On the occasion of the commemoration of the attempted physical attack on the Baptistery on Miholjska Prevlaca five years ago, a liturgy was held at the Baptistery on Tuesday, April 2. In this way, the clergy, together with the faithful people, prayerfully marked five years since that magnificent night.

The Holy Liturgy was presided over by archangel Pavle (Pajić), and concelebrated by: archpriest Miajlo Backović, priest Dušan Mihajlović and hierodeacon Mihajlo, with the prayerful presence of the abbot of this holy family, Archimandrite Benedict (Jovanović) and brothers, and with the participation of the faithful.

The liturgy was attended by: President of the Municipality of Tivat Željko Komnenović, President of the City Assembly Miljan Marković, Advisor to the President of the State Dejan Vukšić, Vice President of the Municipality of Tivat Jovan Brinić, representatives of the organizations: Brotherhood of the Serbian Orthodox Youth "Sveti Pantelejmon", Michael's Choir and Matica Boke.

Archpriest Miajlo Backović, secretary of the Bishop of Budimlja-Nikšići G. Methodija, and the then parish priest of Upper Grbalje, who himself was arrested for the national liturgies, which were used to defend the Church and shrines in Montenegro.

He stated that oblivion is imposed on us as a category of life, and memory is put in the background, and that, he believes, is only for us of all peoples in the world, probably because we remember the longest.

"Forgetting to impose on memory, that is the time we live in and what is imposed on us." There is no evil time, there is a time that God created, and people in that time can be evil or good. People make weather good or bad. This day in which we find ourselves today is a good day, a good time, no matter how it looks, because we came out of the time that bad people made, created for 80 years. "We have entered a time when we are freeing ourselves, tearing down walls, following our Lord Who, from his birth until his resurrection, tore down walls between people, tore down the opinions and taboos of that time," said Fr. Miajlo, adding that today we live in a time that is very, very difficult, not only for us personally, but for the entire Orthodox nation, which is suffering. We are living in a time which, he believes, is not the time we thought it would be after the liturgy and the victory on August 30.

"We idealized the world we live in and the victory we won. There is no ideal time in this world, except for the moment when we conquer fear as man's greatest enemy. Among you, I see most of the people who came here on the night of April 1-2, five years ago. There were about 115 of us, and 120 on the other side, conditionally speaking, those who were sent by those fools who considered themselves neoliberals, democrats, people who considered themselves capitalists and looked at this world that way. They wanted to stuff everything into their pockets, but they already stuffed everything, they just failed the faithful people and the Church of God".

"Out of their arrogance, they came to attack 11 and a half square meters of pontoon and concrete, as they saw it, but for us, those 11 and a half square meters will not be just iron, concrete, and stone neither then, nor today, nor in the future." For us, this is a holy place, and it is the first attack on the holy place, they physically came to surround it, knock it down and destroy it. If we had not defended it then, we would not have what we have today, we would not be the same people, the same nation. Maybe some of us would physically survive in that slavery, maybe we would exist, but we would not be, for sure, the same people. They would be people who were taught to run away, to betray, to lie and to be afraid, they would not be people who guarded, defended and defeated the evil that attacked the holy places. And you, brothers and sisters, and dear children, it is today. Thanks to that moment, never forget that, thanks to that moment around 5 o'clock in the morning, thanks to that moment, we have what we have today," said priest Backović.

He stated that it is a great joy that the president and vice-presidents of the municipality, the advisor to the president of the state, directors of companies from Tivat are present here today with the people. The most important thing, according to Father Miajlo, is that they are the defenders of the holy isthmus by their presence here.

"It is the greatest rank that a man can have. All the years of service I had until then and after that night, can only be summed up in that one night. It's far from the fact that we fought and won until the end, but that night will always remain a night that marked all of us who guarded and preserved these 11 and a half square meters of the Prevlača Shrine," Archpriest Miajlo pointed out.

Recalling the words of an outgoing minister from the previous government that prayer will not save the baptistery, he actually expressed what they were all thinking.

