"This drama started in Kosovo.
Ljuba Nenadović, although a Serb himself, was surprised when he saw in Montenegro the living power of the Kosovo tradition, which was a reality in those hills even after a century, as close and real as bread and water. Tortured women who were resting next to loads of wood on the stone edge of the road told him about Kosovo as their special fate and personal tragedy. "Our right in Kosovo is buried," people said with resignation and without thinking of seeking it by any other path than the one that the Kosovo covenant dictates. The entire destiny of all people was bounded and governed by that vow. As in the most ancient legends, which are always the greatest human reality, everyone personally felt the historical curse that turned "lafa" into "farmers", leaving in their souls the "terrible thought of Obilić", so that they were crucified alive between their "farmers" ", Rajin realities and chivalrous, Obilić thoughts. Montenegro and the world that fled to its hills were the quintessence of that Kosovo mystery. Everything that was born in those hills came into the world with a reflex of Kosovar blood in its eyes.
So there is the beginning of Njegoš's drama. Without this, the tragedy of Njegoš's life would be difficult to understand. Njegoš is the prototype of the Kosovar fighter. Both as a poet, as a ruler, and as a man, he is the pure embodiment of Kosovo's struggle, defeat and indomitable hope. He is, as someone said, the "Jeremiah of Kosovo", and at the same time an active, responsible fighter for the "removal of the curse" and the realization of Obilić's idea. It is claimed that the word "Kosovo" is mentioned most often in Gorski vijenc next to the word "God". But it was not only thought and poetry that created the Kosovar tradition. She is life itself for him. It is as much the subject of his realistic and considerate diplomatic correspondence as it is the subject of his main poetic work. In his correspondence with Russia as well as with the Turks, for him Kosovo is one date that influences all decisions and the resolution of the most specific issues. Formulating his demands, he begins with the words "since the fall of our empire." He talks about Kosovo like any other moral and political argument, as a living and decisive factor of collective and personal destiny. In his official correspondence, he writes to Osmanpaša of Skadar: "... when the wild Asian hordes destroyed our small heroic empire, then my ancestors and some other selected families, who were not killed there by the Turks, left their homeland and fled to these mountains." .
In those mountains, "the Cross is served and Miloš lives". And only in that light are the fate and work of Njegoš understandable. After all, all those who stood closest to him, as friends or as enemies, understood him that way. Perhaps no one showed a better understanding of Njegoš's intentions and the moral origin of all his endeavors than Alipaša Stočević, the intelligent and unfortunate vizier in Herzegovina, when he said this simple and profound truth about the bishop: ban from Kosovo."
Dear readers of this text, it's time to clarify things. All that you have read so far was not written by a pope, nor by a theologian; it was not announced by anyone from the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral - but the Nobel laureate, "citizen of the world", Ivo Andrić. This is a passage from Andrić's writing "Njegoš as a tragic hero of Kosovar thought".
In order to give the anniversary of Njegoš's birth a festive character, we decided to illuminate the figure of Metropolitan Peter the Second with the intelligent words of the one whom the learned world recognized as "Njegoš's spiritual relative". Of course, it is all the more dear to me that the views on Kosovo and Njegoš, views on their mutual relationship, views that stem from church awareness and tradition - are confirmed in the ingenious, artistic views of history and creativity that Ivo Andrić had.
I know that there are people who do not like to read, and such people usually like to imagine and invent. After all, we all, more or less, carry such weakness and such spiritual laziness within us. That's why we should fight against it, and mark this 200th anniversary of Njegoš by stimulating ourselves to read Njegoš, to read Andrić (really, that would be a wonderful "spiritual feast"!), and to reduce the prejudices that have been imposed on us, or are we invented them themselves.
In such a reading, we could recognize the full depth of the spiritual and cultural phenomenon called the "Kosovo Covenant in Montenegro". Today, among other things, that vow is exposed to two extremes, very dangerous and very negative - when it comes to interpreting and living that truth. One extreme is its use for the mundane, political purposes of nationalist engagement of the masses. The other is the same, nationalist and ideological extremity of denying and belittling this vow, again for the purpose of one-time, political involvement of the people. Daily politics in conflict with Njegoš and Andrić!
This text is a modest attempt to persuade the reader of "Vijesti" to engage in culture. This commitment and commitment refers to the protection of Njegoš and Kosovo, i.e. keeping Kosovo in Njegoš, Kosovo in Njegoš's readers... but not Kosovo as a territory, or as something that would be (or resemble) a political project, but as an idea, a spiritual reality, which Andrić recognizes and admires. We can say that this idea is local, ours, an authentic, spiritual idea - at the same time, a national idea, which was most beautifully and powerfully expressed by Metropolitan Peter the Second.
If Andrić, in addition to so many of his inspirations and fascinations, found Kosovo here in Montenegro - as a spiritual point of support for Njegoš's creativity, then our civilizing task is such and such Njegoš's Kosovo (Kosovo of Saint Peter, Bishop Vasilij, Kosovo of the warriors from Grahovac... .Kosovo of folk oral tradition) we keep as our own treasure. I believe that belittling this treasure would be equivalent to throwing garbage into the canyon of the Tara river, and its political interpretation would be similar to the desire to install a "modern" hydropower plant in that canyon for the sake of some money.
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