His Eminence, Bishop of Buenos Aires and South and Central America and Administrator of the Metropolis of Zagreb and Ljubljana, served this evening, in the Church of Saint Sava in Tivat, a memorial service for the martyred Archpriest Michael (Barbić), parish priest of Krtolj.

The memorial service was prayerfully attended by His Eminence Archbishop of Cetinje, Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, His Eminence Bishop David of Drenvit (Macedonian Orthodox Church), and Their Eminences Bishop Jovan of Pakrac and Slavonia, and Bishop Paisij of Diocletia.

After the memorial service, the parish priest of Krtoli, Marko Obradović, gave a speech.

In an inspired and moving speech about the martyr Mihailo (Barbić), Father Marko began by saying that he was a man who lived his entire life with Christ, in Christ and for Christ.

"We have gathered here, and God will grant that tomorrow we will gather in even greater numbers for the Holy Liturgy, to celebrate the great Boka, a Serb, a priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church, a Christian and a martyr. All this was united in his personality by the holy Father Mihailo, born on September 24, 1899 in Port Said, when people from these regions were struggling for bread. His parents wanted their son to grow up in Boka and he came here. He finished elementary school in Boka, in Krtoli. He had a great man for an uncle - Father Sava Barbić, an exceptional priest with whom he went to Dubrovnik, then finished high school in Zadar, enrolled in the seminary, and in 1922 graduated from the seminary in Sarajevo, where our Holy Patriarch Pavle also graduated.

So, Father Mihailo Barbić, first a priest in Morinj, showed himself exceptionally as a young man, full of spirit, but his heart wanted and burned to be a priest here in Krtoli. He wrote a request and he came here to be a shepherd to his spiritual flock. In the meantime, he also became a military chaplain. He served in Podgorica. He even rose to the rank of captain first class, in the officer rank, and the war found him in that officer rank, on April 6, 1941. That disaster that struck us, and before that, since September 1939, the whole of Europe and Father Mihailo, look how much of an instinct it is, a spiritual fire that burns in a priest, a shepherd, what came to him first. To return to his Krtole. It is true that his family was there, but there was also his flock, the people of God who needed a shepherd in those terrible times. He set out on foot, through various trials he arrived in Krtole exhausted, torn, dusty, so that people did not even recognize him as he had come to Krtole.

There he continued his pastoral work as he had continued before the war, founding charitable societies and a group of Serbian sisters... He came to Krtole and stayed there all the time, serving God and the people. He serves in the Church of the Holy Lady and other churches in the parish and takes care of the people, and those were troubled, crazy times. In those times, Father Mihailo worked, prayed to God, calmed, and cooled the hot young heads, imbued with this new ideology, and he had great authority. He was a very educated man, a very eloquent speaker, a folk singer, he spoke two languages ​​at that time - Italian and German, and he also used English and people listened to him, respected him - " spoke Father Marko Obradović.

Then Father Marko spoke about the arrival of the Germans in Krtole in 1943 and the alleged guilt of Father Mihailo, which actually consisted in the fact that he spoke German and was in contact with the German force for the benefit of his people.

"Allegedly, a little girl who followed Father Mihailo allegedly heard Father Mihailo making lists of people to be shot. What absurdity! What a seed of satanic lies! The spiritual shepherd who confesses, who baptizes, who gives communion to these people is their spiritual father. In any case, he is accused of it, although all those who unfortunately died young people are his relatives, godparents, friends, people. This alleged liberation comes, some Dalmatian Brigade, and they don't touch Father Mihailo, because there was no reason for it. Liberators from Kotor, Herceg Novi, Tivat arrive, the locals accuse him there, tie him up, mistreat him and take him with them to Kotor. They tie his hands, parade him through Krtole, he looks like Christ when they lead him. People turn their heads away from him, some secretly curse him, resent him, some even support him, and everyone knows that he is not guilty of anything. They take him to the Kotor prison, one of many prisons from 1945 onwards. They subject him to the most terrible tortures, and that is what we know and read in the New Testament, when Christ was brought before Pilate, and that soldier approached him and slapped him, and Christ said to him, "If I am guilty, prove it, if not, why are you hitting me?" That was the whole point of imprisoning and torturing Father Mihail - so that he would admit that he did it. They know that he did not, but so that he would admit that they would justify themselves that he is a national criminal, that he is against this new government that is creating a new man for a new world, and he is old, intoxicated with religion, and that is a thing of the past. And he does not admit guilt, because he has nothing to admit - tortured, beaten, humiliated and finally killed in his cell in Kotor. Father Mihailo did not back down, Father Mihailo did not renounce his faith, Christ or his priestly ministry, he kept his priestly vestments and his mantle unstained by betrayal or any other guilt of which he was accused. He was thrown into a septic tank, so that this humiliation would be even greater. »

Parish priest Marko Obradović of Krtolj, in the end, emphasized that from the suffering of the Hieromartyr Mihailo we should draw a lesson about forgiveness and reconciliation, remembering the lesson of the blessedly departed Metropolitan Amfilohije who spoke about great sacrifices and great sufferings, we should ask for and grant forgiveness to each other.

"May the sacrifice of the Hieromartyr Michael be forgiving for us, may the Hieromartyr Michael pray to the Lord for us, for our entire Metropolis," concluded priest Marko Obradović.

Prepared by: Lana Ostojić

Photos: Željko Drašković

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