Mitar Tarabich

Serbian Prophet

by Tim Hobbs

from WildManTim Website

recovered through WayBackMachine Website

A little background:

Mitar Tarabich (1829-1899), an illiterate peasant from a small Serbian village called Kremna, had experienced occasional prophetic visions. Being a religious person and having a local Serbian orthodox priest for a godfather, he told this priest about his episodes of "seeing into the future". The priest, Zaharije Zaharich (1836-1918), wrote down everything in a small notebook, which was damaged by fire in 1943 when his family house was destroyed by the occupying Bulgarian army. This text is now in the possession of the family of Zaharich's great-grandson, Mr. Dejan Malenkovich.

Tarabich's best-known prophecy has to do with a series of political events in 19^th century Serbia. Without getting into details, I'll tell you that he predicted a sequence of events (spanning a course of decades) that eventually led to the removal of the ruling Obrenovich family from the Serbian royal throne. This prophecy came to be known in the region as the "black prophecy", and it did play out as predicted. It culminated in 1903 with the assassination of Alexandar Obrenovich and his wife Draga, who were killed by their own guards.

I will now give you a series of quotations from Tarabich, starting with events that followed the assassination of the Serbian King and Queen:

[NOTE: I am currently editing a book about Tarabich, which was written by a friend of mine; the quotes come from that text. You should note that Tarabich's words are actually translated from Serbo-Croatian, and that the translation is not necessarily in its final form (ie. I may slightly change some of the phrasing before the book is finally published). You may notice that some of the phrasing in the quotes is awkward and rough... this is an accurate reflection of his rural accent. Tarabich's words come from conversations with his godfather Zaharich - so you should be aware that any references to "you" or "your descendants" relate to Zaharich specifically. When Tarabich says "us", he means the Serbs; but he does not distinguish between Croats, Serbs, Slovenians, etc... to him, anyone who spoke his language was a Serb. Perhaps it is also important to note that we don't really know how much of Tarabich's prophecy was influenced by his own opinion; what I mean is that some of the adjectives used to describe the people and events he saw could be a reflection of his "peasant-like" interpretation of those events (example: "intelligent", "brave", "honest", "horrible", "calamity", etc.).]

OK, here we go:
 

PREDICTIONS & EVENTS UP TO THE END OF WORLD WAR I

"After the assassination of the King and Queen [Alexandar and Draga Obrenovich] the Karageorgevichs will come to power. Then we will again start a war with the Turks. Four Christian states will attack Turkey, and our border will be on the river Lim. Then we shall finally conquer and avenge Kosovo..."

Historical facts:
1903 - Alexandar and Draga Obrenovich are assassinated by their own guards, and Petar Karageorgevich becomes the ruler of Serbia.
1912 - War erupts between Serbia and Turkey. With the help of Greece, Bulgaria, and Montenegro (three other Christian states), Serbia soon wins, moving its borders up to the river Lim.
 

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"Soon after this war another war will start... The Big War in which a lot of blood will be spilled. If that blood were a river, a huge stone of 300 kg would roll in its current easily. A mighty army from across a river, three times bigger than ours, will attack us... They will destroy everything on their way. They penetrate deep into our land... Hard times will come upon us... Our army will almost give up, but than suddenly an intelligent man on a black stallion will take the command and cry out: "Forward to victory, my people! Forward brother Serbs!!" Our army springs to life. Its fighting spirit wakes up and the enemy is chased away across the river... Then an even greater army will come from the north and run over us. Our land will be devastated. We will be dying of hunger and sickness in great numbers. For three years Serbia will live in total darkness. During that time our wounded army will be abroad. They will stay in a place surrounded by the sea, and will be fed and nursed by friends from over the seas. Then, their wounds healed, they will come back home in ships. They will free Serbia and all of the territories where our brothers live."

Historical facts:
1914 - The Austro-Hungarian Empire starts a war against Serbia, after a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip kills Austrian Prince Ferdinand in Sarajevo. This regional war soon develops into the First World War. In the beginning, Austria conquers the northern and central part of Serbia easily, but when General Alexandar Mishich ("the man on a black stallion") takes command, the inspired Serbian army pushes the Austrians back across the river Drina. Soon after, the Germans attack from the north and the Serb army is forced to retreat through Albania to the Greek island of Kerkira. There they regroup, and after a full recovery sail for Salonika, where they form a new front with other allied armies. After a lot of heavy fighting, Serbia is finally free and reunited with the other southern Slav nations (Croats and Slovenians), whose territories had been part of the Astro-Hungarian empire for a long time. During the German occupation, a very large number of people in Serbia died of hunger and sickness.

