The Development and Activities of Christ’s Church of Brethren in Zagreb

2.1.1. Theology

In the book Hrvatski bezimprimaturni biblijski prijevodi, Ruben Knežević states about Christ’s Church of Brethren:

Christ’s Church of Brethren emphasized the experience of personal conversion, which implied a person’s encounter with the living God, and as a result, a change in lifestyle and the abandonment of old, bad habits. Baptism would then follow, preceded by a conversation and a certain period of observation. Then the person would be baptized by the brothers from the church leadership. Only adults could be baptized by immersion in water. The baptism would take place on the premises of the church, at Gajeva 9a (in the bathtub provided for it) or on the Sava River (see Fig. 3). Additionally, the imminent arrival of Christ, God’s judgment, and the necessity of conversion were emphasized.

2.2.1. Gabriel and Nada Jonke

Gabrijel Jonke (1921–2002)¹⁴ was born in Skopje by chance, but grew up and was educated in Zagreb. Gabrijel and Nada married in 1949, served the Lord together in building a church, and also managed to raise six children (Danijela, Mihael, Tomislav, Ivana, Lidija, and Mirjana) (Fig. 4). Gabrijel is a graduate economist who graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb. He worked for approximately twenty years as an economist for a company in Zagreb, and then spent two years in Egypt, where he managed finances during the construction of the Aswan Dam. Then he got a job in a company in Strasbourg, France, as an economic commercialist for Eastern Europe. While working in Strasbourg, he lived between Zagreb and Strasbourg, as his wife, Nada, resided in Zagreb with their six children. At that time, he was also active in the leadership of the church at Gajeva 9a. After an extraordinary job he did for that company in Bulgaria, he received an offer to retire early with full salary, and then went to Munich to spread the gospel among the “migrant workers” from Yugoslavia who lived there.

In addition to serving at the CCB in Zagreb, Gabrijel and Nada are actively working to create a community in Munich that brings together believers primarily from the former Yugoslavia. The community initially began as a home group and then expanded to a community of thirty to forty people. This community did not want to define itself by denomination. Initially, they began with regular street evangelism, which was assisted by brother Vlado Majersky, who had come to Munich from Novi Sad to work. They would set up a table with Christian literature on the street and often sing Christian songs and preach there. In their early days, they would go around the neighborhood and, if they saw a surname from their region, they would ring the bell and share the gospel with them. This is how some who came to Germany from the former Yugoslavia first heard the Good News and received salvation there.

Gabriel was an evangelist and preacher, while Nada (1928) had a gift for working with children, as well as a gift of encouragement and prayer. Together, they traveled almost the entire length of Yugoslavia, visiting the believers. After Gabriel’s health deteriorated, Nada continued to live with him in Lokve and remained there after his death until her old age. In her old age, she wrote a daily reading, i.e., a reading of selected biblical quotes for each day of the year, entitled Kompas za svaki dan, published by the Church of Christ – Betania.

3.1.1. Church Meetings

Meetings were held on Sunday mornings and afternoons, as well as on Fridays and Wednesdays. On Wednesdays, the Bible was studied, and on Fridays, a prayer meeting was held. Members generally attended all of these meetings in full (Zorislav Đaković 2018). At that time, it was common not to miss meetings, including those during the week, unless there were justified reasons. On Sundays at 10 a.m., a service was held, which the church referred to as “breaking of bread” or worship (Zorislav Đaković 2018), and it was a gathering of the brethren, i.e., members of the community. The meeting on Sunday afternoon was an evangelistic meeting open to all. Sunday morning worship would begin with a song, followed by one of the brethren standing up to pray. During the prayer, everyone would usually stand up, and then the singing would continue. The singing was usually accompanied by the harmonium,¹⁵ which was first played by Sister Marta Hanzel, then by Hana Gajer, and later by Ana Woskrasenski and Astrid from Rijeka. The singing was led by Nada Jonke, while Hana G. sometimes sang the second part in two-part singing. Everyone participated in the singing, using hymnbooks. At first, these were small booklets with only the words, and later they began to use much larger Baptist hymnbooks called Spiritual Songs, also known as the “black hymnbooks,” which included notes. Then came the so-called Lord’s Supper, which was called “breaking of bread,” and after that, charitable giving or almsgiving. A table with a white tablecloth on which there was bread and wine was placed in the center of the room, and chairs were placed in a circle around the table. Danijel Berković (2018) recalls:

Furthermore, Berković (2018) continues: “It was all mostly in silence, and there was an aspect of great seriousness felt at the Holy Supper, i.e., the ‘breaking of bread.’ Often, people even cried. The emphasis was on suffering: on the cross, the death of Christ. Therefore, the element of resurrection, victory over death, and so on, was largely absent. So, the emphasis at the ‘breaking of bread’ was on suffering and death.”

