Nikola Tesla. Photo: Britannica 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’s views throughout his life and their contextual examination. Unfortunately, many researchers who have studied his personality have succumbed to the temptation of reductionism, drawing conclusions on the basis of a narrow range of data while ignoring the totality of the historical sources.
In this way, some of them have concluded that Tesla was an atheist, 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 “the Lord,” “the Creator,” “God-given powers,” “God’s great system of worlds”…?
Others went to the opposite extreme and, on the basis of Tesla’s interest in Far Eastern thought (and especially in some concepts similar to the ether), claimed that he was closest to Hinduism/Buddhism in 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’s religions, which, in his own view, were mostly the result of “abstract reasoning,” in contrast to Christianity, which he described as “an unmistakably the result of practical experiment.”
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—although undoubtedly a Christian—cannot serve as an example of the confession of the Christian faith.
The truth, therefore, lies somewhere between these simplified and reductionist portrayals.
In addition to all of the above, there is one highly significant aspect of Nikola Tesla’s 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 Saint Nicholas, 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’s writings, Leland Anderson, in his article entitled “Nikola Tesla’s Patron Saint.” 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.
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’s name day is not as widespread [the family patron-saint celebration, or krsna slava, 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 krsna slava, whereas it was actually St. George’s Day.
St. Nicholas 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—the feast of Saint Nicholas. Their husbands and children [more precisely, Nikoladin Kosanovic, a priest and the husband of Tesla’s 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.
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: “Dear Mr. Morgan, today is my patron saint who has always stood by me.” The very next day, the inventor writes another letter (in response to Morgan’s negative written reply), in which he states: “Your letter reached me just on the day of my patron saint—the greatest of all—St. 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—as you have”. 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.
An equally important historical document on this subject comes from the final period of Tesla’s 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: “Saint Nicholas and you are my best friends.” Here too, there is undoubtedly a particular kind of spiritual affection that Nikola Tesla felt toward the saint whose name he bore.
Regardless of how the content of the aforementioned letters is interpreted, one thing is certain—it 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’s life and work, in cooperation with the curators of this Museum, to thoroughly study the vast body of Tesla’s correspondence and find every trace relating to this subject. Only then will there be a chance to discover what kind of “silent agreement” Nikola Tesla had with Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, and why he regarded him as his “best friend.”
