Balkan Orthodox Monarchs of the 19th and 20th Centuries

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haralampopoulosjc
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Balkan Orthodox Monarchs of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Post by haralampopoulosjc »

It's an unfortunate fact that the Balkan revolutions against the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century were overwhelmingly instigated and led by Freemasons and Enlightenment Rationalists. The Filiki Eteria in Greece was a thoroughly Masonic organization, and they were anathematized along with the other revolutionaries in Greece by Patriarch Saint Germanus V. Alexander Ypsilantis, Ioannis Kapodistrias, and Kolokotronis were all Freemasons. After the success of the Revolution, the Lodges entered into the Balkans in full force. The monarchs that were selected for these new Balkan nations came from non-Orthodox backgrounds (Serbia being the exception), and they were often Masons in most cases as well.

Greece: King Constantine I of Greece was an Orthodox monarch. In the popular culture, the slogan of the royalists "psomí, elia ke Kotso Vasiliá" ("bread, olives and King Constantine") still survives. He even issued a royal decree condemning any changes to the ecclesiastical calendar at some point during his reign. His successors, however, were less impressive. King George II of Greece reigned from 1922 to 1924 before his overthrow by the Second Hellenic Republic, and returned to power in 1935 and reigned until he died in 1947. On 16 September 1930, George was initiated into Freemasonry in London and became the venerable master of the Wellwood Lodge in 1933. He did nothing about the persecution of the True Orthodox of Greece, and declined to rein in the State Church hierarchs in any way. The same goes for his successors, King Paul and King Constantine II of Greece.

Bulgaria: Prince Alexander I and Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria were non-Orthodox. Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria was Orthodox and, in my opinion, was probably a saint (he was likely murdered by either the British, the Nazis, or the NKVD, depending on which story you're inclined to believe). He served his nation boldly, refused to capitulate to Hitler, and protected Bulgaria's Jewish population from extermination during the Holocaust. His son Simeon II, however, seems to be an oligarch and served as the prime minister of his nation, without affecting much positive change.

Romania: Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the last ethnic Romanian monarch, was an Orthodox monarch who nevertheless had liberal tendencies (he even tried to introduce the New Calendar at some point). His successors, King Carol I and King Ferdinand I, were Catholics of German birth who had no appreciation for the popular Orthodox consciousness of their people, and no appreciation for why the Calendar Innovation was so significant. King Carol II was baptized Orthodox, but he was a Freemason with a tendency for debauchery and was hardly interested in running the country. King Michael I bravely overthrew Ion Antonescu and joined Romania with the Allied powers. Perhaps, he can be forgiven for his background and being too young to understand the gravity of the Ecclesiastical crisis in his kingdom. If you ask any of the True Orthodox in Romania today, they will invariably tell you that they had no allegiance to the Iron Guard, the monarchy, or the Communists.

Serbia: The Serbian monarchs were mostly Orthodox (the exception being Mihailo Obrenovic, who was a Freemason). Interestingly enough, during the schism between Bishop Dionisije Milivojević (Free Serbs) and Belgrade, King Peter II initially supported the Free Serbs. He allegedly retracted his support, but he was buried at the Saint Sava monastery in Libertyville, Illinois, by the Free Serbs, indicating a possible renewal of support for their cause before his death. Prince Andrew supported the Free Serbs (and was buried at their headquarters in New Gračanica Monastery, Third Lake, Illinois), while Princes Tomislav and Alexander supported the state church in Belgrade. I can confidently say that King Peter II and Prince Andrew were Orthodox Christians until the end and reposed within the Church.

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Barbara
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Re: Balkan Orthodox Monarchs of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Post by Barbara »

This is a WONDERFUL contribution, Haralampopoulos !

Very valuable for readers for years to follow.

Could you explain that better about King Peter II's switches bac and forth ?
Why would he have left the Free Serb cause, if that's what did happen ?

Who was Prince Alexander, King Peter's son ? Was that the one who was born in the hotel in London when it was claimed that the room was designated by the British govt as "Serbian soil" ? Actually that story was debunked later by reports, though it was picturesque.