"Nevertheless, in the end we saw that prayer really did save Krstionioca and Montenegro." Prayer and nothing else, not political wisdom, not political programs, not parties, but prayer. Prayer led us and brought us to this moment, the moment of victory. I see those wonderful faces among you today and I remember that day and that night. You know what is the most memorable and will always remain in my memory? Whenever I meet one of you, especially on this day, in this place, it is that even that evening, as well as today, I did not see fear in your eyes, but only determination to defend this sanctuary. It is a sign of victory, because where there is fear, there is no love, where there is fear, the heart is empty. Maybe the pockets are full, but the heart and soul are empty. We saw that with those whom we won, I won't say, because we didn't rally against someone, but for something. We gathered to defend the holy place, not to fight against any politician, politics or ideology", said Father Miajlo, according to whose words, this is exactly what brought victory.

"Because if we had come out with a program that divides people, that divides brothers, that divides those of us standing here, we would not have won because we would have been surrounded by walls of political, party programs, which would not have allowed us to see our brother through the wall their own, but they would look at the color of his party card. We did not allow it and we will never allow it. We are brothers, and only in Christ are we one, and only in Christ are we strong, and only in Christ do we win. Therefore, love one another, let's keep the unity we had that night, let's keep the unity from lithium. Authority, power and influence will pass away just as everything passes quickly, but image, truth and what we carry in our souls will never pass away. Therefore, keep in you the sacredness of that night, the sacredness of this day, keep it also through that sacredness, let it be a filter through which we look at each other. That filter is called love, and if we look through it, we will always see our brother in another person," said Fr. Miajlo.

He said that the Prevlača shrine should remind all those who are in power, especially in this city, as well as those in the state, not to forget the sacrifice and willingness of the people to defend the shrines.

"The people who went in processions, over 150 thousand people in Montenegro, every Thursday and Sunday, did not disappear. Only five years have passed since the attack on the Baptistery and only four since the victory in the elections. That nation is you, that nation is us, and that nation just keeps silent and watches, but that nation will know how to persecute, if again lies and fear are imposed on this nation and this sanctuary. There is no such politician, statesman, who will be the fear and trembling of our people after August 30 and the victory litia. This is the biggest benefit of our victory, because we drove out the deep-seated fear of communists from our hearts on August 30, tore down the Berlin Wall, it fell here, and our struggle moved from the streets of Montenegro to every home and, believe me, it brought fear into their hearts, because there is no love in their hearts."

"May the Lord grant that that wonderful night, 5 years ago, on April 1st and 2nd, always reminds us of who we are, what we are, whose we are and how we got here where we are." Someone for the post of the president of the municipality, someone for the post of vice president, someone for the post of the president of the state, someone for the post of the prime minister. If they were lucky, all of them, with their political team, would come here today and pay homage to this shrine, because if it wasn't for that night and wonderful liturgies, none of them would be where they are now".

"Not that he wouldn't be, but no one would ever know about him, and we know that very well." Therefore, we remind our politicians, the leaders of this country to know the pain, suffering and suffering you, brothers and sisters, who have laid down your heads for this freedom, have gone through. No one is allowed to spit on your victims. No one can spit on your suffering. To the suffering of all those people, who took the icon and their children out of the house, because they had nothing more sacred, took it out into the street and went out to meet their Lord, triumphantly singing the most beautiful song that graced the streets of Montenegro: We do not give holy things!", said Father Miajlo Backović, concluding at the end of his address:

"Let that song warm our hearts and be a warning, a finger raised high in the sky to those who are in power today and to those whom we deposed together with you." The government is fickle, today it is, tomorrow it is not. Such is all the power of this world, such is the influence of every man, but this is eternal. This stone resurrected and suffered the Venetians, the Austro-Hungarians, the French, the Austrians, the Germans, and the communists, and "democrats" and "neoliberals" will survive. All possible social structures will survive this stone, which will pass like this wave and just wash over our coast. This stone will survive, but what matters is what remains. The name is important, and all of you who are standing here entered the history of that night and your names are written in this sanctuary and in the Kingdom of Heaven. May the Lord bless you all, may this day be for health and salvation for all of us as a great holiday of victory and resurrection of the saints in Montenegro. We don't give away the Holy Places!".

Source: Eparhija.me