Only Unity Saves the Serbs
Template:Short description Only Unity Saves the Serbs (Template:Langx,Template:Efn commonly abbreviated as СССС) is a popular motto and slogan in Serbia and among Serbs, often used as a rallying call during times of national crisis and against foreign domination. The phrase is an interpretation of what is taken to be four Cyrillic letters for "S" (written "С") on the Serbian cross. Popular mythology attributes the motto to Saint Sava, the founder and first Archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church, however, the true author is Jovan Dragašević, a Serbian military officer and writer.Template:Sfn
The motto represents the "idea of betrayal", one of the main themes in the Kosovo Myth – the antithesis of Miloš Obilić's heroism embodied in the figure of Vuk Branković, who legend holds fled the battlefield, the moral of the story being that discord and betrayal among the Serbs had doomed the nation to fall into the hands of the Ottomans.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
HistoryEdit
According to legend,Template:Citation neededTemplate:Year needed the origin of the С-shaped Serbian cross lies with Saint Sava, the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church and the patron saint of Serbs, who based his design on the Byzantine original.Template:Sfn The association of the motto with Saint Sava originates with the 1882 poem "The Death of Saint Sava" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) by Milorad Šimić. Saint Sava is saidTemplate:Clarify to have uttered it to urge the Serbs to declare national autonomy and resist domination by the Roman Catholic Church.Template:Sfn
The popular interpretation of the four С's as '{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}' on the Serbian coat of arms dates to the 19th century, created due to nationalistic and political reasons. Jovan Sterija Popović in his 1847 dramatic historical allegory "The Dream of Prince Marko" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) was the first to state that the firesteels were to be read as four С's, which "pious patriotic souls have already took for sure" as said by Đorđe PetrovićTemplate:Who in the 1881 edition of Template:Interlanguage link.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Author Biljana Vankovska argues that the first interpretation of the acronym СССС was "Serbia Alone Saved Herself" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), which then changed to "Only Unity Saves the Serbs" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), reflecting the growing national fear of internal enemies.Template:WhenTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the 1860 poem "Echoes of gusles" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Jovan Dragašević wrote "Only concord saves the Serb, so it is written for the Serb on the coat of arms" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Serbian poet and Orthodox priest Jovan Sundečić in the 1868 edition of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} used "Only Unity saves Slavdom" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In the 1869 "Poems and traditions" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), a collection of poetry and traditions collected by Miloš S. Milojević, several interpretations are written.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the introduction of Vladan Đorđević's 1919 "Emperor Stefan Dušan: Young ruler" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), he writes "Because only unity saves, not only the Serb, but the Croat and Slovene, Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The phrase is found in written on towels and engraved on gusle dating to the 1880s and 1890s.<ref name="Вјера">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Allegedly, the motto was acronymed on the Montenegrin cap.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The phrase was used in songs of the Serbian Sokol movement.<ref name="Rašić1930">Template:Cite book</ref>
During World War II, the Main Staff of Chetnik Detachments in Croatian-occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina used it as an appeal in their struggle.<ref name="Stanišić2000">Template:Cite book</ref>
Contemporary useEdit
The СССС acronym began appearing in Serbian nationalist graffiti during the 1980s.Template:Sfn In 1989, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević delivered his infamous Gazimestan speech before a large, stone Serbian cross bearing the СССС acronym.Template:Sfn In the early 1990s, as Yugoslavia began to disintegrate, Milošević's propaganda apparatus adopted the phrase.Template:Sfn The СССС acronym form of the phrase was featured with the Serbian cross on the insignia of the Serbian Army of Krajina during the Croatian War and on the insignia of the Army of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War.Template:Sfn The Serbian cross with the СССС acronym was also used as a wing and fuselage marking on aircraft used by the Republika Srpska Air Force.Template:Sfn The phrase was often scrawled on the walls of abandoned houses in towns captured by Serb forces, usually followed alongside the acronym JNA (for Yugoslav People's Army) and the names of individual soldiers.Template:Sfn In the immediate aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars, license plates throughout Republika Srpska featured the acronym. These were replaced several years later, following the introduction of nationwide license plates.Template:Sfn
Serbian singer-songwriter Bora Đorđević adapted the motto as the title to his song Samo sloga Srbina spasava, written during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.Template:Sfn
In 2010, on the anniversary of the Battle of Loznica, Patriarch Irinej said that "only unity could save the Serb people, and nonunity could ruin it".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2013, Slovene politician and EP member Jelko Kacin congratulated that Kosovo Serb representatives had united despite political differences, in a delegation to the EP, with the words "Bravo, Serbs, only unity saves the Serbs".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
An international conference of Serbian Orthodox youth with the name "Only unity saves Serbs" has been held in 2015<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 2016<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in Republika Srpska.
It is traditionally written in acronym form on a česnica, a type of Serbian Christmas bread, as well as in Easter egg decorating.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
See alsoEdit
NotesEdit
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
Template:Refend