I cannot understand the ideological attacks on the citizens of Montenegro who are admirers and celebrants of the First Serbian Uprising as anything other than an attack on Montenegrin history, on the modern, modern identity of Montenegro and its most important, fundamental points. Such attacks can be motivated either by ignorance or lack of goodwill, but whatever their motive, the fruit of such attacks is the deepening of division and hatred among Montenegrins. In other words, nothing good will come to Montenegro from belittling the First Serbian Uprising, Karađorđe, and therefore all those Montenegrins who saw and still see reasons for their own celebration in Karađorđe's uprising.
This is so because the first Montenegrin, a celebrant and celebrant of the uprising Meeting in Serbia, was personally Saint Peter of Cetinje. On the occasion of Karađorđe's feat, this Saint will write the "Song to Karađorđe", whose emotion is an understatement to say that it shows enthusiasm. I personally see it as an identification of Saint Peter with the famous knight in Serbia. That is why he begins his song with a call for every part of the country to celebrate its hero, and this call is followed by the emphasis that he (Saint Peter of Cetinje) will praise with this song - the knight of his region. Because even though the aforementioned uprising began in Serbia, the Saint further sings in the song about how the final outcome and goal of the uprising is - future unification with Montenegro, while the leader of the Uprising is depicted as his contemporary and namesake. Saint Peter notes that Karađorđe’s rebels carry the Nemanjić banner with the “double-headed” eagle. And so (we need to carefully study the context of the time, and not burden our ancestors with today’s fog and hatred) such an army, with such a banner, goes to unite with Montenegro. And Saint Peter is happy about it, and he writes a poem about it!
This is even more important if we know that Saint Peter’s poetic opus, in terms of its scope, is not as large as that of Njegoš or King Nikola. He wrote more epistles than poems, and most often from his pastoral suffering and worries (rarely on any joyful occasion). While in his verses he described victories and chivalry, and not only in battles on the territory of today’s Montenegro (which he personally led), but also in the medieval Battle of Kosovo and the more recent Karađorđe’s uprising. All of this on the same level, as the great events of the national community that he felt was his own. And that this was not just some poetic enthusiasm of his, is also evidenced by the lively correspondence between Saint Peter and Karađorđe, which shows how the two of them put effort into jointly planning military actions against the Ottoman occupation of the Serbian people. In this correspondence, the Saint names his soldiers as “of the same faith and tribe” – both those rebel soldiers in Herzegovina and those in Serbia. And he presents himself, before Karađorđe, as “Your Highness’s most obedient servant and well-wisher of everyone, the Metropolitan of Montenegro…”. Thus speaks the hero from Kruse, to the hero from Orašac. This is how real heroes speak.
The military operations during the First Serbian Uprising were perceived by Saint Peter of Cetinje as motivationally and organically linked to the struggle of the Montenegrins against the Turks, which at that time was still bloody and unconsciously ongoing. That is why, during and on the eve of the uprising, he corresponded not only with Karađorđe, but also wrote to Dositej Obradović and to the abbot of the Dečani Monastery in Metohija... and all in the tone of the general national events, both in the field of warfare and in the field of culture. The way in which Saint Peter names members of the common people may seem unclear and controversial to today's reader, only at first glance. And that is only if his names are measured by today's names. Because the Saint mentions Montenegrins and Serbs, sometimes as members of different, and sometimes as members of the same community. In a letter to Arsenije Gagović, he says "we are Serbs like that"..., while in the aforementioned letter to the abbot of Dečani, he announces: "that we and the Serbs meet"... As far as I understand, the term "Serbian" was not developed at that time, and therefore the name "Serb" is used in various ways. But if we were to understand it as ethnically, culturally or linguistically different from the inhabitants of Montenegro, we would not be able to explain the Saint's enthusiasm for the intention of Karađorđe's army to unite with Montenegro (under the Nemanjić banner). Therefore, the fact that there are terminological distinctions between Serbs and Montenegrins in the dictionary of Saint Peter can be explained by the same terminological difference between Montenegrins and Brđans, between the Montenegrin and Brđan people. A difference that is present not only in the letters of Saint Peter, but also in an act such as the General Code of Montenegro and Brda (better known as the Code of Saint Peter of Cetinje). According to the same territorial, provincial principle, in Saint Peter of Cetinje we can see the difference between Montenegrins and coastal people, or Montenegrins and Herzegovinians (whom he considers in another place as a "single-tribal" people with his own).

Now, someone might say that this enthusiasm of Saint Peter of Cetinje for Karađorđe’s uprising at Sretenje is the product of some of his personal impressions, which should not concern later generations. However, in a letter to Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević, dated January 3, 1841, Njegoš thanks him for the gift (it is a portrait of Karađorđe), and says: “I received your kind letter of October 8th correctly, addressed to Mr. Rad, also a portrait of your immortal father. No gift in this world would be more pleasant to me than the portrait of the knight and father of the only nation of Serbia, whose glorious exploits, even when I was still a suckling, have been written on the tablet of my soul and who will forever remain a mirror of chivalry not only among the smaller Serbian people but also among the greater nations and in world history…..(…)”
So, Njegoš heard about Karađorđe’s exploits from his earliest memory, from the time he sucked his mother’s milk. Therefore, we today have a double obligation to treat the First Serbian Uprising with reverence. First, it was sung by the local Saint, Karađorđe’s contemporary and collaborator; and second, Njegoš remembers it as a family tradition of great chivalry, despite all the undoubted local heroism! All this means that both metropolitans, uncle and nephew, saw Karađorđe as their own.
And there is not much room for assumptions and speculations, because a few years later, in the "Mountain Wreath", the same Njegoš will present Obilić as the central Montenegrin heroic inspiration, and Karađorđe - in the dedication of this work - as a new Obilić.
To Prince Aleksandar, Njegoš writes in 1848, from Cetinje, as follows:
"Mr. Ban will tell you my intentions. God forbid in today's circumstances that you do not show yourself before the Serbian people as the one who and where he calls you to... Everything will be fine. If your great father is your mirror, you are immortal. But if you retreat under the influence of selfish fear, you will be thunderstruck by the eternal curse of the family."
(It should be added here that the hidden "intention" of this letter that Matija Ban is supposed to convey to the prince, Ban himself published it later, and dated it precisely to this year 1848, and it concerns Njegoš's plan to "liberate and unite Serbdom", so that then Njegoš and Karađorđević would both rule, but in such a way that "the prince would go to Prizren, and Njegoš to Peć")
I would not like to go further about Prince Nikola's relationship with the Karađorđevićs and Obrenovićs, about Zorka's marriage and everything else. For some, court intrigues and dynastic struggles between grandson and grandfather are more important reading than the messages of two knights of the spirit, the greatest Saint and the greatest Poet under Lovćen. Now, let me admit that it is legitimate to look at things that way. But let no one touch or belittle my "circles" of memory and recollection. Because that is neither civic, nor democratic, nor civilized.
Source: Journal.me