To begin the Lord’s Supper, which was one of the key elements of the meeting, someone would always share a relevant passage from the Word and pray for the bread and wine. Other brothers would also join in, as Ivana Đaković, Branko’s daughter, comments: “It didn’t go by so quickly, that prayer ‘Thank you, Lord, for suffering for us,’ you know how it goes, but they read from the Psalms and then from the Gospels, repeating that event more. The men participated there to pray and read” (Zorislav Đaković 2018). During the Lord’s Supper, wine was drunk from one glass, one chalice, which was circulated from person to person. The bread on the plate was also distributed among those present, and each one broke off a piece.¹⁶ Then someone would come forward to the pulpit and read a passage from the Word, and a sermon would be preached on that topic. Several brothers could share something if they felt the prompting of the Spirit. Everyone usually carried their own Bible in which they would follow what was being said. Ultimately, it concluded with a song. The meeting lasted approximately an hour and a half in total, followed by the so-called “Sunday school” for the children (Fig. 5). When the adults left the room, the children who were present during the morning worship remained for their Bible teaching, which was most often led by Nada Jonke. Zorislav Đaković (2018) recalls: “We had cut out characters from Bible stories and then glued them onto flannel, onto some kind of surface, and that was very interesting and fun for us children at that time.” Jadranka Fumić Belamarić (2018) also recalls those classes with joy: “It was really great with sister Nada, we taught those songs that I sing to my grandchildren today, so it was something wonderful. She taught us a lot, she really taught us a lot, she really kept us in the faith, they weren’t meetings for the sake of order, but it was deep, filled with the Spirit, it was very beautiful.” Danijel Berković (2018) also comments:

What was characteristic of that Sunday school, I would say, was that it was unique from our traditions in that they were not manuals, but rather they went through the biblical text. Very often, these were texts from the Old Testament, specifically from the Pentateuch, and topics related to the Israelites, the temple, and other relevant subjects were discussed. That was practically one of the first analyses, we theologians would call it “exegesis” today, but when you look back, for that time it was at a fairly high level at which exegetical texts were studied, of course for a child’s approach, but it was “on par” with a good exegesis of a Bible school... It was from twelve to sixteen, seventeen, so, as they say, “young adolescents” were... in those Sunday schools, programs were prepared for the holidays: Christmas and Easter. There were also small dramas, choir singing, there were a lot of activities.

3.1.2. Youth Meetings, Excursions, and Trips

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when a large number of young people had gathered, youth meetings were organized on Thursdays, usually led by Ivan Vacek, known as Johnny, and later joined by Peter MacKenzie. Jadranka Fumić Belamarić (2018) recalls those days:

Then Gajeva was quite popular, especially with the youth. There were many young people, and wonderful youth meetings. There were really a lot of us, and we even traveled to England together with Peter… We went to that “Spree ‘73” together in 1973… where Bill Graham was also there… Gajeva was usually a church with a lot of people. On Sunday, we stood there in the hall because we didn’t have any room. It was a very big church. They were excellent. We had a lot of guests from Germany, the United States, and other countries.

From approximately 1965 to the early 1970s, missionaries from England would organize month-long trips for young people to experience life in their local communities and learn English. The young people were placed with Christian families, mostly in the London area. Zorislav Đaković (2018) recalls:

In the summer of 1973, MacKenzie took a group of young people from Gajeva, joined by several young people from Radićeva, to an international evangelistic youth conference called “Spree ‘73.”¹⁷ It was held at the famous Wembley football stadium in London (Fumić 2018). The conference lasted four days with several Christian concerts and messages, featuring famous names such as Johnny Cash and Cliff Richard, and the main speaker was the famous evangelist and organizer of the event, Billy Graham. The conference was attended by more than 20,000 visitors from twenty-six nations (Plowman 1973).