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Re: Balkan Orthodox Monarchs of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Post by haralampopoulosjc »

Barbara wrote: Sat 9 August 2025 11:36 pm

This is a WONDERFUL contribution, Haralampopoulos !

Very valuable for readers for years to follow.

Could you explain that better about King Peter II's switches bac and forth ?
Why would he have left the Free Serb cause, if that's what did happen ?

Who was Prince Alexander, King Peter's son ? Was that the one who was born in the hotel in London when it was claimed that the room was designated by the British govt as "Serbian soil" ? Actually that story was debunked later by reports, though it was picturesque.

I'm not sure that King Peter did switch back and forth. I think that he always supported the Free Serbs and that only propagandists for the Belgrade patriarchate try to argue otherwise.

Yes, Prince Alexander is the current claimant to the Serbian throne.

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Re: Balkan Orthodox Monarchs of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Post by Thomas_Deretich »

King Peter II of Yugoslavia did support the Free Serbian Orthodox Church until his death and was buried by the Free Serbs in 1970. In his final years, he made some type of statement about future "unity," which may have been over-interpreted by the Patriarchate. Prince Andrej Karageorgevitch and his third wife, Princess Eva Maria (Milica "Mitzi" Andjelkovich Lowe) Karageorgevitch were present (with the Prince in the monarch's throne) at the consecration liturgy of the New Gracanica Monastery Church in 1984. Metropolitan Iriney Kovacevich and Prince Andrej Karageorgevitch were interviewed by a Chicago TV reporter outside the church immediately after the consecration liturgy. The prince told the reporter that his late brother, the King, would have supported the Free Serbs in the new consecrated headquarters. Also participating in the consecration liturgy were Bishop Peter Bankerovich of Australia and New Zealand, and also two Auxentiite Metropolitans: Ioustinos Kolotouros and Athanasios Charalampides.

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Re: Balkan Orthodox Monarchs of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Post by Barbara »

What type of name is that, Bankerovitch ?!
We are all so attuned to "the bankers" these days it strikes me as funny
Was he a Serbian Bishop, it sounds like from the context and the name ?

TOO BAD that King Peter II had to suffer that fate of being pushed aside by the wicked British who never supported HIM< despite their being so-called monarchists. But instead threw their full support behind Josip Broz Tito, the communist guerrilla leader in World War II.
I read a whole book about how that came about, but it was horrible decision-making.

Especially when there was the patriotic and Orthodox, I think, right, General Mihailovic right there.

We have to admit that the epithet "Perfidious Albion" becomes a truer description every day as many things in history are uncovered with the passage of time

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Re: Balkan Orthodox Monarchs of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Post by Thomas_Deretich »

Thank you Haralampopoulosjc, Barbara, and Sava for recent contributions.

Balkan Orthodox Christian societies (and civil society more generally) were decimated by totalitarian fascism and totalitarian communism. The Orthodox Churches and Orthodox Christians in the Yugoslav (South-Slav, minus Bulgarian) territories were subjected to totalitarian genocides by both fascists and communists in the twentieth century. During the Second World War, Yugoslavia was subjected to an unbelievably-complex Yugoslav Civil War (April 1941 to May 1945). The most murderous group was the fascist group known as Ustashas. The German Nazis, who installed the Ustasha fascists in power, estimated that the Ustashas killed 750,000 baptized Orthodox Christians. Recent scholarly estimates give a figure of 200,000 to 300,000. Some scholars call this the worst act of ethnic cleansing in all of Balkan history. Josip Broz Tito's communist partisans also engaged in mass killings during the war, more killings after Tito's takeover of Belgrade and Serbia in October 1944, and even more killings after Tito's takeover of all of Yugoslavia (and a sliver of Italy) in May 1945. The mass killings by communists were directed at people of all religions who were deemed to be especially religious, anti-Communist, bourgeoise, monarchist, democratic, pro-western, or pro-American. The mass killings by communists were directed at people of all Yugoslav ethnicities: Serbs and Montenegrins, Croats, Slovenes, Bosniak Muslims, North Macedonians, Kosovar Albanians, Hungarians, Italians, Yugoslav Bulgarians, ethnic Germans, and others. The Ustasha fascists and the Communist-led Yugoslav Partisans were the two most murderous groups. The horrific result was that in certain parts of Yugoslavia, especially Orthodox-inhabited slivers in western Yugoslavia (parts of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Montenegro) suffered 17 percent fatalities in the population, not to mention the wounded, the displaced, and those subjected to forced religious conversions. Another reason for the carnage was the extreme complexity of the Yugoslav Civil War, 1941 to 1945. There were at least 25 militaries fighting in this Yugoslav Civil War. I wish I had the time today to write more about how the war and post-war Communist mass killings and other dictatorial policies decimated Orthodox Christians and others and destroyed normal (non-totalitarian) civil society throughout Yugoslavia. But, alas, I do not have the time. All I have time to do now is to prove that it was, without exaggeration, an extremely complex war with at least 25 armed sides. I have never read about any civil war in any nation that was that complex.

