Four years ago, on this day, October 30, 2020, on the eve of the feast of Saint Peter of Cetinje, at 8:20 a.m., in the Clinical Center of Montenegro, after receiving the Holy Sacrament of Communion, the Most Reverend Archbishop of Cetinje, Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, rested in the Lord and the Exarch of the Holy Throne of Peć, Mr. Amfilohije (Radović).

He was buried on November 1 in the crypt of the Cathedral of Christ's Resurrection in Podgorica. According to his wish, soil from his native Morača was poured into the tomb, and the coffin was sprinkled with soil from Kosovo and Metohija - Gazimestan and Prizren - and from Jasenovac.

From Friday, October 30, when his mortal remains were sent away with a lot of emotion by medical workers from the Clinical Center of Montenegro, until Sunday, November 1, tens of thousands of the faithful said goodbye in a prayer procession to their spiritual father, who had been on the throne of Saint Peter of Cetinje. The faithful, with mixed feelings - sadness for the physical departure and joy for the new prayer leader and representative before the throne of the Most High - approached the bier of the blessed Metropolitan in the Cetinje Monastery and in the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Podgorica in prayerful silence, taking the last blessing and offering prayers for their beloved bishop.

The eternally faithful people saw off their grandfather on his way to life with great respect in a three-day procession around his bier, and the coffin with the remains along the entire road from Cetinje to Podgorica was welcomed on their knees, as it was only recently, in 1996. welcomed the relics of Saint Basil of Ostrog during his visit to Herzegovina and Nikšić.

With his speech on the day of the introduction to the throne of the Cetinje metropolitans, on December 30, 1990, in the Cetinje monastery, Metropolitan Amfilohije presented everything that will be his mission for the next thirty years, and he is worthy of his calling and vocation.

"Here, even in these days of ours, at this time when, according to the poet, and my predecessor, the crazy wind wanted to extinguish the holy lamp again, the Cetinje Metropolitanate continued to be, even though perhaps in the most difficult conditions in its history, the guardian and bearer those imperishable lights and holy things... What every people and every country needs is for eternal light to shine, for love to reign, for God's truth to shine on human minds and hearts, for fraternal wounds to heal through forgiveness and mutual reconciliation. This is especially necessary for my Montenegrin brothers, because nowhere has so much evil been unleashed... There is also a lot of hidden hatred, from such and such fratricide born and spilled fraternal blood - upside-down wounds, pregnant with new hatreds, divisions and inactions...

I am not saying all this for the sake of revenge, because the revenge is mine, says the Lord, but - for sanctification for the sake of all of us, through reconciliation and mutual forgiveness. Revenge means multiplying evil, and I call for brotherly forgiveness and brotherly reconciliation, by multiplying good and brotherly love. I call to it those who hear me and those who do not hear me, and I will do it until my last breath. It's high time for a brother to kiss his brother's wounds!

My predecessor, the great poet, Bishop Rada, pouring out his soul on the forehead of his holy uncle Peter I, uttered his last words: Holy Trinity and Mother of God, I entrust Montenegro to You! To the Holy Trinity, to our God, to the three-sun light of the Triune God of love, I entrust and take under the auspices of every Montenegrin and every member of our tribe, no matter in which part of the Serbian lands he lived, and every man born on earth! With a prayer, that the light of the Holy Trinity shines on every person who is born and comes into the world; that eternal Love eradicates hatred from human hearts, that God's peace dwells in people and reigns in all worlds, forever and ever. Amen!”

Just as in his first sermon from the throne of the Cetinje metropolitans, on December 30, 1990, as well as in his last public address on October 9, 2020 from the Clinical Center, the Metropolitan called for love, brotherly love and love of God and reminded of the desecration of the Lovcen sanctuary , as well as the curse left by Saint Peter the Second Lovcen Secret Seer: Cursed be you if you do not bury me in this church that I built here:

"The Metropolitan of Montenegrin and Littoral, carrying his cross, is obliged to remove that curse from Montenegro, to heal ourselves from that spirit of occupation that has prevailed since the time of the occupation of Austria-Hungary, so that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of freedom, the Spirit of Christ's resurrection can reign... That is what the Church of St. Peter on Lovćen was and should remain a testimony of. Glorifying the living God, glorifying Montenegro and this people here who returned to God and the Church of God after eighty years of wandering through the fields of hunger and impiety, the fields of fratricide and blasphemy, it is time to return to God and through God to return to each other, and returning To God and to each other, we return, God willing, to those sanctuaries that our ancestors incorporated into us and into our historical being. In that name, God's blessing to everyone, for many and many more mild summers!"

Saying goodbye at the funeral of his friend Metropolitan Amfilohije, academician Matija Bećković said that Metropolitan Amfilohije was persecuted senselessly from the first to the last day and that this is how his life was written: "When he was ordained in Cetinje, I told him if he wanted to be holy , there is no better place or country for such an opportunity and role. They say that God keeps everyone on earth until they do what they were born to do. Metropolitan Amfilohije confirmed this with his life. The Lord called him at the right time, just when he was supposed to. He called him to heaven, where he would be able to do more for his people and his Church, than if he had remained on earth, where he had done everything for which he was born. Reborn Montenegro starts from A. That is why death did not come easier to anyone than him, that is why he is so blissful and peaceful on the scaffold. That is why we weep, and he and Heaven rejoice."

Hieromonk Justin Mrenović, who was by the Metropolitan's hospital bed during the last days of his earthly life, is omniscient about the Metropolitan's righteous death: "The time has come for the Metropolitan to rest from his labors and the Lord decided to say to his servant: You have fought a good war, you have finished the race , you have kept the faith, enter the joy of your master. He calmed down without us knowing when, even though we watched him carefully. There were no sighs, no spasms on his face, even if some of his muscles or nerves moved, not even that mortal slave, nothing under the good God. He just flew away like a bird to the Lord.

GREAT LITIA

Since the great funeral of Metropolitan Amfilohi in Podgorica, when he was laid to rest in the crypt of the Church he built for the Resurrection of Christ, many people dreamed of Litius. First, it was learned about a boy from Zlatica near Podgorica. The legend remains that Saint Sava gave the name Zlatica when he saw a field of wheat: "How to gild this shenica, this goldfish" - the story remembers that the saint said. That boy woke up, and before going to school he told a dream: A big procession is coming, many people, children and priests, flags and icons - everyone sings and goes straight to their house, and the father brought out brandy, the mother brought a cake, to welcome them... Well, an employee of Agro¬kombinat, then a student, then many more. All poets!

In every dream, before every litany, Bishop Amfilohije, with a golden miter, in golden clothes, with a golden scepter. Someone hears the Garland of the Mountain, someone God of Justice, someone Ono, namo. Everyone knows all the songs and everyone sings. When the bells ring, everyone wakes up smiling.

Now on the earth, now on the sky, flows a great and continuous litany of the Orthodox faith and Montenegro.

Dragan Lakićević, Staff of Metropolitan Amfilohiје