Furthermore, Jadranka F. Belamarić continues: “We were in Gajeva regularly, every Thursday, it was wonderful, we played the guitar, those who knew how to play like Johnny and Peter, and they sang along” (Fumić 2018). Unfortunately, in the early 70s, Johnny Vacek died suddenly in a car accident, and the work with young people was continued by Peter MacKenzie (1942–2007), who came from Great Britain as a missionary around 1971 to Christ’s Church of Brethren in Gajeva. J. F. Belamarić (2018) recalls from that time:

Around that time, under the influence of missionaries from the West, especially from Germany, Puritanism began to be increasingly emphasized, which was no longer acceptable to the young people. Due to disagreements that arose, MacKenzie left Gajeva and joined the Baptists in Radićeva, where he later became a pastor.¹⁸ After MacKenzie, a part of the youth group, also joined the Baptist Church.

The others, mostly young people, met for a shorter period in a home group. The group grew rapidly, so their living space at the time became too small for gatherings. At one point, the senior of the Evangelical Church, Vladimir L. Deutsch, gave them the use of a space located on Gundulićeva Street. They continued to meet there once a week. By inviting friends and acquaintances, the group grew, eventually reaching a size of forty to fifty young people. The meetings were held without a specific protocol, featuring singing accompanied by guitar, brief teaching, and two or three prayers. The teaching was usually led by Tomislav or Mihael Jonke (Gabriel’s sons), the brothers Branimir and Radica Gajer, and sometimes Danijel Berković. However, this was not classic teaching; rather, the moderators would start a topic with an introductory presentation, which would then be further explained through an open discussion based on the biblical text. This was, as Berković comments, an innovation for the time – thematic teaching, i.e., discussion based on a biblical text on a topic, in contrast to the previous expository teaching (where the starting point was exclusively a specific biblical text, not a given topic) (Berković 2018). Also, a novelty at that time was the way of singing. A lot of singing was done, but no longer from hymnbooks, but mostly so-called “choruses” of one to two verses that were repeated. Newer songs from the English-speaking world were largely translated. As Berković (2018) concludes, it became a “new musical genre.”

After a year or two of meeting in Gundulićeva Street, in the space provided by Senior Deutsch, the group of young people began to feel pressure from the evangelicals to align with their principles, and they left the space, dispersing in various directions thereafter. Around that time, in 1978, Zorislav and Marina Đaković met Mladen Jovanović and began meeting with him in the home group he led.¹⁹ Zorislav Đaković (2018) had met Mladen Jovanović even earlier, while they were having youth meetings in Gajeva Street, and he states:

3.1.3. Excursions and Evangelism

Since evangelism was not allowed on the streets in the 1960s, the CCB in Gajeva used various approaches to reach people. One approach was publishing. Another approach was through organized excursions for evangelism. The excursions were held on Sunday afternoons, at least once a month, in small groups. The surrounding villages were visited, and the believers shared their testimonies with the locals. Usually, they went to the Samobor Mountains, Žumberak, and the surrounding villages, and sometimes the excursionists even slept in a barn. Sometimes people were converted, and those who could came to the community (Berković 2018). Figure 6 shows a group of believers on an evangelistic mission in Duga Resa in 1963. The picture shows believers from the Brethren Church from Zagreb: Gabrijel Jonke, Branko Đaković, Jure Knežević, Ana Woskrasenski, Meri Magerle, etc., and the brothers from Duga Resa with Pastor Steve Mikan.

In the church in Gajeva, great attention was paid to young people, so they regularly took them to Sljeme almost every Saturday. The trips were usually taken by several adults who took all the children from twelve years old and up, as well as young people up to twenty-five or thirty years old. Sometimes up to thirty young people gathered. This was during the 1960s, until a location was found in Lokve in the late 1960s, and from then on, it became a new destination where people went for holidays throughout the year, especially during the summer (Berković 2018).

