The Monastery of the Holy Archangel Michael on Miholjska Prevlaka near Tivat celebrated today the Feast of the Archangel - the glory of this ancient Christian shrine.

The Holy Hierarchical Liturgy was celebrated by His Eminence Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Mr. Joanikije, with the concelebration of the clergy and clergy of the Metropolis of Montenegro and the Littoral, and the participation of numerous believers.

At the end of the Holy Divine Service, slava cakes and grain were blessed, and then His Eminence Metropolitan Joanikije addressed the assembled with a speech.

Recalling the verses of the liturgical hymn: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, and heaven and earth are full of His glory,” the Metropolitan said that we, gathered at the Holy Liturgy, by singing this hymn, join in the heavenly and earthly glorification.

"Our praise that we offer to the Lord God from a pure heart when we gather in the holy service of God, as we have gathered here today in this consecrated place, is united with the angelic songs and hymns and praises that the heavenly angels constantly offer to the Almighty God, the Most Holy and Life-giving Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the heavenly angels as intelligent beings and incorporeal forces, they are inspired by God's love, are constantly enlightened by God's light and strengthened by God's power and wisdom, they are enlightened to do the will of God and to keep the entire universe according to God's will and reach everywhere - to move everything to praise, to fill everything with God's love, so that every creature glorifies and glorifies its Creator. "The living and true God".

The Metropolitan reminded that every Christian receives his own guardian angel at Holy Baptism, who never abandons the one entrusted to him by the Lord, and added that God sends his angels to serve on earth, among us humans, to strengthen us and guide us to good and saving paths and to remove us from wrong paths, bad thoughts and deeds.

"Whenever a man has a good thought and a good intention, his angel is with him and when he sets out to do good, the angel helps him, and not just one angel, but many heavenly armies and angels and saints of God are at the aid of those who set out to do good and who work for good, and when a man wants to do evil, he is motivated mostly by his evil will, but he is also approached by an evil angel, a fallen angel, Satan, the one who has deviated from the will of God and has the power to persuade and give false strength to those who set out to do evil, but we should know well that they always work for our ruin and rejoice most when they drag a man into sin and ruin, and into despair, and into sorrow, and into misfortune, and they do not rejoice at all that that same man repents and returns to the arms of God. And this, dear brothers and sisters, we experience it almost every day,” said Metropolitan Joanikije.

The Bishop drew attention to the fact that God is not violent and that salvation is not given to man against his free will.

As he said, He gives it “only to those who sincerely want to be saved and to be near God, in the arms of God, and to be in the company of God’s angels.”

"All those who live like this and struggle to stay on that path, have the angels of God for them, and above all the Holy Archangels whom we mention the most today - Michael the Archangel and Gabriel the Evangelist for help. We see from the Holy Scripture that we remembered when we read, and we should always read, how the Holy Archangel Michael encourages people to fight for freedom, to free themselves from all slavery and to fight for the good of their people and their neighbors, so we very often mention him as the commander of the heavenly army. If he is the commander of the heavenly army, then he is also the commander of the Christian army, because it is one and the same army. The Church of God is unique, it is gathered from angels and saints and from us people here on earth who are sanctified by the love of God, the grace of God, the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Holy Archangel Gabriel "The evangelist, he directs us to the Mystery of the Incarnation of Christ, because he brought this good news from heaven from God to the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos - that she would conceive and give birth to a son, that the Holy Spirit would descend upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, and he directs us to delve into the Mysteries of the economy of our salvation, not only of Christ's incarnation, but also of His works, His miracles, His death, burial and His three-day resurrection and ascension. We see, whenever there were such important events in the history of our salvation, that not only the Lord was present there, but also His angels," the bishop taught.

At the end of his sermon, the Metropolitan congratulated Father Vasilije and his monastic family gathered under the wing of the Holy Archangel Michael in the ancient Christian sanctuary, and wished everyone a happy holiday.

He wished everyone the patronage of the Holy Archangel Michael, and the monastic family strength, perseverance and love in serving God and their neighbors, in, as he said, “carrying the great cross and the heavy burden of restoring this ancient sanctuary.”