 

---

"I will tell you one more thing father, the invading army will come to Kremna exactly on your baptismal day, stay for 3 years, and go away on the same day they came - St.Luke`s day. But you will not see the end of the war. In the last year of the world's big carnage you will die. Both these wars, the one with the Turks and the big one when the whole world will be at war, will take away two of your grand-children... one before, and the other after your death."

Historical facts:
The Germans entered Kremna on St.Luke's day, and the village was liberated on the exactly the same date 3 years later. Zaharije Zaharic died in 1918, the last year of the first "great carnage", which also took the lives of his two beloved grand-children: one before, and one after his death.
 

 

PREDICTIONS & EVENTS UP TO THE END OF WORLD WAR II

"Listen to me, my good father, after the first Big War Austria will disappear, and Serbia will be as big as a real kingdom. We will live together with our northern brothers.

For some years we shall live in peace, love and prosperity. But it will not last for long. A venomous hatred will come into our people... Blood is spilled... horrible! I do not know when nor why, but it is probably because of this hatred."

Historical facts:
1918 - The Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolves, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia is formed. The new country is riddled with constant economic, social and political problems caused mostly by conflicts between various nationalistic political parties.

1928 - During a particularly fiery question period, a Parliament Member of the Serbian Radical party pulls out a hand gun and kills 3 deputies from Croatia (3 others are also wounded). Soon after this spilling of blood, a military dictatorship is established.
 

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"Then the one who sits on the throne of our kingdom is killed. He will leave behind a widow and orphans. A relative of his will replace him on the throne, and he will try to rule justly and take good care of his cousin's children. But people do not love him, and he is accused of being an unjust ruler. He is dethroned and imprisoned by his army. His life will be saved by England's King and Queen. Then on the empty throne, our killed King's boy sits. But he will rule only for a few days. He will be taken by his soldiers over the seas because our kingdom is again invaded by a foreign, evil army. All of Europe is under the rule of the crooked anti-cross."

Historical facts:
1934 - While visiting Marseilles (in France), King Alexandar Karageorgevich is killed by a Croatian nationalist. Prince Pavle Karageorgevich, his cousin, becomes the provisional ruler because the King's son Petar is still a minor. Because of his growing unpopularity, Pavle is ousted by his army and is exiled to England. Young Prince Petar becomes the King, but soon flees Yugoslavia before the invading Nazi hordes.

1941 - Yugoslavia is occupied by the Germans. The ominous shadow of the Nazi swastika covers most of Europe.
 

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"In the beginning Russia will not wage war, but when attacked by the evil army, they will fight back. There is a red Czar on the Russian throne.

Here, men with stars on their foreheads will appear. They will rule Uzice and this region for exactly 73 days, and then fleeing their enemies, they will go over the river Drina. These are times of hunger and great evil... Serbs will fight and butcher each other. The invading enemy looks upon Serbian evil hatred and laughs at us. A man with blue eyes on a white horse appears among our people. A star shines on his forehead. The evil enemy will hunt him all over our country, in the woods, over rivers and upon the sea, but in vain. The man will gather a mighty army and free occupied Belgrade. He will chase away the enemy from our country, and our kingdom will be bigger than ever. Russia will make an alliance with other great kingdoms over the seas, and they will burn down the crooked anti-cross and free all the enslaved people of Europe."

[NOTE: Zaharich did not always write down Tarabich's predictions at the time they occurred. Sometimes, he would write about conversations that had taken place several weeks before... this may explain some of the repetition and out-of-sequence quotations that appear in his writing.

For example, in the preceding paragraph it would seem that the first two sentences are better suited to be in the middle of the passage (after the introduction of the "man with blue eyes"), because it is his army that takes and holds Uzice for 73 days.]

Historical facts:
1941 - After being attacked by Nazi Germany, Russia enters the war. They are led by their Communist "red Czar", Stalin.

