...Ivan Milenkovic
Belt of honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary is, if someone doesn't already know, a piece of fabric with miraculous properties (as the President of the Republic nicely explained to us) and one of the biggest Orthodox shrines (and the president told us that), but before she was brought with state honors to the Church of Saint Sava in Vračar, few local believers knew about her at all. We did not manage to find out what miracles it performs besides curing infertility, but a considerable number of men who stood in lines that wind through the surrounding streets all the way to the church, testify to a wider range of miracles. In search of (some) answers, the signer of these lines went among the believers, introduced himself and asked them if they would like to talk about the honorable girdle of the Most Holy Theotokos. This text is based on a sample of twenty interlocutors and on logic.
One believer, she says not without pride, already passed by the miraculous cloth twice, but she was unable to explain to the curious signatory of these lines why she did it twice, nor why she is doing it the third time, considering that she is the mother of two children. "Why am I standing in line?", she answered the question with a question, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to stand in line for an hour to pass by the miraculous fabric. "I am a believer," she added. I politely explained to her that I assumed she was a believer, but I was interested in why she was waiting in such a long line to pass by the girdle of the Blessed Virgin for the third time. A confused expression appeared on her face again. Then I realized that it is quite natural for her to stand in line and visit the fabric, just as it is natural to drink water, for example: you don't ask yourself why you drink, you drink. Does he believe in the miraculous effect of cloth? Of course she believes, why else would she stand in line. "But you already have children," I say cautiously. My interlocutor remains speechless again. I greet her politely and leave.
I also chatted with a middle-aged, elegant couple. When asked why they are waiting in line, they briefly say: "Tradition". They respect tradition and believe that there is no survival without respect for tradition. I completely agree with that and ask if they knew about the miracle fabric before it was delivered to Belgrade with the high patronage of the President of the Republic? To be honest, says the elegant lady, they are not. And does he believe in the miraculous powers of fabric? Not really, answered the gentleman without thinking. So why are they waiting in line, I ask again? I notice how nervousness creeps into the lady's eyes, I don't wait for a reaction, I say goodbye, and about fifty meters away I find a student ready to talk.
Why does he want to pass by the miraculous fabric? Because he is a Serb, he answers. He studies technical sciences, so I don't insist on a detailed explanation, but I still ask him what ethnicity has to do with a fabric that someone declared miraculous? It turns out that there is no answer to that question. He doesn't believe in miracles either, "although there is something there". What's up? I ask. He doesn't really know, but he has something. Not noticing any nervousness in his demeanor, I ask him what he thinks about the student movement. There, he greets me with a big smile, all the best, he says, and he himself is an active participant. "So what are you doing here?", I ask. However, he does not understand what I am asking him. He does not see any problem in the fact that he was at Slavia on May 23 and that he is here now.
When the pieces of the big and dark puzzle are put together, a possibility stands out that science could confirm or refute: the lines are made by the lack of political community, the lack of community, the absence of connective tissue. The Milošević and Vučić regimes actually, by insisting on Serbia as a connective tissue, destroyed the community as a context in which it is possible to live in diversity.
That is why people try to find a minimum of common substance, the smallest common content that would convince them that they are not alone. The fabric is undoubtedly the product of a manipulative mind, but what if the manipulation turns against the manipulator?
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