Esteemed participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends,

I have the honor to address this International Conference dedicated to our great people's saint and educator, St. Clement of Ohrid. This year, as we mark 11 centuries since his physical death, we are reminded of his messages, which should help us remain faithful to the enduring and eternal moral and ethical principles and values. But, to be able to do so, we must go back to the well-spring from which St. Clement drank water since the water at the well-spring is always the purest and the teachings are the clearest.

At the very beginning of his mission, Jesus Christ shared his first messages in the famous Sermon on the Mount. Yet, of all the messages contained in the sermon, first are the eight beatitudes. Among these eight beatitudes, the fourth is devoted to justice: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied".

As humans, we all deeply strive to satisfy justice. We are in pain when there is injustice.

The concept of justice is pre-political, which means that justice existed before the state. The need for justice is deeply embedded in humans and in humanity.

Justinian in Corpus Iuris Civilis, defined justice as "the constant and perpetual desire to give to each one that to which he is entitled". Not coincidentally, Justitia, with the veil over her eyes, became a universal symbol of one thing - all people, regardless of their gender, ethnic, religious, linguistic, political, social background deserve equality before the letter of the law. Equality before law, however, has become a cornerstone of the rule of law in the modern democratic states and societies.

Today, the struggle for justice is in the core of what some call "a global movement of movements". The abolition of slavery and apartheid, post-colonialism, emancipation, civil rights and social justice movements, gender and political equality commitment are part of this movement of movements.

The struggle for justice is the basic thread in the Macedonian story. It is not by chance, that our anthem praises "the Macedonians (who) fight for their own rights". It is not by chance that all Macedonian manifestos and declarations call for justice for Macedonia. It is not by chance either, that all of our uprisings were fought for human rights. Justice was done when, 25 years ago, the Republic of Macedonia became an independent and sovereign country. Then, a great historical injustice done to the people of Macedonia was corrected. However, for the past 25 years, as a country we have always felt bitterness when faced with injustice; when our name, identity, the right to self-identification and the right to human dignity is disputed. We sense the same bitterness seeing that we are unfairly blocked in our European and Euro-Atlantic integration. We have that same feeling when we see that our past is challenged, our present is blocked and our future is taken away.

As a nation and people, we are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. However, this does not mean that we, as people, are completely righteous.

In the Book of Romans, Paul the Apostle reminds us that: "There is no one righteous ... not even one".

In other words, since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, the whole mankind was trapped in a state of injustice, transmitted from man to man, from generation to generation for centuries and millennia.

We in the Republic of Macedonia are victims of this injustice. But the injustice done to us with the blockades has created an atmosphere of frustration in which we have become unfair to each other. As a society, we spiraled into a cycle which, from self-righteousness through self-pity, leads to alienation and condemnation of the opponent. We have started to condemn and blame each other as cruel opponents. It was especially evident during the political crisis that culminated in this 2016.

Is there a way out of this situation?

Right after the fourth beatitude on justice, it seems that Christ revealed the grand plan of salvation of humanity from the chains of injustice. And that plan is explicated in the fifth beatitude on mercy. Hence, he says: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy".

Distinguished Guests,

Nothing happens by chance, and even if something appears to have, it still has a particular purpose. I believe this also refers to the order of these two beatitudes on justice and mercy, which are mentioned in succession.

Perfect justice is something we are deeply longing for, but we cannot reach or achieve it alone, relying on our own strength only. As our people say, no man is faultless. The principles of justice mean that every wrongdoer should pay. But the price for the mistakes of humanity against people as well as those against nature, which are constantly increasing, is so high that none of us can pay. Therefore, as people, aware of our imperfections, we ask for mercy in repentance. Mercy, by definition, is not earned. Mercy is bestowed.

Where our human capacity for justice and justification ends, the grace of God that justifies us begins.

Mercy is given a central position in the Bible, in the words and deeds of Christ, who showed mercy to anyone who asked for it.

Reading the four Gospels, we see that His mercy was unrelenting. To the blind who wanted to see. To the sick who wanted to be healed. To lepers who wanted to be cleansed. To the foreigners who were shunned. But also to the sinners who were excluded.

At the same time, he constantly speaks of mercy through his parables. One is the parable of the servant who owed a lot of money to his master. When the master was to collect the debt, the servant begged for mercy, and the large debt was forgiven to him. And the first thing the servant did afterwards illustrates the fallen human condition. The servant refused to forgive the small debt to his friend. He refused to show a little bit of mercy, although he received great mercy.

We, as a people, were given great mercy for our wrong thoughts, words and deeds. All we need to do is show a little bit of mercy to those who ask that from us.

St. Clement called mercy a wing of prayer. He mentions mercy in almost all of his lessons and sermons.

In his Lesson on Pentecost St. Clement of Ohrid said, "... let us not call ourselves Christians only by name, but try, through good deeds, to attain peace of mind and love for all ... May the mercy you give be unrelenting, for it shall wash away all sins and open the gates of heaven, turning God's wrath into gentleness and grace; mercy shall pave the way for us to heaven and courageously place us by God's throne; as the apostle said, mercy shall be on our Judgment day. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, and judgment will be merciless those who have not shown mercy".

Ladies and gentlemen,

If there is one word to describe St. Clement of Ohrid, then that word is mercy. And we will not be mistaken, because mercy is contained even in his name. Clement, i.e. Clementia, is the Latin name for mercy.

St. Clement of Ohrid received his spiritual name in the year 868 by the Roman Pope Adrian II, in honor of St. Clement of Rome, whose relics were brought by his teachers, St. Constantine - Cyril and Methodius, in Rome.

Faithful to his name, St. Clement of Ohrid devoted the monastery he built in Plaosnik to another saint, whose Greek name again hides the word mercy – Panteleimon which means all-merciful.

Why do I say all this? Because I believe that through St. Clement of Ohrid, our great people's teacher and saint, we have a reminder. A reminder of how to get out of the vicious circle of self-righteousness that leads to self-pity, alienation and condemnation. The key to get out of that circle is mercy.

Let us strive for justice, aware of our imperfection; and to be merciful, so that we can find mercy for ourselves.

All of this is not only important for Macedonia, but for the whole Balkan region and Europe, where mercy has become an expensive and rare value.

Globalization has created generations that grew up surrounded by consumerism, moral relativism and extreme individualism. In a world full of people who are full of themselves, where personal success is everything, personality is reduced to a matter of personal choice. Postmodernism undermined the foundations of the concepts of justice, morality and mercy, which are vulgarized.

At the same time, the refugee and migrant crisis showed the real face of Europe. The fear of diversity has prevented Europe of seeing humanity in refugees and migrants. The fear has entrapped mercy.

Therefore, let us recall the message of St. Clement. Let us remember everything he taught our ancestors of. At one point he says: "let us compete in terms of love; let us uplift our mind through enlightening it with mercy and purity". Today I will also add, may we all uplift our minds and not allow ourselves to sink. Let us build our societies and states in height, with the highest ethical and moral standards and values.

But for this, we need the Church. The seed sown will bear good fruit only if it falls on fertile soil and is irrigated from the pure well-spring of life-giving water.

In Ohrid, we see the mercy of God, who gave us such nature and beauty. Moreover, the poet Konstantin Miladinov, referring in his poems to the lake, says: "God's beauty is everywhere". Therefore, over the centuries, people were building churches and monasteries which at one point amounted to 365. One of them is the monastery of St. Clement of Ohrid, built in the most beautiful site in Ohrid.

Just like Ohrid, St. Clement of Ohrid is part of God's mercy to the Slavdom and especially to Macedonia. We must be grateful for this mercy. A true appreciation is not expressed by mentioning his name only, but by respecting and bringing his words and teachings into life.

At the very end, I am convinced that each of the participants at this international conference will add at least one pebble in the mosaic that brings us closer to the life and deeds of St. Clement and the mercy he reveals.

Thank you.