The southern Montenegrin city of Bar has marked the 10th anniversary of the consecration of the Cathedral of St. John Vladimir, the country’s largest Orthodox church.

A festive Divine Liturgy was celebrated with the participation of Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and the Littoral and Bishop Kirill of Buenos Aires and South and Central America of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Gavriil of Lovec of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, clergy and worshippers also attended.

Representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and Montenegro’s Muslim community, along with public, cultural and political figures from Bar, were also present, according to the website of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral.

In his address during the liturgy, Bishop Kirill linked the cathedral’s anniversary to the broader history of Christianity and the significance of Jerusalem in Orthodox tradition. He said the cathedral in Bar forms part of a common ecclesiastical tradition that, according to Orthodox teaching, traces its roots to Jerusalem.

Bishop Kirill also noted that September 26 in the modern calendar is observed by Orthodox Christians as the anniversary of the consecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 335. He emphasized that, in Orthodox tradition, churches are built not merely as architectural structures but primarily as places of prayer and communion with God.

Reflecting on Bar’s history, Kirill recalled the difficult periods experienced by the city and its Orthodox community. He said the revival of Orthodox life in the area began with the restoration of the Church of the Holy Trinity on Mount Rumija in 2005. In 2009, the Monastery of St. Sergius of Radonezh at the foot of the mountain was consecrated. The process culminated in the consecration of the Cathedral of St. John Vladimir in 2016.

Metropolitan Joanikije thanked the clergy and parishioners who contributed to the construction and development of the cathedral. He particularly highlighted the role of the late Metropolitan Amfilohije, who led the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral until his death in 2020.

According to Joanikije, the cathedral’s construction was accompanied by difficulties and disagreements, but architects, engineers, builders, artists and clergy ultimately managed to bring their efforts together.

“The unity of the Church of God was manifested in the consecration of this church,” Joanikije said, adding that over the past decade the cathedral has become one of the central sites of Orthodox religious life in Bar.

During the anniversary celebrations, Joanikije established a new commemorative award of the metropolitanate, the Cross of St. John Vladimir. The first recipients were Metropolitan Gavriil, Bishop Kirill and Archpriest Obren Jovanović, the cathedral’s first rector.

The Cathedral of St. John Vladimir was consecrated on September 25, 2016, during celebrations marking 1,000 years since the martyrdom of St. John Vladimir, who is regarded as the patron saint of Bar.

The consecration ceremony was led by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and attended by the primates of the Serbian, Albanian and other Orthodox Churches. Relics of Christian martyrs, including particles associated with the Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified, the Jasenovac martyrs and St. John Vladimir, were placed in the cathedral’s altar.