In Yugoslavia the communist party led by Josip Broz Tito, the man with blue eyes on a white horse, starts the resistance against the Germans and Italians, as well as against the Serbian and Croat national extremists who are butchering each other. The symbol of Tito`s partisans is a red star, which they proudly wear on their hats.

The first territory liberated by the partisans is the region around the city of Uzice. They hold it against a superior force for exactly 73 days... then the partisans are forced to flee over the river Drina to Bosnia. The guerilla war was fought all over Yugoslavia for 4 long years... in the woods, over rivers and upon the sea.

1945 - Yugoslavia is liberated. Tito enters Belgrade on a white horse and makes the Royal Palace his life-long residence. Communist Yugoslavia is formed, and gains more territory from the neighbouring state of Italy. The Allies free Europe. The Nazi swastika is crushed, and the the Second World War is over.

[This is Zarahic now, speaking directly:]

"Mitar told me that the man with blue eyes and the star upon his forehead, would break the long-lasting love with our Christian Orthodox brothers, the Russians. He would not be grateful to them for the fact that he was sitting on our throne because they had put him there in the first place. A great hatred would erupt between us and the Russians. Blood would be spilled among our people. These wounds would be quickly healed and we would again be friends with the Russians, but never sincerely, only formally, pretending for the sake of others not to understand how we cheat and lie to each other."

Historical facts:
1948 - Tito does not want Yugoslavia to become one of Russia's "puppet states". He abruptly severs all political ties with Stalin, the man who formed him politically in the early 1920`s and sent him back to Yugoslavia to organize an effective communist party. Tito purges his party of all members who oppose this decision, spilling a lot of blood in the process.

1954 - The year following Stalin's death, political and economic relations with Russia are re-established, but "never sincerely"...
 

 

PREDICTIONS & EVENTS FOLLOWING THE END OF WORLD WAR II

"After the Great War peace will reign all over the world. Many new states will appear... black, white, red and yellow. An international court is formed, which does not allow countries to fight each other. This Court will be above all kings. Where a war starts, the Court will judge justly, trying to transform hatred and butchery into love and peace. The lucky ones who live to see these times will be more than happy.

After a while some great kings, as well as some small ones, will start to fake their respect for the Court, while doing whatever they please... Many small wars will begin because of this... thousands upon thousands will die, but there will be no big wars.

There will be a few wars around the kingdom of Israel, but sooner or later the peace will come even there.

In these wars brothers fight brothers; then they make peace and kiss each other, but their hatred remains...

All these small wars are initiated by the great kingdoms, because of their wickedness and malice; those who fight and butcher each other do it because of their blind stupidity."

Historical facts:
No comment.
 

---

 

"In our country, the time of peace and prosperity will last for a long time. Many a generation will be born to live and die in peace, knowing about war only through wise books, words and different strange apparitions. [These "different strange apparitions" might be TVs and radios.]

Our kingdom will be strong and well-loved and respected by everybody. People will eat only "white" bread, and whole wheat just when they want to. Everybody will ride around in carts with no oxen. People will travel in the sky, looking down upon our land as if they had climbed on the doubled Tara mountain.

Down in Uzice, and all around these mountains, many factories will be built, and people will leave the land and come to work in them. For a long time they will love it, but then they will remember their land and go back to it.

Serbia will prosper best while the man with blue eyes on a white horse governs, one who will come to Serbia bringing some kind of new religion. He will ascend our throne, and will be strong and healthy, living a long life close to one hundred years. He will very much like to hunt, and one time while hunting he will accidentally fall from his white horse and thus lose his leg. From this wound he will die, not because of his great age."

Historical facts:
Very simply and accurately, this vision of Tarabich's describes life in post-WWII Yugoslavia up to Tito's death in 1981. Tito "came" to Serbia from Croatia, and had really brought with him a "new religion": Communism. He did not have the hunting accident described by Tarabich (although he was a passionate horseman and hunter), but nevertheless the real cause of his death was the amputation of his leg, caused by his aggravated diabetes. After his death a "commission", called the Collective Presidency, ruled the country until its collapse in 1991.

[I think the following passage could refer to the current crisis in the Balkans:]

"After him our land will be governed by some kind of commission, but it will never be as it was.

