In the Church of St. Peter of Cetinje on Prčanje, in Boka Kotorska, today on the feast of the Holy Hieromartyr Joanikije of Boke, the Holy Liturgy was served by the hierarchal vicar of Kotor-Tivat, the parish priest of Kotor, the archpriest - stavrophor Nemanja Krivokapić with the clergy.

Archpriest Miajlo Backovic spoke to the faithful about the life and suffering of Metropolitan Joanikije (Lipovac), born in 1890 in neighboring Stoliv, who was brutally murdered by the communist authorities near Arandjelovac.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the rest will be added to you. What wonderful definitions of the path to salvation and eternal life. And when they asked the Lord what the two greatest commandments were, He said: “Love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” And we could say that many have wondered what happened to those ten that came to us from the Old Testament, and whether only these two can fulfill all ten.

And truly, when you look at all of God's commandments and all that the Gospel teaches us, it could fit into these two greatest commandments and this one, to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the rest will be added to you. And when, brothers and sisters and dear children, we look at this beautiful temple and its frescoes in a circle and begin to read these names that we see and, gazing prayerfully at these wonderful figures on these frescoes, what is the difference between them and us who live today? Between those who did not deserve to give their lives for Christ or to bear witness to him in some other way? The difference is only in these two commandments that they kept and did not give up on them. But, of course, it is not only that, dear brothers and sisters. This is the difference between the Kingdom of Heaven and earthly life. This is the difference between our commitment and what we will bow to, or what we will commit ourselves to”, said Fr. Miajlo.

He continued by saying that today we celebrate and remember, prayerfully, the great confessor of the faith.

“We remember Joanikije Lipovac, who was born here, in this place, finished school here and in Kotor, and then went further around the world, studying the teachings of God and returned and became the Metropolitan of the Holy See of the Metropolitans of Cetinje and the Bishops of Zeta, Archbishop and Metropolitan, who also left from here, from Boka, from Prevlaka, like Joanikije, moved, retreated, and passed through our country, and arrived and remained in Cetinje, where even today she shines and shines with the glory of God to the faithful people, not only of Montenegro, The hills, the old Herzegovina and what used to be and is now Montenegro, but throughout Heavenly Serbia. And what is Heavenly Serbia? That is not any political definition or platitude. It is not something that is used for daily political purposes. The great Holy Father Justin Popovic, Bishop Nikolaj and our great Holy Fathers spoke about it. That is our heavenly homeland, that is our aspiration, our vertical and our determination. That heavenly homeland, inhabited by our wonderful saints, gazing into the Kingdom of God, into the power and beauty of God on the throne, those who have continued to serve Him in our name through the centuries to this day. One of them is Saint Joanikije of Bokeš, Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, and all those who followed him, many of whose names we do not know, across Bosnia, across Herzegovina, to the brittle ruins of the Alps, and then, for the man who left here, the end of the world. But the end of this, earthly world, was truly behind them, but it was not the end. Because that end of the world, under the Alpine mountains, in Kamnička Bistrica, on the Zidan Bridge and all those other execution sites throughout Slovenia, was not the end, but the beginning. The beginning of eternal life and confirmation of one's determination. And none of them, dear brothers and sisters, ran away. None of them was afraid. They only wanted to avoid fratricide and the shedding of brotherly blood. And then, when they reached that end of their earthly life, and on that field, Kosovo, on Kamnička Bistrica, they confirmed the faith of Tsar Lazar and the determination of Saint Sava for the Kingdom of Heaven and confirmed it with their heads and their lives and remained inscribed in eternity to this day and that is why we still remember them today.
we will not see, may the Lord grant through their prayers that we too remain faithful to that covenant of the God-man Christ, the Kingdom of God and His justice, and everything else will be added to us. Christ is Risen”, said Fr. Miajlo.

The liturgy was magnified by a choir trio from St. Petersburg, Minsk and Kiev, whose members are on a journey through Montenegro.