{"id":9014,"date":"2026-08-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/uncategorized-sr\/teslas-silent-agreement-with-saint-nicholas\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T09:23:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T07:23:25","slug":"teslas-silent-agreement-with-saint-nicholas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/opste\/teslas-silent-agreement-with-saint-nicholas\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla\u2019s \u201cSilent Agreement\u201d with Saint Nicholas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The religiosity of Nikola Tesla, ingenious Serbian-American inventor, is a highly complex subject that requires research based on historical facts and entails both a thorough knowledge of Tesla\u2019s views throughout his life and their contextual examination. Unfortunately, many researchers who have studied his personality have succumbed to the temptation of reductionism,<\/strong>\u00a0drawing conclusions on the basis of a narrow range of data while ignoring the totality of the historical sources.<\/p>\n

In this way, some of them have concluded that Tesla was an\u00a0atheist<\/a>, given that some of his cosmological and anthropological reflections contain explicitly materialistic views. These researchers, however, did not pose the corresponding comparative question: how is it that, in other articles and statements, Tesla affirmatively mentions \u201cthe Lord,\u201d \u201cthe Creator,\u201d \u201cGod-given powers,\u201d \u201cGod\u2019s great system of worlds\u201d\u2026?<\/p>\n

Others went to the opposite extreme and, on the basis of Tesla\u2019s interest in Far Eastern thought (and especially in some concepts similar to the ether), claimed that he was closest to\u00a0Hinduism<\/a>\/Buddhism<\/a>\u00a0in his religious beliefs. In doing so, they overlooked the fact that he identified himself as a Christian, and that he characterized Christianity as a religion above all the world\u2019s religions, which, in his own view, were mostly the result of \u201cabstract reasoning,\u201d in contrast to Christianity, which he described as \u201can unmistakably the result of practical experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, a third group made the mistake of attempting to portray him as an example of an Orthodox Christian [some went so far as to depict him even as a saint], on the basis of his Christian background, his strongly affirmative attitude toward Christianity, his self-identification as a Christian, and certain aspects of his life ethic. They, however, overlooked the fact that during his American period he also expressed various heterodox views, arising under different influences, which is why Tesla\u2014although undoubtedly a Christian\u2014cannot serve as an example of the confession of the Christian faith.<\/p>\n

The truth, therefore, lies somewhere between these simplified and reductionist portrayals.<\/p>\n

In addition to all of the above, there is one highly significant aspect of Nikola Tesla\u2019s religiosity that has not yet been fully clarified, and which concerns a religious experience shaped under the direct influence of Orthodox Christianity. It is related to his relationship with\u00a0Saint Nicholas<\/a>, the saint who holds a particularly important place among Orthodox Serbs. This relationship was first pointed out by the American researcher and collector of Tesla\u2019s writings, Leland Anderson, in his article entitled \u201cNikola Tesla\u2019s Patron Saint.\u201d Since the publication of his text, several very important documents on this subject have come to light and we will examine this topic here in general terms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nikola Tesla, the son of a Serbian Orthodox priest, was born in Smiljan, a place within the Military Frontier (an autonomous region of the Austrian Empire), on the night between July 9 and 10, 1856, on the eve of the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul [at that time, the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars was 12 days]. Due to his poor state of health, he was baptized soon after birth, receiving the baptismal name Nikolaj, thereby making his name day associated with the feast of Saint Nicholas. Unlike Orthodox Russians and Greeks, among Serbs the tradition of celebrating one\u2019s name day is not as widespread [the family patron-saint celebration, or\u00a0krsna slava<\/em>, is the predominant religious custom among Serbs]. Tesla, however, remained throughout his life particularly attached to his name day, to such an extent that some Western researchers believed that St. Nicholas Day was his\u00a0krsna slava<\/em>, whereas it was actually\u00a0St. George<\/a>\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

\"St.<\/a>
\nSt. Nicholas<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first trace of his attachment to St. Nicholas can be found at a time when he was already a famous inventor in the United States and when his sisters regularly congratulated him by letter on his name day\u2014the feast of Saint Nicholas. Their husbands and children [more precisely, Nikoladin Kosanovic, a priest and the husband of Tesla\u2019s sister Marica, and their son Ljubisa] did the same in their letters. Could this, perhaps, have been merely a customary practice within the narrow circle of his relatives? Hardly, since in a later period of his life Tesla received similar greetings for St. Nicholas Day from his accountant, George Scherff, as well as from members of the Serbian diaspora in the United States (specifically, Trivun Lazic, the accountant of the Serbian Orthodox Federation of Srbobran). They apparently knew that this feast meant something to him.<\/p>\n

The two most important documents discovered so far on this subject are dated December 18 and 19, 1904. At that time, Tesla was desperately seeking money from J. P. Morgan in order to continue developing his project for the wireless transmission of electrical energy. Writing to Morgan on the eve of St. Nicholas Day in 1904, Tesla begins the letter with the following words: \u201cDear Mr. Morgan, today is my patron saint who has always stood by me.\u201d The very next day, the inventor writes another letter (in response to Morgan\u2019s negative written reply), in which he states: \u201cYour letter reached me just on the day of my patron saint\u2014the greatest of all\u2014St. Nikola. There was a silent agreement between St. Nikola and myself that we would stick to each other. He did well for a time, but during the last three years he has forgotten me\u2014as you have\u201d. From these two letters, it is quite clear that Tesla held Saint Nicholas in a special regard, felt his support, and maintained a deeply personal relationship with him.<\/p>\n

An equally important historical document on this subject comes from the final period of Tesla\u2019s life, during which, forgotten by many, he mentally returned in solitude to the spiritual shelter of Orthodox Christianity (albeit indirectly, through Serbian epic poems). In November 1940, the wealthy Serbian-American Mihailo Ducic sent him financial assistance. The ingenious inventor thanked him in a telegram, stating, among other things: \u201cSaint Nicholas and you are my best friends.\u201d Here too, there is undoubtedly a particular kind of spiritual affection that Nikola Tesla felt toward the saint whose name he bore.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how the content of the aforementioned letters is interpreted, one thing is certain\u2014it was something quite special in the relationship Nikola Tesla had with Saint Nicholas. Whether this was connected solely with the direct influence of Orthodox Christianity in which he was raised, or whether it was a reflection of some specific event, cannot be determined until the complete archive of letters held by the Nikola Tesla Museum has been examined. Therefore, it is the task of future researchers of Nikola Tesla\u2019s life and work, in cooperation with the curators of this Museum, to thoroughly study the vast body of Tesla\u2019s correspondence and find every trace relating to this subject. Only then will there be a chance to discover what kind of \u201csilent agreement\u201d Nikola Tesla had with Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, and why he regarded him as his \u201cbest friend.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

\n

Rev. Dr. Oliver Subotic<\/a>
\nThe original Serbian version of this article was published in Politika on St. Nicholas Day in 2023.<\/p>\n

8\/10\/2026<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/orthochristian.com\/179457.html<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The religiosity of Nikola Tesla, ingenious Serbian-American inventor, is a highly complex subject that requires research based on historical facts and entails both a thorough knowledge of Tesla\u2019s views throughout his life and their contextual examination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opste"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9844,"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9014\/revisions\/9844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eparhija.cubesdev.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}