3.1.4. Camps

As the number of young people in the church grew, and at the instigation of the Jonke family to find a suitable location in nature for joint gatherings of their family and church, a location for holding camps began to be sought. A meadow was soon found in the village of Homer near Lake Lokvar in Gorski Kotar. At that time, holding Christian youth camps was a novelty within evangelical churches, and this was one of the first of its kind in Croatia.

The first youth camp in the so-called “Lokve” was held in 1966, when seven tents were set up in a meadow by the dam. The following year, in 1967, Gabrijel and Nada Jonke leased a nearby piece of land and purchased a hayloft, an old shack. Since then, camps have been organized at that location every summer. The shack was very dilapidated, so their neighbor, Nada Pintarić, from whom they had bought the shack and who had also heard the word of the gospel from them, came to their aid by lending them her kitchen to use. Initially, the men slept in tents, while the girls stayed at Mrs. Pintarić’s (Jonke 2017). Later, the shack was renovated, and there were approximately twenty beds, with about ten for men and ten for women. However, with the addition of tents, this space could accommodate around forty young people. They were mostly young people from the Zagreb church, but some from Rijeka and other cities of the former Yugoslavia would join in (Berković 2018). These youth meetings were mainly led by Gabrijel Jonke. He led Bible studies and organized field trips. His wife, Nada, was also very involved in running the camp, from taking care of meals to spiritually influencing the youth through prayer, leading singing, and sharing the message from God’s Word. These camps were held regularly until the mid-1970s (Zorislav Đaković 2018) and were very popular because they encouraged brotherly love and Christian fellowship. Time was spent in nature and on field trips, the Word of God was studied, and Christian songs were sung around a campfire with a guitar (Fig. 7). Even today, many fondly remember these camps where they first experienced God’s closeness and love, as well as Christian fellowship.

In 1988, the Jonke family purchased another nearby piece of land and a dilapidated house, which was renovated and expanded, completing the project in 1991. The Jonke family spent every holiday in Lokve, and after moving to Munich, they would spend two months there during the summer, and the rest of the time they stayed in Munich. Unfortunately, when the house was just finished being built, in 1992, Gabrijel Jonke fell into a coma. While he was still in Germany, a small tumor was discovered on his cerebellum, which was removed, but his brain atrophied after that, and he spent ten years lying in a coma in his home in Lokve from 1992 to 2002, while his wife Nada took care of him throughout that time until his death (Jonke 2017). After that, the camps continued to be held, and their leadership and organization were taken over by Gabrijel’s son Tomislav Jonke and his associate Zlatko Vidačić (Christ’s Church Betania in Zagreb).

3.1.5. Conferences

Christ’s Church of Brethren in Zagreb was well connected with other Brethren communities in the country and beyond, mostly with Rijeka, Bački Petrovac, and Novi Sad. Once or twice a year, conferences were organized where believers gathered from all over Yugoslavia (Fig. 8). These conferences were mostly attended by local speakers such as: Samuel Rybar (older and younger), Gabrijel Jonke, Branko Đaković, and Mijo Strbad. Samuel Rybar led the community in Bački Petrovac, and Mijo Strbad in Rijeka (Zorislav Đaković 2018). Foreign speakers, such as Bill Grünbaum and Ken Andverta from England, who often came as missionaries, also knew how to speak. There were also some internationally known names like Bakht Singh from India and Roger T. Foster from England.

Bakht Singh (1903–2000). Many fondly remember how Bakht Singh spoke in Gajeva in October 1965 (Fig. 9). On that occasion, the church space was filled. Bakht was a very good and dynamic speaker (Zorislav Đaković 2018), a great evangelist, teacher, and founder of large churches in India. Many called him the Billy Graham of India and Asia. Examining his way of life, it becomes apparent that many of the principles Bakht adhered to were also followed by the fraternal churches in this area.

Bakht was a humble man, and on the day of his last rites, the following account was published: “Traffic came to a standstill as a procession of 300,000 mourners followed the coffin to the cemetery. For whom were they weeping? He was not a wealthy man; he had lived most of his life in a small room measuring 3 x 2.4 square meters and had never owned a bank account… He was a Bible teacher, known to thousands only as ‘brother’” (Hawksley 2009). Bakht was raised in a traditional Indian family, devoted from birth to the guru, the founder of Sikhism. He despised Christianity, but while studying in Canada, he experienced a profound sense of God’s presence at a Christian gathering he happened to attend. He soon began reading the Bible and was converted. After this experience, he decided to dedicate himself completely to God and serve him. Returning to India, he began to pray, fast, and preach. Disowned by his family for converting to Christianity, he slept with the homeless and preached to the poor. Soon, word spread about him, and churches began inviting him to preach.

