Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Joanikije, called Chetnik duke Pavle Đurišić a "great hero" of invincible character.
The Metropolitanate announced that Joanikije served the liturgy in the new Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Lijevče Polje, in the village of Razboj near Srbac, in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of Republika Srpska. They say that it was there that "the Holy Hieromartyr Joanikije of Montenegro, according to the testimony of survivors," served his last liturgy "before his suffering and the suffering of the priests and people and members of the Yugoslav army in the homeland 80 years ago."
Joanikije thanked, among others, the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro Budimir Aleksić and the President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik for their support.
He, as announced, addressed the faithful after "commemorating those who were killed in World War II by the combined enemy forces", and recalled the "path of Golgotha" of Metropolitan Joanikije Lipovac, the clergy and "the people who fled from the convicted criminals", who, as he said, "filled the pits in Montenegro".
"We are marking the eightieth anniversary of the martyrdom of the heroes who left Montenegro together with the priests led by Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and the Littoral and with numerous people. Several thousand people fled from the communist knife and from the criminals who had proven themselves immediately after '41 and until '45 with their criminal intent by carrying out a revolution in Montenegro during the war, propagating the communist idea. They had little sense to say something nice and clever to the people, at least that was the case in Montenegro, but they had a lot of malice and filled the pits in Montenegro, and of course in Herzegovina as well," said Joanikije.
He said that this is a day that commemorates the "suffering path of patriots" who "were mostly to blame for overthrowing the Nazi creation - the Independent State of Montenegro under Mussolini's Italy", recalling that it was a creation that lasted only one day.
"It was founded on July 12th, and on July 13th, there was not a single remnant of it anywhere, because a nationwide uprising broke out. The main figures of that uprising were the people we are mentioning here today. Of course, the officers of the Royal Yugoslav Army in the homeland, and a prominent figure among them for his heroism and invincible character was Pavle Đurišić, whom we mention first, and with him was Duke Petar Baćović of the Duke's House of Baćović, the unifier in 1918, and many other notable figures of Montenegro and Herzegovina," said Joanikije.
Joanikije thanked everyone who helped and "provided fraternal support" in organizing the event.
"When organizing this commemoration, we had great fraternal support from: His Eminence Metropolitan of Banja Luka, His Eminence Bishop Sava, from Mr. Milorad Dodik - President of the Republika Srpska, from Mr. Dragan Davidović - Director of the Republic Secretariat for Religions of the Republika Srpska, our dear, old friend, from Mr. Duško Pevulja, and especially from the Bishop of Pakrac-Slavonia, Mr. Jovan, who is an offspring of the first place watered with martyr's blood, not only in the last great war but from ancient times to the present," he said.
The Metropolitanate announced that Joanikije said that it was no coincidence that the celebration of the 80th anniversary was taking place "exactly on the feast of Saint Nicholas of Ohrid and Žič", and that Nazi Germany's intention was to "behead the Serbian Church and subjugate the Serbian people".
"When the Germans set out, as one of their high-ranking officers said, to conquer the Serbian people once and for all, to subjugate and subjugate them, and to wipe them off the face of the earth, they first had a plan to behead the Serbian Orthodox Church, and primarily the Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo and Bishop Nikolaj of Žič, who spent the entire war in Nazi camps, and finally in the infamous Dachau camp. It is no coincidence that on this day, when we celebrate the anniversary, we did not specifically plan it, but it just happened that way, but it is no coincidence that we are celebrating this eightieth anniversary precisely on the feast of Saint Nicholas of Ohrid and Žič – the greatest Serbian theologian after Saint Sava. The great archpastor, bishop, poet, martyr and sufferer. An exile whose name was threatened and forbidden by the communist authorities, set in stone and not allowed to be mentioned. But who will bind the word of God? Who will stop the word of the Holy Bishop Nikolaja, who, just at the time when the communists thought they had finished everything, began to restore the soul of our people."
He recalled, as reported, the words of Metropolitan Joanikije Lipovac, who "prophesied what would happen to the Church and the people if the communists came to power."