Even though the people in our kingdom will forget about misery and hunger and will live in great wealth, brother will start to hate and think evil of brother.

On our borders and over them a new nation will appear. They will grow like grass after a deluge, they will be good and honest, and they will answer our hatred with reason. They will take care of each other like brothers. And we, because of our madness we shall think that we know everything and that we can do anything, and we shall baptize them with some new fate of ours, but all that will be in vain. Because they will believe only in themselves and in nobody else. Big trouble will become of it, because this nation will be brave.

Many summers this trouble will last, and nobody will be able to stop it, because that nation will grow like grass. One who will be born many summers after you [Note: he is speaking to the priest Zaharic here], will be honest and intelligent, he will deal with them in peace.

We shall live in peace - they there, us here and there."

[When Tarabich says "they there, us here and there", he might well be referring to the current situation in the region of Krajina (in Croatia). If you take the "them" to be the Croatians, then he's saying that Croatians will live only in Croatia, while Serbs will live both in Serbia and Croatia (Krajina).]

"You see my god-father, when the world starts to live in peace and abundance after the Second Big War, all of that will be just a bitter illusion, because many will forget God, and they will worship only their own human intelligence...

And do you know my god-father, what is human intelligence compared to God's will and knowledge? Not even a single drop in the ocean.

Men will build a box and within will be some kind of gadget with images, but they will not be able to communicate with me already dead, even though this image-gadget will be as close to this other world as hairs on the human scalp are close to each other."

[The following is a note from the author of the book am I editing:

'Friday September 9, 1994, the day when I had been translating these last sentences from Serbian into English (puzzled greatly by their meaning), I watched the CTV Montreal late night news on television, as usual.

On Fridays, CTV usually has a little segment at the end of the news where they report about weird, funny, or simply unusual happenings during the past week. That night's bizarre report was entitled "Haunted television sets".

Two families in U.S. had reported that when they had developed their family photos taken in their living-room with TV sets in the background, it had been plainly visible that there was a human face on the TV screen, even though the set was turned off.']

"With the help of this image-gadget man will be able to see everything that is happening all over the world.

People will drill wells deep in the ground and dig out gold [another name for crude oil is "black gold"], which will give them light, speed and power, and the earth will shed tears of sorrow, because there will be much more gold and light on its surface than in its interior. The earth will suffer because of these open wounds.

Instead of working in the fields, people will dig everywhere, in right and wrong places, but the real power will be all around them, not being able to tell them: "Come on, take me, don't you see that I am here, all around you." Only after many a summer, people will remember this real power, and then they will realize how stupid it was to dig all those holes. This power will also be present in people but it will take a long time before they discover it and use it.

Thus man will live for a long, long time, not being able to know himself. There will be many learned men who will think through their books that they know and can do everything. They will be the great obstacle for this realization [self-knowledge], but once men get this knowledge, then people will see what kind of delusion it was when they listened to their learned men. When that happens, people will be so sorry that they didn't discover it before, because this knowledge is so simple.

People will do many stupid things, thinking that they know and can do everything, not knowing anything.

Wise men will appear in the Orient and their wisdom will cross all seas and frontiers, but people will not trust this wisdom for long time, and this real truth they will proclaim for a lie.

Their souls will not be possessed by the Devil, but by something much worse. They will believe that their illusion is the real truth, although there will be no truth in their heads.

Here at home it will be the same as all over the world. People will start to hate clean air and this divine freshness and all divine beauty and will hide in rankness. Nobody will force them to do that, but they will do it of their own free will.

Here in Kremna many a field will become a meadow, and many a home will be abandoned, but then those who have left will come back to heal themselves by breathing fresh air.

In Serbia it will not be possible to distinguish a man from a woman. Everybody will dress the same. This calamity will come to us from abroad but it will stay with us the longest. A groom will take a bride, but nobody will know who is who.

People will be lost and more and more senseless day by day. Men will be born not knowing who was their grand-father and great grand-father. People will think that they know everything, but not a thing they will know.

The Serbs will separate from each other, and they will say: "I am not a Serb, I am not a Serb." The unholy one will infiltrate this nation and bed with Serbian sisters, mothers and wives. He will sire such children that among the Serbs, since the beginning of the world, these will be the worst of offspring. Only weaklings will be born, and nobody will be strong enough to give a birth to a real hero."

