On the first Sunday after Pentecost – All Saints' Sunday, on the feast of the Third Finding of the Head of Saint John the Baptist and the Holy Martyrs of Piva, June 7, 2026, His Eminence Bishop Paisios of Diocletia, with the clergy, monastics and faithful, celebrated the Holy Liturgy at the Cetinje Monastery.

After the reading of the passage from the Holy Gospel, Archpriest-Stavroph Dr. Vladislav Topalović, professor at the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Foča, spoke. Interpreting the words of the Lord: “Whoever loves his father and mother more than me is not worthy of me…”, he said that they could sound unacceptable and shocking to those who are unfamiliar with and uninitiated in the word of God. The archpriest reminded us that these words have been misinterpreted by many throughout history, because how can the Lord, who is love, call us not to listen to father, mother, brother and sister and even say that whoever renounces them for my name’s sake is worthy of me?

"However, let's take a look at how Christ and the apostles lived. Did they renounce everything and set out on the path of light? Did the apostles leave their parents, but they never stopped caring for them, as do those who join certain sects and go astray. Christ does not forget his mother even on the cross, but says to one of his disciples: Son, here is your mother and mother, here is your son. He takes care of her. Peter takes care of his relatives so much that he cares for his mother-in-law to be resurrected by the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone who takes care of his mother, of his wife's parents, how much less will he take care of his own parents. Christ calls us to something else, however. He calls us to understand that nothing under the canopy of heaven is more valuable than God. Not even father or mother," spoke Father Vladislav.

He explained that when we are baptized, we gain a new feeling, a new identity – we all become relatives to each other, our own, because God has become our Father:

“And we no longer have only our biological fathers and mothers, but we are all fathers and mothers because we have one heavenly Father. That is why the Apostle Paul, the great and greatest follower of Christ, in his famous speech at the Areopagus in Athens quotes an ancient Greek poet who sensed this and says: We are his offspring. We are offspring with the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Christ we have become God’s own. And that is why we all address one another as brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers.”

Referring to today's feast day – All Saints' Sunday, Archpriest Vladislav emphasized that all the Saints we celebrate today had this in mind and that they are all our relatives and friends – our closest ones:

"And they felt that they fulfilled precisely these words that we heard today in the Holy Gospel to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in all times and in all difficult sufferings."

Archpriest-Staurophor Dr. Vladislav Topalović emphasized that today, among these Saints, we especially remember our Piva New Martyrs, who suffered on 6-12. June 1943, when the Nazi Prince Eugen Division in the villages of Piva killed 1290 innocent souls, including 549 children and young people under the age of 20:

“They also witnessed these words that we heard today in the Epistle to the Hebrews, reading the Apostle and in this text of the Gospel of Matthew. Truly wonderful is the Lord in His Saints! And may the Lord, through the prayers of the saints, of all our ancestors, illuminate our path so that we too may know what the way, the truth and the life in Christ are. Amen.”

At the end of the Holy Service of God, teaching the congregation, His Holiness Bishop of Diocletia, Mr. Paisius said that all the Saints we celebrate today were led to this holiness by a single love for God: “And there is one apostolic service, in another way the martyrs served God, and in a third way the venerable ones and those who asceticized in the deserts, and all of them in turn, the images of the Saints, all of them pleased God in different ways, and all were guided by one and the same love for Him.”

And just as love for God has found various ways to manifest itself, so too has love for science and knowledge, as the Bishop said, caused many who are gathered today in the Cetinje Monastery to serve in various ways:

"So here is the envoy of the Holy Synod, Father Vladislav Topalović, who is a professor at the Faculty of Theology in Foča and until recently was also the dean of the same faculty. Then here, as every Sunday, our father, the rector, Archpriest Blagoje, then the professors, educators of the Cetinje Theological Seminary, as well as the graduating students who have just graduated from this Seminary and are now about to set out on the ocean of life, to acquire new knowledge and to achieve new victories. We wish them success in this, may God's blessing accompany them, protect them and not forget their school where they acquired their first theological and theological knowledge."

Having extended a warm welcome to the envoy of the Holy Synod, Father Vladislav, the Bishop of Diocletian especially greeted Father Sergius, who came from Ukraine with the pilgrims, emphasizing that today they live like martyrs from the first centuries of Christianity, suffering from the theft of their temples and holy relics:

"But still, they pray to God in every place, both inside and outside the temples, because everything is God's land and God receives our prayer from every place. May God bless you all, for health and salvation on this feast day. Amen."

After the Divine Liturgy in the Administrative Building of the Theological Seminary of St. Peter of Cetinje, a ceremonial awarding of diplomas, certificates and awards will be held to the graduating students of the XXX generation of the renewed Cetinje Theological Seminary.

Photos - Фотографије

Vesna Dević

Photo: Maksim Shestakov

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