Feast of Saint John Vladimir/ Message of His Beatitude: May every Christian be a martyr, let us bear witness to the faith

2025-06-04 15:21:00, Aktualitet CNA

Feast of Saint John Vladimir/ Message of His Beatitude: May every Christian be a

On June 3-4, 2025, the annual fair of Saint John Vladimir, the glorified and wonderworking king, was held in Shijon, Elbasan, in the monastery that bears the name of this great saint of our church, under the direction of His Beatitude, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania, Bishop Joan.

His Beatitude John also delivered his sermon at the Monastery of St. John Vladimir. The Archbishop stated that today the faithful commemorate a saint and martyr like St. John Vladimir.

Further, His Beatitude stated that every Christian should be a martyr, which means that every believer should bear witness to their faith to others. The Archbishop told the believers that if the idea of ??martyrdom is lost, the idea of ??faith is also lost, God wants everyone to bear witness to their faith.

" We are blessed to have the relics of a great saint, who wanted to stay here. In fact, in his life it is said that when they wanted to come and take it, the relics became so heavy that they could not lift them, as a sign that the saint wanted to stay in this place. Today we commemorate a saint and a martyr, and martyrs are very important in our lives. Every Christian should be a martyr, martyr does not only mean giving one's life. The first meaning of the word martyr is to testify, which means that each of us must testify to the faith and to others. Our life should be a testimony, which means that it will be a martyr. If we lose the idea of ??the martyr, we have lost the idea of ??our faith. God wants us all to testify to our faith, because people seeing our faith, then perhaps they will also know God. Otherwise, the opposite will happen ," said His Beatitude, John. CNA