In the summer of 1937, he traveled to a place called Martinpur. At that time, this place, part of what was then India and now part of Pakistan, was known for its immorality and alcoholism. There, he prayed and preached until one evening, when everyone got up to pray, fell to their knees, and cried all night long, confessing their sins to God. A revival occurred. From there, he chose seventy people with whom he walked to the next destination, where the same thing happened again, and the revival began to spread to other places. Bakht was an excellent Bible scholar and encouraged everyone to buy a Bible and learn it by heart. He always prayed on his knees and encouraged others to do the same. Bakht Singh also used to pray for the sick during his sermons. Often, those present could witness miraculous healings, but because he did not want to attract people to Christ for the wrong reasons, he even prayed that God would stop healing through him.

Through his evangelistic campaigns, Bakht planted 350 churches, while several thousand church communities considered him their spiritual father. Every year, he would hold a conference where all the communities associated with him would gather. The conference lasted approximately nineteen days, and participants would be housed in tents and attend so-called “love feasts,” where they would gather and eat together. Everyone would be fed, and no voluntary contribution was ever asked for, nor were there any charges for these conferences. There was often prayer throughout the night, and the speaker was never announced in advance. Bakht would pray with his associates just before the meeting and ask if anyone had received a message from the Lord. He never wanted to agree in advance who would preach because he believed that this hindered the work of the Spirit. The expository style of preaching was practiced, and everyone was expected to carry their Bibles and follow in them what was being preached. These gatherings often looked like this: rising early in the morning, after sunrise, followed by baptisms (of which there were many) and the laying on of hands on the baptized, then worship, a sermon and finally the “breaking of bread,” followed by a “love feast” (lunch) and an evangelistic meeting in the evening. Bakht held fast to his principles, never reading newspapers or watching television, and encouraged others to do the same. He spent many hours in prayer and studying the Scriptures. After 1946, he began traveling regularly outside India to various countries, where he was invited to speak. That is how he came to Zagreb (Hawksley 2009).

3.2.1. Branko Đaković – Biography

Branko Đaković (Novska, 27 February 1921 – Zagreb, 9 September 2009) was born in Novska, and at the age of eight, he came to Zagreb with his parents. At the age of sixteen, his father Milan died, and he remained to live with his mother Ema at Vlaška 125/I. He graduated from the First Boys’ Gymnasium on Roosevelt Square in 1940 and later graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry in Zagreb. He received his doctorate from the Faculty of Agronomy in Novi Sad²¹ and specialized in soil physics at institutions in Versailles and Bremen.²² He worked at the Soil Science Institute of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry in Zagreb, and later at the Institute for Agricultural Research in Sarajevo. Until his retirement in 1985, he served as a scientific advisor at the Institute of Agroecology of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences in Zagreb. He often traveled on official business to foreign countries with developed water regulation systems, such as France, and was most impressed by how Israel created fertile soil from the desert using an irrigation system, which he wrote about in his scientific papers (Zorislav Đaković 2018). He wrote more than a hundred scientific and professional papers. At the age of twenty-eight, he married Brunhilda Punk (known as Hilda), with whom he had three children: Zorislav (1950), Ivana (1953), and Elizabeta (1955–2022).

During his student days in Zagreb, during the time of the Independent State of Croatia, due to political turmoil and great insecurity, his mother, Ema, sent her son, Branko, temporarily to Slavonia, where she had grown up, to live with her relatives. Ema had already converted by then and tried to connect him with some local believers. There he met a believer, Maženka Kovaž, a Czech woman who had probably heard the gospel from a Baptist. She testified to him about her faith in God, and Branko accepted it. And then she told him:

This preacher was of Czech origin. Branko stayed with him for a short time, but he had already accepted the gospel there. When the danger was no longer there, this preacher instructed him to contact Gabrijel Jonke upon his return to Zagreb. This preacher knew the Jonke family (Gabrijel and his mother Jelena) and directed Branko to them so that they could better introduce him to the truths of the gospel. The Jonke family at that time attended the Baptist Church on Radićeva Street, but they also had their home group. In 1946, Branko was baptized in Mačkovac in the Baptist Church. In that group of baptized people, there were four other converts: Franjo Bulek, Danijel Grujić, Hilda Punk (later Branko’s wife), and Adam.²³ Branko and Hilda were married in 1949 in Zagreb.

