TE17 Mysterious Montenegro

Milovan Radojević often emphasized Vladimir’s powers when describing his holy deeds in his homilies. 2 We took that night as penitence, but also as an omen of adversity ahead. We began to ask ourselves if we were on the right path, but among the servants of God there is no place for the skepsis that leads to temptation. I felt that the troubles, which had lasted a lifetime in the Kingdom of Dioclea, 3 had now begun to creep into the walls of the Church of the Archangel Michael, where our small brotherhood fulfilled its vows. Stirred by conscience, and at the request of the bravest eminent patricians of the sorely beset city of Svač who remained true to their ancestral name, with no care for their lives, I set about consigning to parchment what I saw and heard, and what had happened in the land of Dioclea in recent decades, above all concerning the fate of that luminary of the Dioclean Church, Dominik, Bishop of Svač 4 —my friend. I dedicate this text to all those who bear the sanctities of Dioclea in their hearts and remember the innocent men who fell at their doors, defending hearth and home against the aggressors, and I bequeath it to my 2. Prince Vladimir, ruler of Dioclea from the late 10th century until 1016, was overthrown by deceit and beheaded by the ruler of the Bulgarian Empire. He was allegedly clutching a cross as he died, and soon afterward he was recognized as a martyr. His cult continues in south-eastern Montenegro to this day. 3. A principality that in the late 12th century roughly encompassed the territories of present-day southern Montenegro. From the middle of the 11th century it was a powerful kingdom that controlled substantial parts of what are now southern Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, southwestern Serbia, Kosovo, and northern Albania. 4. A former town between the Adriatic coast and Lake Skadar, today southern Montenegro. 12