"Already in 1943, when it was not yet known which way everything would turn out, he said: 'If the communists win, and take over and establish their power, they will kill the soul of our people. They will close churches, torture priests, persecute, kill, remove religious education from schools, extinguish the baptismal candle, and trample on our customs.' Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened, just as Metropolitan Joanikije had predicted, and to his great sorrow, as an archpastor with an honest, merciful heart, who was completely devoted to his people and to not sinning his holy soul. There is a tradition that when he was retreating with Pavle Đurišić's army, he walked in a cassock and since he was constantly with the soldiers, he made sure that his cassock did not touch the weapons anywhere, because those weapons were intended for killing, and he prayed to God that there would be as little fraternal bloodshed as possible."
Joanikije said that Pavle Đurišić, "whose heroism can be compared to that of Pavle Orlović", suffered defeat at Lijevče Polje, where he was "attacked by combined enemy forces, but a temporary defeat", and that he "lost the flower of his army".
"He lost a good part of the army, the greatest and most beautiful heroes who can be compared to Miloš Obilić, Kosančić Ivan, Toplica Milan, right here, in a place called Razboj, and our bloody banditry has lasted for centuries, from the bloody Kosovo Polje and from that Kosovo girl who goes to the loom young, looking for heroes to wash their wounds and feed them with whiter bread and drink redder wine. One of the heroes who can be compared to Pavle Orlović in his heroism is Pavle Đurišić. And what was Milorad Popović like, who died on Lijevče Polje in the decisive battle. What was the priest Radojica Perišić like and what were the other heroes, Duke Petar Baćović and not only the high-ranking officers, but all those hardened fighters and knights."
Joanikije said that "the great hero Pavle Đurišić" found himself in a difficult position, because "at that moment, on one side, he had the people, the weak, the sick and the wounded, whom he was taking with him and whose lives he was protecting, and on the other side, Sekula Drljević, with whom he needed to negotiate."
"All the suffering of the people fell on his shoulders, so he had to negotiate with the infamous Sekula Drljević. He betrayed him. Sekula Drljević tempted such a hero to enter into negotiations, because there was no other way to defeat Pavle. He would have fought as long as he was, even with his wings cut off, despite the many losses of his army, but he thought that he would save the people, the weak, the women, the children and the elderly who went with him at all costs. He was captured by deception and somewhere from Stara Gradiška to Jasenovac, he did not reach Jasenovac, whether he was killed on the ferry, whether he was burned in the Ustasha crematorium, how he ended up is not known, nor will it ever be known."
Joanikije says that it is necessary to continue working on collecting the names of all the victims, so that, as he said, we can "come to repentance", especially the victims of the "infamous pits in Montenegro".
"When we hold these commemorations, we do not invoke, God forbid, any revenge. We only remember their suffering. We must emphasize and mention that. We must collect their names. A lot has been done in this regard, but certainly not all the names of the victims have been listed. In this regard, we sought to collect all the names of those who suffered both from the occupiers and the communists, and of course, there were crimes committed by the Chetniks as well. I advocate this idea and this thought that all the victims should be listed, all the crimes, in order to reach repentance. Especially the infamous pits in Montenegro, and partly in Herzegovina. We know about the Ustasha pits from Jadovno to Prebilovci, the Korić pit, but there were also plenty and too many communist pits."
Joanikije said that Razboj is "a place that reminds us of all our robberies and sufferings."
"I thank with all my heart His Eminence Bishop Jefrem, His Eminence Bishop Sava, Bishop Jovan, Vice-President of the Government of Montenegro Mr. Budimir Aleksić, and Mr. Srđa Trifković, who is present here, who conceived of this commemoration of ours. Of course, we held a scientific conference in Podgorica and here in Banja Luka. I would like to thank you especially for the warm hospitality in Banja Luka and especially here in Razboj, and Razboj reminds us of our arduous history, of all our robberies, of all our sufferings from ancient times and of the Kosovo girls from Kosovo to this day, and of the knights and heroes, for whom a sea of tears has been shed. We forgive, but we do not forget," he said.
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