Branko Đaković, although an agronomist by profession and a doctor of agronomy who left behind numerous scientific papers and other publications in his field, spent his free time translating and writing Christian literature. He was the editor of Bratski vjesnik (The Brethren Herald) and led Christ’s Church of Brethren in Zagreb. From his conversion until his old age, he tirelessly wrote and worked to ensure that the word of God touched as many human hearts as possible. Branko was a polyglot, fluent in six foreign languages (French, English, German, Italian, Czech, and Russian), and had a good command of Latin and Greek. He used English, French, and German the most, and he loved French the most. He owned a sizable home library of mostly foreign Christian literature, but also lexicons, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. The most significant theological works he left behind are the translation of the New Testament and the entire Bible (Zagreb, 2000), as well as the Bible Dictionary (Zagreb, 1973), the first of this kind in Yugoslav Protestantism (Knežević 2019, 138).

He met his wife, Hilda (1930), at Christian meetings in Zagreb. It is interesting to note that Branko’s wife, Hilda, was also introduced to the faith by her grandmother, Theresia Magerle (1873–1962), née Konrad,²⁴ who in her youth, around the turn of the century during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, experienced conversion in Sarajevo, probably through Baptists who came from Germany (Hilda Đaković 2018). Hilda Punk was born in Sarajevo, completed her religious education, and was baptized in the Catholic Church by her Catholic father. However, since her aunt married an evangelical, Hussite, she, her mother, and grandmother also joined the Evangelical Church at the same time. Her grandmother, Theresia, also read to her selected texts from the Scriptures and Spurgeon’s daily devotions in German every day (Hilda Đaković 2018). Hilda states that her grandmother was one of the first converts in Sarajevo. At that time, there was no community in Sarajevo to which they could go, so they had a home group that met regularly in her home, and which was also visited by some missionaries.²⁵ Hilda remembers that when she was still little, they would regularly meet on Sundays at her grandmother’s house and pray, sing, and play the harmonium, and her two uncles, Miroslav (Fritz) Magerle and Alojz (Lojzi) Magerle,²⁶ and Aunt Viki on the violin would join in. Baptists from Germany were visiting Sarajevo at that time, with whom Theresija was in contact, and she was also connected to Baptists in Zagreb through Danijela Vacek (known as Danko), who occasionally visited them. He began coming after the war to visit relatives, but also to spread the gospel.²⁷ At the age of sixteen, Hilda came to visit her aunt Meri Magerle (née Vacek) in Zagreb in the summer of 1946,²⁸ and in conversation and prayer with Danijel Vacek, she experienced true conversion, although she had already heard the word of salvation from her grandmother (Hilda Đaković 2018).

3.2.2. Publications

As already mentioned, publishing within the played a crucial role in the evangelism and discipleship of believers. For the needs of evangelism, tracts and some small pocket-sized booklets were most often used. In 1971, Bratski vjesnik (The Brethren Herald) published an offer of their literature by categories of applicability: 1. Reflection on the Word of God; 2. Books for Instruction and Edification; 3. Reflection on the Word of God for Every Day; 4. Stories; 5. Evangelistic Brochures.

