Sula Radov was a figure of exceptional importance for the ethics, culture and tradition of Montenegrins, said Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović, adding that it is everyone's duty to affirm figures who lived values, not just advocated them.
Milatović, as announced by his office, attended the ceremonial unveiling of the memorial bust of Sula Radov in Podgorica, organized by the "Sula Radov" foundation.
He stated that Kostadin Radov Radulović, better known as Sula Radov, was a Koman, Katun and Montenegrin captain, guardian, people's judge, sage "and a figure of exceptional importance for the ethics, culture and tradition of Montenegrins."
"Sula Radov was a contemporary of four rulers from the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty: Peter I, Peter II, Prince Danilo and King Nikola - at a time when the traditional tribal system began to transform into a civil order, customary law into the written laws of Montenegro, and folk tradition into the first institutions of the modern state," said Milatović.
He said that in that and such Montenegro, ethics was not an abstract idea, but an everyday practice of survival.
"In a country of dramatic relief and even more dramatic historical experience, moral standards have been formed that incorporate the principles of natural law: the right to speech, to equality among people and, above all, the right to freedom, independence and self-respect," Milatović stated.
He added that Sula Radov, precisely in this and such a pivotal historical context, became the personification of the collective consciousness of the Montenegrin people.
"With short and sharp, often aphoristic sayings, he not only expressed his own wisdom and logic - he sublimated the spirit of the old Montenegrins, which is still a reference for our society and our contemporary experience," said Milatović.
He said that Sul Radov's words resonate with their clarity and power even today.
"A man does not ask for much: a crust of bread so that he is not hungry, a book so that he is not blind, and freedom so that he may speak." Sula's words did not serve to impress, but to direct, nor to embellish reality, but to strip it to the core of truth," Milatović stated.
According to him, Sula's wisdom was a measure that built the trust of the Montenegrin community in what is right, just and dignified.
"And as Sula says: "A new era gives birth to a new doctrine." In our era, when we are talking more often than ever about the crisis of values, we have a duty to affirm personalities who lived the values, not just advocated them," Milatović said.
He added that Sula Radov, from Koman and Katun, was one of them.
"And as long as we remember him in the right way - through the message of who we were when it was most difficult and what kept us upright then, Montenegro will not lose its way," said Milatović.
He thanked the "Sula Radov" Foundation for their dedicated and noble mission of preserving the legacy of this exceptional Montenegrin figure, as well as the leadership of the Capital City, for recognizing the value of the initiative and enabling the memorial bust to be placed at the location "from where we can see the slopes of Lovćen and Garč".
"And Sula's gaze remains permanently directed towards his Komani and Katunska nahija - as a symbol of Montenegro and its timeless values," added Milatović.
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