His Eminence, Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and the Littoral, served the Holy Liturgy on the feast day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, the enlighteners of the Slavs, in the Cetinje monastery, with the concelebration of the clergy and clergy of the archbishopric vicarage of Cetinje.

After reading the evangelical verse, archpriest Dušan Bigović addressed the congregation with a sermon.

"Glory be to God and to those holy people who determined this and other annual celebrations in honor of the Holy Brothers, the equal apostles Methodius and Cyril, teachers of the Slavs," said father Dušan and added that their missionary work is difficult to understand, and so it is with the work of those whom God choose for his collaborators. Father Dušan also said that we know a lot about the Holy Brothers, but never enough, and that by origin and education they could have ruled, but they chose to serve.

"Only in solitude and silence can a person find what is most valuable for himself, only in solitude and silence can a person meet God, but also himself", he said and emphasized that St. Cyril and Methodius made the Slavs with the national they express their belief with the help of the clergy, the national language and national customs.

He reminded that it is impossible to see all their great works, but when a person, even if he is from a completely different culture, just looks at Cyril's letter, he remains amazed. "Every man is amazed when he hears a word read or sung in that language, even though he did not understand the meaning of each word, that language of the Holy Brothers stirs in man the finest and deepest religious feelings", he said, stressing that it is our duty to preserve their great and holy work and to initiate in ourselves the apostolic qualities that we received through Holy Baptism

After the Holy Service of God, Metropolitan Ioannikije congratulated the holiday, saying that today we celebrate the Holy People of God who became apostles among the Slavs. "We celebrate them as those who founded us in culture and spirituality, because together with faith they gave us the letter, and together with the Christian faith we started to create culture," he said and added that then, in the cultural sense, everyone the Slavic peoples were one and every book could be read by all peoples, and that is our common root, and to this day all Slavic languages are, in a deeper view, one language.

"When we study our culture, we simultaneously study the history and culture of all Slavic peoples, and it is simply impossible to study only our culture without getting to know the culture of other Slavic peoples, because if we were to look at what is only ours, we would not gain a complete understanding image of what is common and close to us", said the Bishop, emphasizing that so much time has passed, and we have remained on the path of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, which is also the path of Saint Sava, Saint Basil of Ostrog, Saint Peter of Cetinje and our close and distant fathers and ancestors.

"The more time passes, the more we understand the sacrifice, the feat and the great work of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius", the Metropolitan emphasized and added that the cult of memory and mention of the Holy Brothers is stronger among the Bulgarian and Russian brothers, and also among in recent times, it has renewed us more, but we are still indebted to our educators and teachers. The Bishop also mentioned that the Prizren Theological Seminary is glorifying its glory today, and the more we pay tribute to the Holy Brothers, the more we will be ennobled, spiritualized and strengthened in our roots and strengthened, because these are gospel roots.

"The Lord ordained that they should be the first educators and teachers and that they should bring us to Christ, and we should not forget that," he said and added that they were their disciples, and after them Saint Sava, Saint Simeon, Saint Archbishop Danilo and many others to our days, followed their path and we celebrate them, but we should never forget those who came first.

Tijana Lekić

photo: Nikola Joksimović