Some of the evangelistic materials were: Zašto to Bog dopušta? (Why Does God Allow It?) by A. E. Wilder Smith, Sin čovječji (Son of Man) by R. Wolf, and the titles: Pavle Smoljoni (Paul Smoljoni) and Život za život (Life for Life). There was also the Expanded New Testament (from Romans to Revelation). Of other literature for the instruction and edification of believers and the study of the Word, William MacDonald (1917–2007), Charles Henry Macintosh (1820–1896), and Watchman Nee (1903–1972) were the most widely represented. From MacDonald, titles such as: Što uči Biblija (What the Bible Teaches), Pouke za kršćanski život (Lessons for Christian Living), Postoji povratak Bogu (There’s a Way Back to God), Božja milost (Grace of God), etc., were published, and from W. Nee, a Chinese missionary, titles such as: Pravi kršćanski život (The Normal Christian Life), Kršćanska služba (What Shall This Man Do?), Promijenjeni u Njegov lik (Changed into His Likeness), and literature for daily devotion: Stol u pustinji (A Table in the Wilderness). Also in great demand were C. H. Macintosh’s books, Razmatranja o pet knjiga Mojsijevih (Notes on the Pentateuch), which have been reprinted several times. Furthermore, at that time, stories with a Christian message by the Slovak writer Kristina Roy, such as Put u sunčanu zemlju (Sunshine Country), Sluga (The Servant), Sretni ljudi (The Happy People), etc., were in great demand.

The editions were published by the publishing house Bratski vjesnik (The Brethren Herald). The same name was used for a magazine, i.e., a church bulletin, which was published several times a year. In later years, the GBV increasingly took over the publishing. Almost all editions were edited and translated by Branko Đaković, who did not sign his name on many editions. Even the translation of the entire Bible does not mention his name as the translator, but only signs it at the end of the introduction, which aligns with the characteristics of the Brethren movement: simplicity and modesty. Branko Đaković did not want to impose himself; instead, he did his translation work out of love for God, his Word, and a desire for as many people as possible to experience salvation through the written word.

3.2.2.1. The Brethren Herald

Branko Đaković was the editor-in-chief of Bratski vjesnik, a magazine that he edited for some time together with Marija Berković. The oldest issue found is from 1966 (Fig. 11), and J. Majerski is listed as the editor-in-chief (as well as at the beginning of 1967). Between 1967 and 1975, Marija Berković served as editor-in-chief, and from 1975 to 1993, Dr. B. Đaković. From 1966 to 1991, the publisher is listed as “Kristova Crkva Braće u SFRJ,” and from 1992, it is listed only as “Bratski vjesnik, Zagreb, HR.” The year of publication in the 1966 issue is V, and in the 1967 issue it is VI, which suggests that Bratski vjesnik began publishing in 1962. The 1993 issue is the last copy found, so it can be assumed that Bratski vjesnik was published in 1962–1993 (copies from 1966–1993 are currently in the Library of the Biblical Institute, Amruševa 11, Zagreb).

Bratski vjesnik newsletter was of simple production because it was entirely produced and reproduced in the church premises. It was produced in a folded A4 or A5 format (15 x 21 cm) and stapled in the middle. It had a simple design, typed on a machine, printed in black and white, with only text and monotone colors used, for example, on the cover in 1969 and on several occasions in later years. It mostly contained about twenty to thirty pages, and some later issues had about sixty pages. The texts addressed biblical themes, with the purpose of edifying believers. It was published bimonthly and quarterly.²⁹

Alongside Bratski vjesnik, there were also supplements and publications with specific topics (in the same format and design as Bratski vjesnik), such as Stol u pustiji and Dnevno svjetlo by Watchman Nee, which were later published as separate editions. Some of the libraries that own Bratski vjesnik are: Research Library of Zadar, which owns issues from 1966 and 1967, and University Library Split, which owns issues from 1966–1968, and NSK, 1966–1968.

3.2.2.2. Bible Dictionary

The Bible Dictionary was created out of a desire to approach and deepen the understanding of the biblical text. It is significant to note that it is “the first work of this kind in the Yugoslav Protestantism of that time” (Knežević 2019, 139), given that there were no similar works. The dictionary is large in format, simple in design, without an introduction or imprint (except for the title, author’s name, and year of publication), and contains an explanation of certain biblical terms in alphabetical order (from A to Z) on 514 pages. The Brethren Herald from 1973 promoted its sale, stating that it contained 514 pages and 400,000 words (Fig. 12 and 13). The exact circulation is unknown, but it can be assumed that it was not large, because there are not many copies today. For example, the library of the Biblical Institute has one copy, and the library of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek has two. According to Danijel Lukić, the current head of the Brethren community in Rijeka, who worked closely with Branko Đaković on publishing, a second edition of the dictionary was subsequently printed by the French publishing house Bibles et Publications Chrétiennes from Valence. There were probably not many copies of that edition, because neither he nor anyone from the Đaković family owns that copy, nor has any been found so far. Danijel Lukić believes that the dictionary was modeled after the Concise Bible Dictionary (1993). This dictionary, used for comparison and owned by Branko Đaković, is a 1993 reprint, has a hardcover, and contains 877 pages. The author and editor are not listed. Danijel Lukić probably owns an older copy of the same dictionary, which does not state the year, but does list the author H. L. Heijkoop (Blijhamsterstraat 58, Winschoten, Netherlands, published by Bible Truth Publishers, Illinois, previously printed by George Morrish of London). Hendrik L. Heijkoop (1906–1995) (Cross s.a.) is the author of the booklet Pisma za mlade ljude (Beginning with Christ: A Series of Letters to Young Christians), also published by GBV, Dillenburg, with a translation by Branko Đaković, as well as some other editions.

