His Eminence Archbishop of Cetinje Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Mr. Joanikije, served today, on the fourth Sunday of Holy Lent dedicated to St. John the Ladder and on the feast of the Holy Martyrs of Sevastija and Momišić, the Holy Archbishop's Liturgy in the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Risno.

The Metropolitan was assisted by the clergy and monks of the Metropolis.

At the end of the Holy Eucharist, the Metropolitan served a memorial service for the victims of the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999.

Hieromonk Makarije, abbot of the Savina monastery, spoke to the faithful after reading a section from the Gospel.

He spoke about sin, repentance and the goal of our life, which consists in uniting with Christ - for the Lord to enter our heart and into our being: "That he may permeate us and that we may be permeated by Him, and that through this we may inherit eternal life and the Kingdom of Heaven according to the promise of God. When we are circumcised, we receive the perfect grace of God. We clothe ourselves in Christ and live with it and receive the key to the Kingdom of Heaven, but if we are careless and we do not live according to the Lord's commandments, we fall into various sins and we come to a position where we cannot unite with Christ, and that is sin. That is why we have to fight against sin in order to reach eternal life let's understand and understand each other we fight properly.

So, in order to return to Christ, when we fall into sin as humans (it can happen to anyone), returning back to God is repentance. True repentance. No different. Repent with all your heart and all your being and thus return to God. But we must also know the truth of faith - what true repentance means. So that we don't go astray and think that we are repenting, and basically that our repentance does not have the power to transform us and reunite us with Christ and return us to the ranks of the saints. Those who inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, celebrating this week the great John the Ladder, reading his work and learning what it means in our beings, we learn to return to God again and what true repentance is.

One must truly repent in order to return to God. And he, St. John the Ladder, says that the one who cries does not see another. This means that a person who truly repents does not judge another, because he cannot see another in a state of sin. If he pays attention to the sin of his neighbor and if he condemns him, he himself will not repent, nor will he have the power of true repentance."

Then the abbot of Savin, Fr. Makarije taught the congregation what we should achieve in our spiritual life so that our repentance would be clear, so that we would not go to eternal life with a vague idea of ​​whether we were saved, that is, whether God forgave us of our sins:

"We pray constantly and at the Liturgy and all services, Lord, have mercy on us, forgive us our sins. We pray: Our Father, forgive us as we forgive our debtors."

What is the sign of true repentance? It is a way to cry for our sins, and a sign to truly repent, according to the holy fathers of the Church, there are several most important signs of true repentance. The first is that man feels that he is God's debtor and that whatever he has done in this life, he has contributed to God, built, created in his inner being, so that we feel that we are God's debtors. The second is hatred of sin (a person who receives God's grace must feel hatred of sin). Another important thing about the forgiveness of sins has to do with what a person experiences in his inner being. Apart from the hatred of sin and the feeling that we are God's debtors, the man whose sins God forgives feels humility towards everyone."

His Eminence Archbishop of Cetinje Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Mr. Joanikije addressed the faithful after commemorating the victims of the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

"After this holy service, we commemorated all those who died in the NATO aggression against our homeland 27 years ago, also mentioning those who died in the pogrom against our people in Kosovo and Metohija in 2004, where there were human victims in several places, and a lot of arson and great persecution of our people from Kosovo and Metohija.

We remember that terrible injustice, violence, aggression against our homeland that actually disrupted the world order, because the decision was made to bomb without the Security Council and respect for the law of war and other international treaties and agreements, with pure force, and then the separation and dismemberment of parts of our homeland began.

However, those who were the cause of that violence and aggression do not know how to stop today, but they are not doing very well either. We see that the whole world is in a major crisis today. There are some open or hidden conflicts everywhere. That is why we should pray to God for peace.

However, unfortunately, the strong and powerful of this world will not listen to the lonely voices of individual people of conscience and groups who ask for an end to hostilities and the shedding of innocent blood. We don't know how it will end, but ours is to pray to God, and the most important thing is to mention the victims and those who gave their lives on the battlefield opposing NATO aggression, and we remember, of course, the heroism of our soldiers and officers who bravely opposed the aggression. There were many victims. In Montenegro, three children and three adults died on the Murin bridge and the bridge was destroyed. That place received a terrible trauma, and the first NATO bomb fell right on Montenegro and the soldier Saša Stajić was killed there.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is ours that we do not forget the heroes and innocent victims, but that we always remember and highlight them. We see that as time passes, that our heroism that we showed and the national unity that we showed at that time, is a great guarantee for our future, for our unity, for our survival and that those sacrifices that fell then for faith and fatherhood, that they cannot be forgotten and that this memory is also bright and eternal and that it will forever remain in our memory as innocent victims and as heroes, encouraging us to the highest values ​​of love for God, our religion and our people and homeland and according to the vows of our ancestors.

May this holy service bring joy, health and happiness to all of you, and may God grant that in mutual love and joy we may welcome the following holidays and, as the highlight of all holidays, the bright Resurrection of Christ, which may come to you with blessings and an abundance of spiritual gifts. Amen. God grant" - stated His Eminence the Archbishop of Cetinje, the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Mr. Ioannikije after mentioning the victims of NATO aggression.

Lana Ostojic

Photos by Željko Drašković