... Many say that we Orthodox Serbs are perhaps the only nation on earth that - celebrating Vidovdan, celebrating Kosovo and adhering to the Svetokosovo vow - celebrates defeat, while all other nations celebrate their victories. At first glance, they are right, but what is a defeat before the earthly sages is a victory before God, before God's truth, before the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ the Lord was not defeated on Golgotha, so we celebrate His defeat by celebrating His Golgotha. With His Golgotha, His sacrifice, He was not only not defeated, but He conquered this world, He offered Himself for the life of the world, His blood and His body, and hence He rightly said that He is the One who overcomes the world.

And just as Golgotha ​​is not a defeat but a victory over Satan, the victory of good over evil, the victory of self-sacrificing love over hatred, the victory of humanity over inhumanity, the victory of truth over lies, so are all those who followed Him throughout the ages, served Him, for The victors in this world sacrificed themselves to Him and His justice.

We should not lose sight of the fact that the Church of God only celebrates three birthdays (only in recent times they invented celebrating themselves, so unfortunately we have started to adopt it and celebrate our own birthdays): the birthday of Christ, the birthday of the Mother of God and the birthday of the greatest from the wife of the native, John the Baptist. Why those three birthdays? Because with those births - Christ's, the one who gave birth to Him and the one who prepared the way for His coming - there was a true real birth, rebirth and gaining eternal and imperishable life and meaning for every human being, for all creation. When we celebrate any other saint, we do not celebrate anyone's birthday.

Celebrating the Great Martyr Demetrius, we celebrate his death, celebrating Saint Basil of Ostrog, we celebrate his repose... Similarly, Saint Peter of Cetinje and Saint Sava, Archbishop and Educator of Serbia, Sergius of Radonezh and Saint Demetrius of Rostov, Saint John Vladimir and Saint Vladimir the Apostle, the great Russian educator. Therefore, in the eyes of the people of the earth and of this world, and for their short-sightedness, we celebrate their defeats...

But no: the one who wins in death is the winner for eternal and imperishable life, and in that last day all human destiny is reflected. It reflects both human strength and weakness, of individuals and peoples of the earth. Happy are those nations that have such people, who sacrificed themselves for the life of the world; who sacrificed themselves for good, for justice, for God, for God's law, for truth, for God's sanctuary, who gained victory with that sacrifice. They defeated darkness, hatred, evil; they defeated the satanic force, the father of lies and all the bearers of lies. Hence, their end is a testimony not of their defeat, but of their victory.

That is why we celebrate Vidovdan by celebrating Amos, the prophet of God the victor, by celebrating Vito the victorious martyr, by celebrating the great martyr Lazarus of Kosovo and those who with their sacrifice defeated the darkness and darkness, evil and tyrants of this world and who were included in that number of Christ's followers who offer themselves for life world Since then, and even before that, and to this day, there are two types of people, especially in our nation after Kosovo: those who align themselves with the great martyr Lazarus of Kosovo and those others, who aligned themselves with the tyrant even before Kosovo and after Kosovo. , with Murat, professing Murat's philosophy and following his godless, tyrannical and inhuman path...

Our determination is the determination for the great martyr Lazar of Kosovo, because we know and acknowledge that this is the only path, the path of the God-man, which we are called to walk and which all our holiest ancestors walked.

Celebrating Vidovdan, we celebrate victory - the victory of good, the victory of God, the victory of God's love, the victory of God's truth over lies, the victory of those who gained the Victor and who wrote themselves in the book of eternal life. Therefore, may the Lord establish us in that faithfulness. That we walk on the path of the great martyr Lazar of Kosovo, the prophet Amos and the martyr Vito; on the path of the God-Man, because we do not know the other way, we started that way, we walk that way and we will walk all the days of our lives and forever and ever.

Happy and blessed Vidovdan holiday to everyone, to all our kindred on earth forever and ever. Amen.

Metropolitan Amfilochia