MILITARIES IN THE YUGOSLAV CIVIL WAR DURING THE SECOND WORD WAR IN YUGOSLAVIA (APRIL 1941 TO MAY 1945)

OUTSIDE STATE MILITARIES: (1) Soviet Union; (2) United Kingdom; (3) United States; (4) Nazi Germany; (5) Fascist Italy; (6) Italians under control of Yugoslav Communists; (7) Fascist Hungary; (8) Fascist Bulgaria; (9) Communist Bulgaria; INSIDE MILITARY FORCES: (10) Communist-controlled Yugoslav Partisans under Tito; (11) Communist-led North Macedonian Partisans; (12) Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland under Draza Mihailovic; (13) Serbian State Guard under Milan Nedic; (14) Serbian Volunteer Corps under Dimitrije Ljotic; (15) renegade Serbian Chetniks under Kosta Milovanovic Pecanac; (16) Ustasha Croatian and Bosnian Muslim Fascists; (16) Croatian Home Guard; (17) Slovenian Home Guard; (18) Slovenian Blue Guard; (19) Montenegrin Independentist “Greens”; (20) Montenegrin Chetniks; (21) Montenegrin Volunteer Corps; (22) Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia (Yugoslavs armed by Italians); (23) Bosnian Muslim militia; (24) Albanian militia; and (25) Russian Protective Corps.

Despite misdeeds by some of his disobedient local war-lords (misdeeds that he condemned), and despite documents claiming he approved of these misdeeds (documents proved to be forgeries by neutral and even hostile scholars), Dragoljub M. ("Draza") Mihailovic was both pro-Orthodox and pro-democratic and was tolerant of all pre-war (non-totalitarian, non-communist, non-fascist) political parties. He fought for a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-party, democratic, parliamentary, constitutional system under Yugoslav King Peter II Karageorgevich.

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Re: Balkan Orthodox Monarchs of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Post by Barbara »

Yes the Partisans were JUST horrific ! I have read some accounts of people who had to hide from them, but they were SO diabolically aggressive that they terrorized the entire population wherever they went.

I don't know WHY the West NEVER was given THIS side of the story !
It's that British media/influencers I guess they could be called, though I don't care for that term, at work to silence how evil the Partisans were.

Out of all the sides involved, definitely General Mihailovic was by far the best for the British and Americans to have thrown their full support behind. I didn't know he was for a democratic system, but at least he envisioned that under the rightful monarch, King Peter II.

Some of his warlords must have been responsible, then, for killing something like 10,000 Muslims. That probably explains what happened. The Chetniks were generally hostile to Yugoslav Muslims, so some must have gone out of control.

Gen Mihailovic sounds too balanced to have sanctioned such terrible behavior.

The Ustashe also must have been horrible, though I haven't studied them in particular. We have mentioned them a few times on here; that's how I know at all about them. Likewise they are NEVER talked about in any usual Western sources, because i guess, they were Catholic. But the wrong kind of Catholics !

Thanks for shining a light into this dark chapter, Thomas Deretich !

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