At the Holy Liturgy in the Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town of Kotor, today, the third week after Easter, on Myrrh-Bearing Sunday dedicated to the myrrh-bearing women, the first witnesses of Christ's Resurrection, and on the feast of the Holy Martyr Empress Alexandra, the hierarchal vicar of Kotor-Tivat, parish priest of Kotor, archpriest-staurophor Nemanja Krivokapić, preached on the Holy Gospel, which again speaks of the events related to the Resurrection and what preceded it.

“Why are we hearing those words again, when we celebrated Easter two weeks ago? It is because the Resurrection is an event above events. It is not just an ordinary one in a series of holidays, but a holiday above holidays. It is the most important event in the history of this world. It is much more important than the creation of the world and everything else.
The God who created the world came here to earth, became a man, suffered and was resurrected for our salvation,” says Father Nemanja, adding that this is the reason why we celebrate the Resurrection all year round, so every Sunday and every Sunday service is dedicated to the greatest holiday.

We also remember, he continues, the events that preceded the Resurrection itself.

“The period between the crucifixion and the Resurrection itself, what did it look like and what happened after that? That Christ would come, that He would be crucified, die and resurrect, was prophesied in the Old Testament.
But what will happen afterwards with the Body of Christ, who is mentioned at all in this Gospel? Usually, when we read, Christ is the main figure and the apostles as His most direct disciples and those who were always with Him as actors in practically all events. Now the apostles are not mentioned. Because they are not there, they fled and escaped,” says Fr. Nemanja.

In these most important events, he reminds us, there are no apostles “but there are those to whom today’s Sunday is dedicated”.

“These are the Myrrh-bearing Women on the one hand, those women who were all the time under the cross and next to Saint John the Theologian, the youngest apostle who was with them and followed all these events.
In the Gospel we see that it was precisely to them that Christ first appeared.
When He was resurrected, who was the first to see Him and the first to hear those wonderful words “Rejoice and do not be afraid”? These were the Myrrh-bearing Women because they were deigned, precisely because of their courage, at a time when there were no apostles, who should have been there. They showed courage and Christ appeared to them first,” said Father Nemanja.

He also reminds us that in addition to them, some other personalities are mentioned that we did not know about.

“These are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, secret disciples of Christ. They belong to the order of the 70 minor apostles, secret disciples, as it is written, because they came from time to time, they listened to the words of God. The Gospel says: “These were the people who were waiting for the Resurrection,” “the Kingdom of God was waiting.” Now they come to the fore.
What would have happened to the body of Christ, where would it have been laid, if we had waited for the apostles?
At that very moment, people appeared whom we did not know about, but they reacted as they should have.
Joseph of Arimathea, as the Gospel says, was a high-ranking advisor, he held a position at the court.
He dared, using his position, to seek the Body of Christ, which required courage. Not only did he receive it, but he also made an effort to lower himself into the tomb on a stretcher. And where did the tomb come from, did Christ prepare it for himself during his lifetime? No, he did not. The apostles did not prepare anything either, no one was ready for it.
Joseph of Arimathea opened his tomb, which he says was new. They wrapped the body of Christ in a shroud, anointed it with spices and laid it in a new tomb”, says Fr. Nemanja.

In this Gospel, he pointed out, we see that events are mentioned, both those before and those after the Resurrection, “because they are inseparable”.

“Neither could the Resurrection have happened without these events, suffering, death, nor do these events have their meaning without the Resurrection. Therefore, they are completely connected, as we see in the Gospel and in the church songs that we sing on this day and in all these days.
In the troparion that we sang it says: “The noble Joseph took down Your pure body from the tree, wrapped it in a shroud, anointed it with spices and laid it in the tomb, but You have risen and given us eternal life”.
The Resurrection gives meaning to all that preceded it because that suffering was voluntary and planned.
As Njegoš says, “There is no Resurrection without death.” So Christ had to die in order to be resurrected, and that is what happened,” said Fr. Nemanja.

What we learn from today’s Gospel is, as he emphasized, “that there are no chosen ones for salvation and that we are all called to salvation and to great deeds.”

“Here are these unknown people who did a wonderful and great deed, and what had they been doing until then? They prayed to God, listened to the words of Christ, tried to be good Christians, they did not push themselves to the forefront. But when the situation required them to react, they reacted appropriately.

What we learn from today's Gospel, as he emphasized, is that "there are no chosen ones for salvation and that we are all called to salvation and to great deeds".

"Here are these unknown people who did a wonderful and great deed, and what had they been doing until then? They prayed to God, listened to the words of Christ, tried to be good Christians, did not push themselves to the forefront. But when the situation required them to react, they reacted as they should.So may we also imitate them and live our Christian lives as they should, and if God puts us in a situation to react, to react as they should and as they should.
May the Risen Lord grant us to be among those to whom Christ said "Rejoice and do not be afraid", amen", said Fr. Nemanja.