In the Church of St. Luke in the Old Town of Kotor today liturgically celebrated the Transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas of Miriklia.
Archpriest Mijajlo Backović preached.
"The Lord God creates man as the crown of his creation. He creates him in his own image and gives him personality. It gives personality and uniqueness to every person in this world. From that day until today, every man is a personality. That is why we are baptized, receive communion and go to the next world with a name, not a surname, tribe, nation or social, political or any other status that graced us during this life.
We answer with our name, with our name we appear before the face of God, because our name represents us, our personality as an individual, of course in union with Christ.
There have been many people throughout history, brothers and sisters and dear children, who, by doing good, shined and were a light that shows the way to those who are in darkness, but unfortunately there were also many people throughout history who spread darkness, ruled darkness and this darkness enveloped the world in that grayness in which we also live today, where there is no more color, where there is no more light that would be brought in and that would bring some shade, some note of eternity to this world, in that grayness appear holy great men, rules of faith , the image of meekness and as the Troparion says to St. Nicholas, whom we still celebrate today, "the one who gained great wealth through his poverty and humility."
Why are Saint Nicholas celebrated by so many people in the world? Among the Serbian people, it is one of the greatest glories and most people think that St. Nicholas is a Serb, and most people see him that way. After Saint Sava, they turn to him the most as their archbishop before the Lord.
Saint Nicholas shone in the darkness of his time. The light that was lit in the darkness of that time was witnessed at the ecumenical councils and in the life and bishop's life and actions of our Holy Father Nicholas. Always light and always truth. Our holy father Nicholas is one of those archpriests, and we could say that he is probably unique because of this, because during his earthly life he emphasized his unshakable faith and that there is no compromise with the truth.
God has sent every man and us priests to serve the truth, and we who serve God, and He is the only true truth, we must guard that truth and when the moment comes to testify to it, we must not lie.
We must not hide the truth, we must witness it. Then we will show whose we are, whose way we are going and who we are following. And let's follow Christ, who illuminated the way for us in this world through his beacons, and the most beautiful, the most wonderful among them is our Father Nikolaj the Miracle Worker, whose transfer of relics we celebrate today.
That's why, dear brothers and sisters, especially you Kotorans who have a temple that rises above this beautiful, wonderful, ancient city, not by chance, when you look from all sides you will see the dome and the cross of the temple of Saint Nicholas testifying, admonishing, but also blessing our sailors who come and go from here to this city.
You who live in the city under the auspices of this great archbishop and beacon of faith, you must especially here among this people and in this grayness, not only of the city stone, but also in the grayness of the world in which we live, to always bear witness to the truth and to be the guardians of that truth. .
May the Lord and our Holy Father Nicholas grant that we never give in and that when the moment of testing our faith comes, that we always tell the truth, that we stand behind the truth if need be for the truth and that we suffer, because we know that if we stand behind the truth, even for if we suffer her, if we go up to the cross with her, we know that we will also be resurrected with her.
May the Lord bless and protect you all, happy glory and may the Lord rest in peace all those who gave us this glory and thereby told us that we must not forget our past and our ancestors, because without the past, without ancestors and our ancestors, not only blood relatives, but priests who served in this holy temple, all the way to our Father Momo, all those priests, priests are the way for us, younger priests, how we should go, how we should guard that truth and which way we should go.
May the Lord bless our ancestors, both spiritual and physical, may they receive into the Kingdom of Heaven that they may pray for us and that we, thanks to the sight of them, may see further and more into the future.
May the Lord bless you, Christ is risen," said Fr. Mijalo.

Below is the Gospel that was read at today's Holy Liturgy:

Jn. 65 (XX, 19-31).
And when in the evening of that first day of the week, and while the doors were closed, where his disciples were gathered because of fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle and said to them: Peace be with you! And having said this, he showed them his hands and ribs. Then the disciples were happy to see the Lord. And Jesus said to them again: Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. And having said this, he blew and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit! Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; and which you keep, they are kept. And Thomas, called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. And the other disciples said to him: We have seen the Lord. And he said to them: Unless I see in his hands the wounds of the nails, and put my finger into the wounds of the nails, and put my hand into his ribs, I will not believe. And after eight days his disciples were inside again and Thomas with them. Jesus came when the doors were closed, and stood in the middle and said: Peace be with you! Then said Tommy: Stretch your finger yonder and see my hands; and reach out your hand and put it in my ribs, and do not be unfaithful but faithful. And Thomas answered and said to him: My Lord and my God! Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who did not see but believed. And many other signs did Jesus in front of his disciples, which are not written in this book. And these are written so that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you have life in his name.

Photo – Andrea Ševaljević