In the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord in Prebilova today, the Holy Martyrs of Prebilova and All-Herzegovina are celebrated in prayer and it marks 83 years since one of the most brutal crimes committed against the Serbian people.

The holy bishop's liturgy in the Church of Christ's Resurrection in Prebilovci, which will be served by several bishops of our Church, begins at 9 a.m.

His Eminence Archbishop of Mostar-Trebinje and Metropolitan of Zahum-Herzegovina and Ston-Limorski Mr. Dimitrije last night, August 5, at the opening of the exhibition in Prebilovci, which was attended by the Most Reverend Archbishop of Cetinje and the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Mr. Joanikije, said that the Herzegovinian martyrs are hope, pledge and credit before the living God to the Serbian people if they know how to spiritually cash in and benefit from their innocent sacrifice filled with love for their family and the Orthodox faith.

The bishop from Zahum-Herzegovina pointed out that the world is filled with injustices, lies and crimes, but that despite everything, it is God's world.

"Somehow you have to survive it, and that is only possible in Christ the Lord, because he gives people eternal life in this world. He tells us that this world is not the end of life, but that eternal life awaits us. All will be resurrected. Some will be resurrected for judgment, and some to eternal life, and I wish that to the Serbian people and to all of us", said Bishop Dimitrije in Prebilovci, where he attended the opening of the permanent exhibition "Prebilovci 1941", organized by the Museum of Genocide Victims from Belgrade.

The Bishop emphasized that one should always identify with benefactors, faithful servants of God and that one should not stain the heart with hatred and the hands with crimes.

"And then we will be able to come before Christ with bright faces. If we are truly faithful, then God and Christ will bless us and this life of ours and our relationships with each other and our love, lives, families, children. God's blessing will come to everyone if we are true and faithful in the love of God and faithful to the path of the God-man", Bishop Dimitrije said.

Bojan Arbutina, acting director of the Museum of Genocide Victims, said that it is difficult to talk about the Prebilovci in Prebilovci, and especially in the school where, in these days of 1941, unimaginable war crimes were committed by Croatian and Muslim Ustashas.

"In this school, on August 4, 5 and 6, Prebilov residents, children and their teacher Stana Arnaut were tortured by her former students whom she taught and learned, and to whom she imparted knowledge in previous years," Arbutina reminded.

He pointed out that the great Serbian historian and academician Milorad Ekmečić was born a few hundred meters from the school before the Second World War, who in his book described the fate of the Serbian people in the 20th century.

Arbutina said that history repeated itself too many times in the 20th century, and stated that there is no village, city or region where the Serbian people did not suffer.

"And, somehow, we took the year 1918 lightly when we said that nothing like that would happen to us, so the years 1941, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2004 and the pogrom of the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija came to us," added Arbutina .

Arbutina pointed out that the Genocide Victims Museum will continue to spread the truth and memory of all the innocent martyred ancestors in a dignified way.

"That's how we will save them from oblivion", Arbutina added, and thanked the governments and presidents of Republika Srpska and Serbia for the help they give to the Museum and for realizing the importance of preserving memories and that the ancestors of the Serbs were never on the wrong side of history, but fought for freedom and life.

Arbutina expressed the hope that the complex in Prebilovci will become a memorial center where students from Srpska and Serbia, as well as others, will come and learn about the Serbian suffering and the values ​​that follow the Serbian people, namely freedom and the fight for life.

In the House of Culture "Sveti Kralj Milutin" in Prebilovci, on the occasion of the commemoration of the Holy Martyrs of Prebilovci and All-Herzegovina and the 83rd anniversary of one of the most brutal crimes against the Serbian people, a permanent exhibition "Prebilovci 1941" organized by the Museum of Genocide Victims was opened. in this Herzegovinian village, it must never be forgotten, but neither must it be repeated.

For the first time, the Museum of Genocide Victims organizes a permanent exhibition outside the territory of Serbia in order to preserve from oblivion all the innocent victims of Prebilovci and the village which is a symbol of the suffering of Serbs in Herzegovina, but also in the entire Serbian ethnic area.

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The Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Prebilovci was built and consecrated in 2015 in memory of around 4,000 Serbs from Lower Herzegovina who were killed by the Ustashas in World War II, and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) canonized those victims in the same year.

The holiday was established in the calendar on the date when, in 1941, the Ustashas brutally killed more than 850 inhabitants of this village, mostly women and children, and threw them into a pit in Šurmanci near Medjugorje.

This crime was covered up in the former Yugoslavia, and in 1961 the pits into which the Serbs were thrown were covered with concrete. Excavation of 13 pits in Lower Herzegovina began in 1990, and on August 4, 1991, the bones of more than 4,000 Serbs were buried in the memorial ossuary in Prebilovci.

In June 1992, during the "Čagalj" offensive, members of HOS and HVO blew up the memorial ossuary.

After the return of the Serbs to Prebilovci after 2000, the remains of the bones were collected, and after the construction of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, they rest in its crypt.

The temple was modeled on the Church of Christ's Tomb in Jerusalem, which is a symbol of resurrection and life, and from then until today, Prebilovci is a place that warns and defies all those who think that a nation can be exterminated from its age-old hearth.

Source, photo: Srna and Top portal