3.2.2.3. Bible Translations

The Bible translations of Branko Đaković were written about by Knežević in his 2019 book, which dedicates an entire chapter to his translations. In the introduction, Knežević writes: “Although Branko Đaković’s translations originated within the theology and biblical studies of Christ’s Church of Brethren, they eventually became known among other domestic churches that followed the Reformation. After Šulek’s translation of the New Testament and Psalms, these were the first domestic standard translations of Protestant provenance” (Knežević 2019, 137).

Of Branko Đaković’s Bible translations, the first to be published was the Expanded New Testament (1969) (Fig. 14), followed by the Gospel of John (1989 and 1993) (Fig. 15), and then the New Testament (1989) (Fig. 16) and the New Testament and Psalms (1993 and 1994) (Fig. 17).³⁰ Finally, the entire Bible was published: The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (2000, 2006, and 2008) (Fig. 18). In none of these editions, although he translated them all, is B. Đaković listed as the translator (except for The Expanded New Testament), but rather as the editor-in-chief.

In 1969, the Amplified New Testament was published, from the Epistle to the Romans to the Revelation. These copies are almost non-existent today; there are two copies in the library of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, and there is a record of it in the National University Library (NSK: II-50.173) and the Cambridge University Library (BSS.252.1.F69.2).³¹ The English so-called expanded New Testament is listed as the original: “The Amplified New Testament.” Branko Djaković is listed as the translator of the Croatian edition.³² He is also listed as the publisher (Dr Branko Djaković, Zagreb, Nodilova 2), and it is stated that the edition was reproduced in the premises of the Brethren Church in Zagreb, Gajeva 9a.

The Gospel of John was published as a supplement to the Bratski vjesnik, and Branko Djaković is listed as the editor-in-chief. The publisher (Christ’s Church of Brethren, “Bratski vjesnik,” Gajeva 9a) and the printing house (Grafička galanterija Časni, Severin na Kupi) are the same for both the Gospel of John and the New Testament (Zagreb edition), which were printed in the same year, 1989. For the editions of the New Testament with Psalms (1993 and 1994), the publisher is listed as the Udruženje za širenje vjerske literature (Association for the Spread of Religious Literature) (Žrtava fašizma 2)³³ and Dillenburg, GBV.³⁴ The same publisher is also used for all subsequent editions of the entire Holy Scripture.

The first edition of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments from 2000 was printed in 5,000 copies, and according to Danijela Lukić (GBV representative in Croatia), this edition was quickly distributed. Most of this edition, approximately 3,000 copies, was distributed in Croatia, with the remainder in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia (Vojvodina), and a portion in Germany and other European countries. The second edition from 2006 (in a larger format) was also distributed. The exact circulation is not known, but it is known that GBV prints a minimum of 3,000 copies. The third edition, printed in 2008, was exclusive to the needs of Germany and other Western European countries, and “only about two hundred copies of that reached Croatia.” ³⁵ Today, GBV offers only Vrtarić’s translation of the Croatian translation, while Đaković’s is no longer in print. Draško Đenović, head of the Church of Christ in Belgrade and president of the Ikonos association,³⁶ a partner organization of TWR (Trans World Radio, formerly Radio Monte Carlo), known in evangelical circles as a religious analyst, comments on the applicability of Branko Đaković’s Bible translation in Serbia and Bosnia: