On the feast of the Venerable John the Great, on Sunday, November 17, 2024, the Holy Liturgy was celebrated in the Podlastva monastery.

It was presided over by archpriest Stavrophor Nemanja Krivokapić, archpriest vicar of Kotor-Tivat, archpriest Justin (Mrenović), abbot of Podlastva monastery, archpriests Miajlo Backović and Branko Bogojević, priest Lazar Krstić.

Those gathered were addressed by Fr. Miajlo Backović, talking about the suffering of Grbljan, Main, Pobor, Budvan, Paštrović, Krtoljan Bokelje who were innocently killed, without trial or verdict, by the command of the 2nd and 4th partisan battalions of the Boke brigade, on the night between November 24 and 25, 1944. , in the old Bar. The funeral of 80 Grbljans, Mains, Budvans, Pobors, Paštrovićs and Krtoljans took place on May 24, 1992, whose mortal remains were transferred and buried in the memorial ossuary of the Podlastva monastery on May 24, 1992, when the Liturgy of Blessed Memory was celebrated by the Patriarch Serbian Pavle, Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral with 13 other archbishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

All our wonderful, ancient shrines, according to the words of Miajla, were built on the bloody stone of the martyr's confession.

"Very often, in the Gospel, and we personally ask ourselves, in addition to so many commandments and rules of God, what is the most important thing that a person can obey in order to gain the Kingdom of Heaven. They asked Christ that, and He said the two greatest commandments: Love your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and all your strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself. Maybe those two commandments, when they are spoken, sound simple, but both are united by one thing, and that is sacrificial love. It is the greatest measure of human dignity. That sacrificial love, which the Lord testified with his death, his suffering and his life, it always leads, no matter how terrible it is, to the resurrection, to eternal life and to eternal glory".

"All our ancient temples and monasteries, including the one on Prevlaka, and this one here, were built on the remains of the Holy Martyrs, on the graves of those who suffered in the first centuries of Christianity, on their graves, on their remains, temples were built, the glory of God was raised , that's how it was in all ages until today. That sacrificial love, which is the measure of human dignity and existence, was confirmed, unfortunately, also in Bar, when they believed and went like lambs to the slaughter, trusted their brothers, went to save themselves, and in the end, seeing that there was no earthly salvation for them there, their they surrendered their lives as martyrs and confessors to the One for Whom they served the truth," said Backović, adding that the double-headed eagle of Nemanjić and the crown and cross, which they wore on their caps, were not only a symbol of one army and one policy and ideology.

"That eagle of Nemanjić was the eagle of the continuity of those first Christians and those who gave us our name and surname, to us as the Serbian people. Those who served the cross and that double-headed eagle - symbol, served the truth. They didn't hate anyone, they just kept their dignity, their oath and their continuity. Therefore, under that sign and cross, they gave their lives to confirm that truth and that continuity. Eighty years have passed, 80 years of silence, denial, 80 years of discontinuity, but, as God is eternal and imperishable, such moments can happen in human history, where, probably, those who lived after these martyrs, you, their children, grandchildren, who were marked, you thought that that time, perhaps, would never pass and that the time of the end of the world had arrived, because that's how it looked in Boka, in Montenegro and in other Serbian regions at that time".

"But, again, God is always above and above all, so after 80 years here you can freely say that you are a Serb from Gbljana, from Krtolan, from Paštrović, from Main, from Pobor, from Budva, that you are from Bokelj, that you are a Montenegrin, that you are a Serb from Herzegovina and other Serbian regions and that you are the grandson of your grandfather, the great-grandson of your great-grandfather and that you can again say under whose sign and whose cross they suffered. This place here, when it was erected, for the glory and honor of you descendants of these wonderful ancestors, was at that time, still, a sign against which people spoke, even in our time. At the time when you raised this sign of the cross with the four letters of Serbs, brought back and buried your ancestors with dignity, there were not many places where you could testify to the truth in that way without suffering the consequences and suffering for it, but you , brothers Bokelji, you raised this sign of baptism first in Montenegro", stressed Father Miajlo.

With this, the descendants of the victims testified that, according to priest Backović, there was never a discontinuity here.

"The continuity of truth, justice and love of God and the sacrificial love of your ancestors lives in you and that is why they could destroy this monastery and all monasteries, but they could not destroy you and your ancestors in you." As long as there is one Bokelj, and as long as there is one Serb, I cannot tear down the holy place, because the holy place is the man who will rebuild this stone built on this bloody stone on which we stand today. That's why, dear brothers and sisters, it's a great honor to be a Bokelj, it's a great honor to be a Serb, when you have ancestors like these, over whose bones, not bones, but relics and glory we stand today. We wouldn't be us if it weren't for them, and that's why, if we keep that truth silent before the people and before God, we will be responsible for it. Whoever betrayed these people and their blood, betrayed Christ, not them. He betrayed himself and these are the traitors, not the ones they were talking about."

"They said about Christ that he was a lie, that he was a fraud, they said and claimed even after the Resurrection that he was lying, they will say the same for His disciples and for all those martyrs, including our martyrs from Boke. But, unfortunately, their suffering did not end 80 years ago, but continued until today. And how did the sufferings of the Piva, Velička and all those martyrs, sufferers throughout the Serbian lands of those war and post-war years and those of our martyrs on Majevac, Zidana Most, Kamnička Bistrica and all over Slovenia, continue? They were not killed that day, but they continued to be killed and it is the greatest sin and the greatest betrayal and the greatest suffering that the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those wonderful people remained silent, they were afraid to say who they were and what they were and who their ancestors were and what today , thank God, there are those who can say that. That's why we can only say today, after 80 years, that they are no longer suffering, because they have been recognized and confessed by us people, their descendants", preached priest Backović, at the end of his speech, once again praying to God that this measure human dignity, that this measure of sacrificial love that resurrects always burns in truth and love, in the hearts of all of us.

"A man cannot say that he loves God and hates his neighbor, because then there is no continuity of God's love." That's why we forgive, but we don't forget, we remember our ancestors, we also remember those who killed us and we forgive them, even though we may not have, as they would say in today's political vocabulary, the mandate to forgive someone who killed before us, but we try to we find a place for ourselves to forgive [ Sunday, November 17, 2024 5:15 PM ] Svetigora Cetinje: my brothers who were of weaker faith than us. If we judge other people by us, it will not be good. There are few people like you, who still stand here today and do not judge by your courage those who are less brave than you, but accept them with love, because even among the apostles, and all of them were of great faith, only John remained under cross. And Peter, and all those great apostles, full of strength and love who saw the resurrection of the dead, who saw healing and the power of God, fled. Only John, the Mother of Christ and those Myrrh-bearing women remained."

"Why only them?" Because they were children and carried love in their hearts, and where there is love in the heart, there is no fear. Those who, being adults, were full of faith and said that they would never betray Him, that they loved Him, were the first to run away because there was a calculator in their hearts - that maybe, after all, I would keep my head and keep quiet, and the time would come, but it didn't came Each of them had to bear witness to Christ with his life, except for John who bore witness under the cross with love and died a natural death and ascended to heaven, like the Blessed Virgin Mary. Therefore, try to bear witness to this truth and justice with our love, so that we don't have to with our lives. May the Lord bless you all, you wonderful descendants of these great ancestors of ours from all Serbian lands and Boka, from where they started, one by way of Slovenia, the other by Italy, and neither of them arrived at the destination they had in mind, but at the which the Lord has prepared for them, and that destination is Golgotha, on the Holy Cross, but that is why today we as a people are resurrected on their cross", concluded archpriest Miajlo Backović.