[This last paragraph might also be a reference to the current situation in the Balkans. If you assume that Tarabich made no distinction between Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, etc., then it is quite possible that by saying "I am not a Serb, I am not a Serb", he means to indicate all those that have distanced themselves from the former Yugoslavia. On the other hand, he might also be referring to a situation that has not happened yet.]

"At one time we shall disappear from this land of ours. We shall go to the north, and then realising our stupid deed we shall return. When we come back, we shall wise up and chase away the unholy one, not to see him, in God's name, ever again.

The whole world will be plagued by a strange disease and nobody will be able to find a cure; everybody will say I know, I know, because I am learned and smart, but nobody will know anything. People will think and think, but they will not be able to find the right cure, which will be with God's help, all around them and in themselves.

Man will travel to other worlds to find lifeless deserts there, and still, God forgive him, he will think that he knows better than God himself. There, except the eternal peace of God, he will see nothing, but he will sense with his heart and soul all of God's beauty and power. People will drive in rigs upon the moon and stars. They will look for life, but life similar to ours they will not find. It will be there, but they will not be able to understand it and see that it is life.

One who goes there, God forgive him, not believing in God as it is proper for an honourable and decent person, when he comes back he will say: "Oh, you people, who mention God's name with doubt, go there where I was, than you will see what is God's mind and power."

The more people will know, the less they will love and care for each other. Hatred will be so great between them that they will care more for their different gadgets than for their relatives.

Man will trust his gadget more than his first neighbour...

Among people of a nation far in the north a little man will appear who will teach men about love and compassion, but there will be many Judas and hypocrites around him so that he will have many ups and downs. Not one of these hypocrites will want to know what is real human grace, but his wise books will remain, and all the words he will say [tape recordings?], and then then people will see how self-deceived they were.

Those who will read and write different books with numbers will think that they know the most. These learned men will let their lives be led by their calculations, and they will do and live exactly how these numbers tell them. Among these learned men there will be good and evil men. The evil ones will do evil deeds. They will poison air and water and spread pestilence over the seas, rivers and earth, and people will start to die suddenly of various ailments. Those good and wise will see that all this effort and hard work is not worth a penny and that it leads to the destruction of the world, and instead of looking for wisdom in numbers, they will start to seek it in meditation.

When they start to meditate more, they will be closer to God's wisdom, but it will be too late, because the evil ones will already ravage the whole earth and men will start to die in great numbers. Then people will run away from cities to the country and look for the mountains with three crosses, and there, inside, they will be able to breathe and drink water. Those who will escape will save themselves and their families, but not for long, because a great famine will appear. There will be plenty of food in towns and villages, but it will be poisoned. Many will eat because of hunger and die immediately. Those who will fast to the end will survive, because the Holy Ghost will save them and they will be close to God.

[I think the "mountains with three crosses" could be referring to nuclear shelters. If you look at the door of one of these shelters, you might see three turn-handles, used for unlocking and opening it... Tarabich might well have interpreted these handles as "three crosses".]

Web Author's Note

I think they are more likely to be associated with the three divisions of the New Religious Order prophesied by St. Francis de Paul, namely Military Knights, Solitary Priests and Most Pious Hospitalers as mentioned in his prophecy.

The gentleman prophesied to begin this order is also said to fight a great war against "all God's enemies".

The greatest and the angriest will strike against the mightiest and the most furious!

When this horrible war starts woe to those armies that fly over skies, better off will be those who fight on ground and water.

People waging this war will have their scientists who will invent different and strange cannon-balls. When they explode, these cannon-balls, instead of killing, will cast a spell over all that lives; people, armies and live stock. This spell will make them sleep, and sleep they will instead of fighting, and after they will come back to their senses.

We [Serbia] will not fight in this war, but others will do battle over our heads. Burning people will fall from the sky over Pozega [a town in Serbia].

Only one country at the end of the world, surrounded by great seas, as big as our Europe, will live in peace, without any troubles... Upon it or over it not a single canon-ball will explode!

[I would say this last paragraph is a reference to Australia.]

Those who will run and hide in the mountains with three crosses will find shelter and will be saved to live after in abundance, happiness and love, because there will be no more wars..."