Down the Stream of the River of Life (review)
- Down the Stream of the River of Life
A leading writer in the Serbian diaspora, Mateja Matejić (1924), has written numerous books of poems, short stories, essays, and theological writings. One of his latest books, Down the Stream of the River of Life (2007), is a collection of his essays, necrologies, memories of his close friends, and literary essays.
As it behooves a lifelong Orthodox priest, Matejić opens the book with essays on Orthodox themes about the famous monasteries of Zhicha and Hilandar, and of his visits to Hilandar. As an ardent patriot he could not omit [End Page 112] expressing his view about the problem of Kosovo. Furthermore, there are articles about poets, followers of Jovan Dučić in the refugee camp Eboli, necrologies about friends, and Alexander Petrov's article about Matejić's book of poems—Hilandarski rukopis. The book is joined by a complete bibliography of Matejić's writings.
It is not easy to single out essays in this book, but a few of them deserve to be underscored. In the introductory article the author states that besides bodily lepers there are also spiritual ones. No matter how difficult bodily leprosy can be, the spiritual can be even more difficult. Let the Lord heal some spiritual lepers, because through their cure this world, infected by spiritual leprosy, would be much more beautiful and happy. In the article about Serbian Orthodoxy, Matejić examines in detail the history of the Serbs in America and their relationship toward the church. He prays that we and our descendants will preserve the religion of our ancestors. Calling Hilandar our priceless heritage, Matejić reminds us that the Serbs have preserved it for eight centuries.
The situation in Kosovo is similar, according to Matejić. He calls the volunteers in the struggle against the communists in World War II the crossbearers. The youth born in America will read in this book about their heritage and about the suffering of a brave and proud people. Even though Down the Stream of the River of Life represents only a small part of Matejić's entire work, it offers a testament to his contribution to Serbian culture, in addition to his work in church life including the building of three churches in America and his other work, that no historian should ignore.
