User:GeorgeBoreas/sandbox

Cross versus slogan
The cross with the fire-steels and the interpretation of the fire-steels as letters has well documented medieval origin. However, the popular belief that the phrase "Only Unity Saves the Serbs" is of ancient (medieval) origin is highly questionable. In particular, it is highly unlikely that an internationally respected Christian reformer such as St. Sava would coin the phrase, seeing that it is flagrantly heretical and even blasphemous against the fundamental Christian teaching that only God saves. There are no historical records of the phrase prior to perhaps late 19th or early 20th century, maybe even much later. Judging by the authoritarian spirit of the slogan it is likely to have been originated during this time, when authoritarian ideologies like fascism and communism were on the rise. Indeed, the slogan has been widely utilized by post-communist authoritarian regime associated with Slobodan Milosevic as a propaganda tool, with the implication that all those who are not in line with the government's party line are undermining the nation. Linking this slogan with Christian religion makes it all the more powerful because those who transgress it are not only traitors within the atheistic totalitarian framework, but also sinners against Christian Orthodox God. The great irony here is that the slogan is in clear conflict with 1st and 2nd of the Ten Commandments.