Guidance of Martial Arts Coaches and the first person to attempt the Christianisation of the Far-Eastern martial arts systems (in Serbia, these mainly include karate, judo, aikido and taekwondo). Father Oliver reminded the audience that Father Voja Bilbija, through his karate club in Rotterdam, where training is organised precisely on the aforementioned hesychastic principles, has carried out a very specific type of mission, which has brought a number of Dutch people to the Orthodox faith, who are now liturgical members of our Serbian church community in Rotterdam.
In the second part of the lecture, Father Oliver addressed the issue of the passions which assail martial arts practitioners, particularly with regards to pride, vanity and anger, and offered ways to tackle them, citing the acquisition of the virtues of humility and meekness as the ultimate goal of this, always the hardest, inner struggle. He also gave the example of Nemanja Majdov, a Serbian judo representative and the miraculous story of how he became a world champion, which clearly demonstrates the power of prayer to God, from Whom we receive all our strength. The speaker concluded his lecture by asserting that the greatest martial arts expert is the one who has conquered himself, or rather he who has mastered his passions, and become a virtuous Godly man, who resolves conflict without physical force, but solely with words and humility.
The lecture was followed by a discussion on various topics, the main one being family and upbringing, since the lecture was attended by the parents of children who train at the Karate Club “Mladost”. The speaker put special emphasis on the role of teachers and coaches in shaping young lives, referring also to his own personal life experience.
The lecture was also attended by the Mošorin parish priest, Father Srđan Janković
