The thesis that "Kosovo thought" was imported into Montenegro by Simo Sarajli, by "seducing" the minor Njegoš, has always seemed untenable to me. It even seems humiliating to our ancestors to assume that they proudly decorated themselves with medals and lined up in patriotic military formations on the field - both of which (both the medal and the field) bore the name of a hero who was foreign to them, and at the same time, non-existent - introduced to Crna Goru, just in their time. The fact that my children, until their preschool age, were delighted by the exploits of the fictional heroes Superman and Spider-Man - I take it as a natural phenomenon. But that my ancestors believed in fabrications, and that they laid down their lives for those fabrications - I don't give a penny for that story. 'Come on, it's insulting, it's pure untruth.
Unlike fiction, I have always been intrigued by the facts and undeniable facts of our Montenegrin past. Among such indisputable features is the double-headed white eagle with lowered wings - the coat of arms of Crnojević, which is very similar to that of Nemanjić. I would add to that the candlelit atmosphere in the Crnojević Orthodox churches (which we can guess from what was printed in the Crnojević printing house) - related to the special celebration of Saint Nemanjić. Saint Sava (Savindan) marked with an initial red letter - in the rank of Saint John the Baptist (Jovanjdan); in the same way and the Holy King Stefan of Dečan; and St. Simeon (Stefan Nemanja) marked in completely red letters... You will find all this in the liturgical books of Božidar Vuković Podgoričanin. But in order to prevent "Amfiloch's pop" from forcibly uniting the Crnojevics with the Nemanjići and Serbia, here is what Prince Nikola says about it, not in his poems, but in an official proclamation in 1895 in the "Voice of the Montenegrins":
"Nicholas the first, by the grace of God, prince and lord of Montenegro, our illustrious predecessor, the Zeta lord Ivan Crnojević, having founded a monastery in Cetinje as the seat of the Zeta metropolitans, endowed it with various goods, among which is a large part of the Cetinje field. Through the evil times that passed over the Serbian people, destroying even the trace of their state life, this endowment of Ivan Crnojević, the last independent Serbian ruler, so abundantly endowed, was able to preserve in continuity the state thought, which in that storm that wise the Serbian ruler sheltered under the Orlov karst; and besides, to preserve until our days the only episcopal chair of those, which is St. Sava raised in the Serbian state... That the monastery invests its annual income every year in the purchase of immovable property in our country, so that it can multiply its current assets and continue to be able to act beneficially in the area of the Holy Orthodox Church and the Serbian people in the future. We hereby most solemnly confirm to the monastery the right of ownership of the land on which the town of Cetinje, Our Capital, is built, and let everyone know that this land remains for all future times the exclusive property of the Cetinje Monastery, sacred and inviolable..."
I admit, I have already quoted this prince's proclamation here, but I don't mind repeating it. Not because I would convince a modern Montenegrin to accept the Serbian identity (God forbid!), but because I, the original Montenegrin "from the bottom of the bucket", would explain to others that my Serbian identity is not - treason!
Instead, I started around Sima Sarajlija. He did significantly inspire young Njegoš, but not so much with Serbia and Kosovo, as with poetry in general. And respected writers like Ljuba Nenadović and Nobel laureate Ivo Andrić talk about the Kosovo of Pregoševo in Montenegro, as well as numerous records of literate Montenegrins. In his letter "To the Honorable Princes and Elders of Montenegro" from 1714, Bishop Danilo Šćepčev will say, among other things:
"I would love to die if you wanted us all to die gloriously and honorably together, as Prince Lazar and Miloš Kobilić did, who killed the emperor in Kosovo and perished with their master and their seven thousand fighters - which brought us Montenegrins to these are broken - leaving after death eternal glory…”
This record, created among us more than 300 years ago, clearly confirms the identity of the "Kosovo fugitive" among the Montenegrins, about whom Njegoš sings beautifully, and whose tradition is remembered by heart, even today, in every cuckoo house.
Neither Bishop Vasilije Petrović nor the time in which he lived can boast of the progress of serious local historiography, but his "History of Montenegro" written in 1754, as a propaganda reading before the Russian court, tells us a lot. Although full of author's arbitrariness and historical inaccuracies, this monument of our modern literacy clearly shows a notorious fact: the presence of the cult of Kosovar heroes in Montenegro - long before Njegoš. The description of the Kosovar-colored drama occupies (both the amount of text and its position in the composition) a central place in Vasilije's Montenegrin history. And not to mention that this reading ends with a list of Serbian bishops - in which the author includes himself, and not to add that in addition to this "History of Montenegro" the literary work of Bishop Vasilij records a beautiful "Ode (hymn) to Nemanja".
I will end this review of the Pregoševo Kosovo cult in Montenegro with the best among us. Everything that we can read in Njegoš's "Mountain Wreath" as a poetic theme related to Kosovo, Lazar, Miloš and Vuk - all this was sung before him by Saint Petar Cetinje in his poems. It doesn't have Njegošev's genius or artistic height - but it is clear that Obilić and Branković, as inspiration, were present in the Cetinje Monastery even before Sarajevo!
When Nikola sings: "All the signs below Šara (he means the churches and monasteries of Kosovo), all the signs and shrines, are gathered under Lovćen, among us on Cetinje", he then only puts into poetic form what Saint Peter of Cetinje wrote to the Montenegrins and Brđa in 1822 for the Patriarchate of Peć, that it is the "Serbian church of the entire Slavo-Serbian people and the mother of all Serbian churches, in which our patriarchs stood and which our tsars fenced".
This is precisely because the Kosovo vow and the cult of Kosovo, Serbian saints was not imported from abroad, but an authentic Montenegrin feeling - the Law on Parish Clergy from 1909. The Principality of Montenegro orders priests, as an obligation, "to pay tribute to the fallen fighters for faith and fatherland on Savior's Day and Widow's Day every year". Spasovdan was a commemoration of the Battle of Grahovača, and Vidovdan was a commemoration of Kosovo...
The author is the rector of the Cetinje seminary
Bonus video:
