The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, along with his family, attended today the opening of the event organized to mark the millennium jubilee "1,000 years since the founding of the monastery, Sv. Jovan Preteca, the death of Tsar Samuil and of the village of Slepche".

Before the guests, including the President of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, academician Vlado Kambovski, the Ambassador of Hungary, Jozsef Bencze, the Mayor of the municipality of Demir Hisar, Ljupcho Blazhevski, pointed out that the national millennium celebration is in honor of the great jubilee, the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of the famous Demir Hisar settlement, Slepche.

"Today's event symbolizes the depth of the foundations of our existence, the core of what started to live 1,000 years ago. Today marks a millennium of one of the greatest Macedonian spiritual and educational shrines, the Monastery "Sv. Jovan Preteca", but also celebrates a millennium of the death of one of the greatest Macedonian kings, Tsar Samuil. Many bigger civilizations can envy this rare millennium celebration and, right from here, we send strong messages to the world about the depth and richness of the roots of this piece of Macedonian soil," Mayor Blazhevski said.

According to academician Vlado Kambovski, marking the 1,000 anniversary of one of the most dramatic places in our collective memory, can only cause an exalted admiration of the great miracle called Macedonian people.

"Slepce is not a metaphor for a defeat, but of a fruitful struggle for expression of the Macedonian national identity nestled deep in the collective memory, being the essence of our national identity. It is a pledge to keep and upgrade the Macedonian national identity as a common national heritage, as a national feature and cultural eternity. May the memory of the magnificent Slepce be eternal and of the glorious people's act that equals a miraculous, national, cultural resurrection," Academician Kambovski said.

In the artistic part of the program, a spiritual message to Europe and the world from Demir Hisar, on behalf of the actors from Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece and Macedonia, was read by Rade Serbedzija. The visitors from the country and abroad could see the recital "Cherubims of Samuil's crown" of the author Zoran Pejkovski,staged by the Bitola Theatre actors.