To the Brother Hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and Orthodox faithful in Montenegro and the diaspora:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

At the dawn of the greatest Christian feast — the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ — we gather in faith, hope, and love, celebrating the victory of life over death and of truth over every deception.

Before the glorious Resurrection of the Lord, we witnessed the resurrection of man through the example of Lazarus of the Four Days. The Lord then said: “Lazarus, our friend, has fallen asleep; but I go to awaken him.” (Jn 11:11). And indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, thus revealing to us the mystery of the Resurrection.

These words of Christ were addressed not only to Lazarus, but to every believing person. We are called to vigilance — not to sleep in sins, indifference, and forgetfulness of God, but to awaken to life in truth. We are all summoned to be in communion with God, and the pinnacle of that communion is precisely the Resurrection — eternal life in Christ.

Therefore, every person should ask themselves: will the Lord recognise them as His friend? To be a friend of God is the greatest honour and the most exalted title a person can attain. But that honour does not come without responsibility. One who is no friend of the Church of God, who sows discord, who is a schismatic and a troublemaker, cannot call himself a friend of God — nor can one who works against his own brethren, his own people, and his own state. A friend of God is one who suffers together with Christ, who builds peace and bears witness to love in word and deed.

Today, regrettably, the Montenegrin Orthodox Church stands at Golgotha, crucified by those who serve foreign interests, pierced by the spear of her own sons and daughters, led astray by false teachings, so-called street processions, and self-proclaimed “kings of the public square” — merchants of illusion and wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Therefore, let the words of the Psalmist guide us: “Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee from before His face.” We must know that God never forsakes His own, and that His justice is justice eternal.

All those who have taken the paths of disorder, we call to conciliar unity around the Suffering and Righteous Church of Christ, and around the equally suffering and righteous, centuries-old Montenegro.

May the Risen Lord grant peace to your homes, concord among brothers and sisters, and strength to the Montenegrin people to persevere on the path of preserving dignity, freedom, and justice.

Only that which rises in Christ and through Christ is eternal. All else is transient.

Therefore, with faith in the Risen Christ, I greet you with the joyful words:

Christ is Risen!

Truly He is Risen!

Eternal be Montenegro!

At Cetinje, 12 April (30 March) 2026

Your supplicant in Christ,

Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro

† M I H A I L O s.r.