In the village of Mikulići above Bar, on the feast day of Venerable Sergius Radonjeski, the monastery dedicated to this great saint of the Church of God celebrated the temple glory today.

The holy archbishopric liturgy was served by His Eminence, Exarch of the Holy Throne of Peć, Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Mr. Joanikije with the clergy, clergy and faithful people.

Before the start of the Holy Liturgy, the Metropolitan ordained the previous novice of this holy family, Larisa, to the rank of rasa and camel woman, giving her the monastic name Dorothea. After the communion of the faithful, the Church of Saint Sergius was visited by a festive litany, and then Metropolitan Ioannikije blessed the festive gifts.

After the intercessory prayer, the Metropolitan addressed the faithful people with an archpastoral sermon.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God." All Christians want to fulfill this word of the Lord, to purify their hearts in order to unite with the Lord, to come close to Him and for Him to illuminate them with His eternal light. And to open the spiritual sight, to see the secrets and the Face of God and to be filled with the truth, justice, love and mercy of God. Of course, it is not easy to reach that level and that ideal, the hardest thing is to work on yourself. The most difficult thing is to subdue yourself. This has been witnessed by many, who conquered other countries and other peoples, but did not conquer themselves, but remained slaves to the most ordinary passions.

Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ offers us a more difficult, but certainly much higher path than the wisdom of this world offers us. It is the path of salvation that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life, which already here those who follow Christ become participants and sharers. Our venerable and God-bearing fathers, whom we celebrate together today, Saint Athanasius of Aton and Saint Sergius of Radonezh, walked that arduous path. Saint Athanasius is the most famous saint who shone with the light of God on Mount Athos, the founder of the great Lavra. And Saint Sergius of Radonezh is the most famous reverend of all of Russia. There is a gap of about 400 years between them, but we see from their lives that they have traveled the same path, the arduous narrow path that leads to the Heavenly Kingdom. They both avoided that broad road that leads to destruction. We see how they struggled with their passions and how, in order to cleanse themselves of passion, sinful darkness and the darkness of this world, they tried to get as close to God as possible. With God's help and the effect of God's grace, which corresponded to their efforts, they managed to climb that ladder of perfection through humility.

From the life of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, we have many incidents that are described in his life. There are stories about when a man came to look for the abbot of the Radonje family, who became famous in Russia, and he found a simple monk. When the man asked: where is the abbot, the monk replied: we will see him now. That monk did not show anything great from the outside, but appeared before that man as one of the ordinary monks and followers. The man was watching when the abbot would appear, thinking that he would show himself as a man in a high position, in a nice suit and other marks of honor.

When they showed the famous abbot to the impatient guest, he stared in disbelief for a long time and could not accept it. But when he heard his words, his heart was reborn and he rejected his previous thoughts and later became a monk and fellow member of the Radonje family. His life will certainly be remembered for the multiple appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Holy Comforters of God and the Apostles and the apparitions of Angels to St. Sergius of Radonezh. And when a monk asked Saint Sergius for a blessing, he saw a light shining from his hand that overshadowed him as he blessed him. His soul was filled with God's peace from that blessing. His spiritual sight was opened and he saw how the Holy Angels were serving the Venerable Sergius at the Holy Services. This is the reward for those who decided to leave this world. But if they really leave him and confess and join the kingdom of heaven and Christ the living God", said Metropolitan Ioannikije.

He reminded that these are the promises of God that are fulfilled on those who love Him: What the eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard, and what has not entered the heart of man, God has prepared for those who love Him. As he said, we don't see that very easily in our lives, but we see it in the lives of the Saints.

"However, God is so merciful and so abundant in his love, that in every generation, he elevates and sanctifies individuals to be an example and a light to their contemporaries." Very often we do not understand such people while they are with us, but as time goes by we understand more and more their role and how much they meant in our lives. Another important thing can be seen in the life of the Saint. It is known how Saint Sergius blessed Saint Demetrius of Don, who was going to war for liberation from the Tatar yoke, and how God gave him victory over the Tatars through the prayer and blessings of Saint Sergius. Only from that time, when the Principality of Moscow became spiritually stronger and when it received Saint Sergius and his disciples, great prayer leaders of the Russian people, but also prayer leaders for the whole world, and as spirituality spread and washed over like a blessing wave, since then Russia finally, after long internecine disputes, it unites and moves forward and becomes a great and powerful state," added the Metropolitan.

"And to draw a lesson: The people can only unite around big things and big ideas, around great personalities, around the holy place, but not around parties and politicians - that's quite difficult." It can be about those, who will not work in the decisive moment more for their own interests than for the people's interests, but for those who will put the people's interests before their temporary and rotten government. Everything that belongs to this life is sanctified by prayer and faith. This is how this Holy Family was formed here, with the blessing of Saint Sergius of Radonje. His grace is not only with his blessed relics, but reaches every point in the universe, only where there is one pious soul who prays to him and he will be of help, as he has said many times", concluded the Archbishop of Cetinje, blessing all present and thanking the host and the celebrants.

On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the consecration of this shrine, the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Coast, Mr. Ioannikije thanked the contributors and everyone who helped build the Monastery of St. Sergius of Radonezh.

Ljubica Vukićević

Photo: Željko Drašković