As a guest on the programme Under the Magnifying Glass, which was broadcast by Radio Beseda of the Diocese of Bačka on Saturday, 29 March 2025, Catechist Branislav Ilić, editor of the missionary portal Kinonia of the Missionary Department of the Archdiocese of Belgrade and Karlovci, spoke about the poetic oeuvre of His Eminence Metropolitan Fotije of Zvornik and Tuzla.
On the occasion of the news that Maria Coman, a renowned Orthodox Byzantine chanter and jazz-pop artist from Romania, had released a performance of A Hymn to the Mother of God, an original work by Metropolitan Fotije, Catechist Branislav Ilić discussed the missionary significance of the poems of the hierarch of God’s Church in the Diocese of Zvornik and Tuzla. Below, we present in full the remarks of the editor of the Kinonia portal:
“The poetic oeuvre of His Eminence Metropolitan Fotije of Zvornik and Tuzla is truly precious. Through poetry, prayer, and precise theological formulations, the bishop contributes to making these poems a concrete instrument in the mission and proclamation of the Church. His poems are inspired by the Gospel and the liturgy, by the feasts and the hymnography of those feasts; the entire course of the liturgical year is present in the poetic output of His Eminence Metropolitan Fotije. This hierarch dedicates his poems to spirit-bearing elders of Mount Athos, virtuous hierarchs, God-loving monastics, honourable priests, and not infrequently to notable pious laypeople whose zeal has left an indelible mark upon Christ’s Church, which is His mystical Body. Some poems are devoted to important themes of the spiritual life, whether it be prayer, fasting, and repentance, or the importance of sacramental and virtuous life within Christ’s Church. Through poetry, the bishop conveys the beauty of certain holy communities; he glorifies in verse the Creator, who in His wisdom made all things (Ps. 103) and brought them forth from non-being into being. The subjects of the poems are varied, but their aim is the same: to grow into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13).
We should not lose sight of the fact that the poems of Metropolitan Fotije are imbued with a pastoral tone and a fatherly concern for the flock entrusted to him, the clergy, and the faithful people. Inspired by the love of the Good Shepherd and the Great High Priest Christ, the hierarch of God’s Church in the Diocese of Zvornik and Tuzla, through his poems, illumines every corner of our hearts, calls us to renounce sin and embrace virtue, to look to the Lord, to the Most Holy Mother of God and all the saints, to follow the example of our spiritual fathers and teachers, and thus to come to know the beauty of our faith, which leads us into communion with Christ. We can see that poems have their precious place in the Church’s mission. Through clear texts, edifying messages, and fitting melodies, they find their way into our hearts and bear wondrous spiritual fruit. I shall venture to say that the poetic and catechetical beauty of Metropolitan Fotije’s verses resembles the spiritual lyre of Saint Bishop Nikolaj, our Serbian Chrysostom, who, in a clear and accessible manner, led people to Christ through poetry. Even to this day, the poems of Saint Bishop Nikolaj are sung at spiritual gatherings after the services. Undoubtedly, the same will be true of the poems of Metropolitan Fotije of Zvornik and Tuzla.
The poems of Metropolitan Fotije enjoy great missionary success. Our pupils attending religious education classes frequently cite the texts of the bishop’s poems, and it is not uncommon to see performances of these poems at Saint Sava Academy events and other celebrations. A little more than two years ago, the Nikšić choir Venerable Mother Angelina, under the artistic direction of Professor Ana Bojić, performed the poem From Fiery Tongues. I had the opportunity to hear this performance live, and it was especially moving that the text of the poem was complemented by the names of saints who are their intercessors: Saint Basil of Ostrog, Saint Peter of Cetinje, and Venerable Mother Angelina of Krušedol. This is but a small testimony that the spiritual seed of Bishop Fotije yields abundant fruits.
We were truly gladdened by the news that Maria Coman, a renowned Orthodox Byzantine chanter and jazz-pop artist from Romania, has released a performance of A Hymn to the Mother of God, an original work by His Eminence Metropolitan Fotije of Zvornik and Tuzla. Maria Coman rendered A Hymn to the Mother of God with inspired devotion, infusing it with the prayerful spirit and warmth of the Orthodox faith. This news stands as a blessed testimony that the poems of Metropolitan Fotije fulfill their mission even beyond the borders of our local Church, thus directing thousands of Christ-seeking souls to chart their lives according to the Gospel.
A little over a month ago, we had the opportunity to learn that one of the poems of Metropolitan Fotije had been performed in Ukraine. The hymn was sung by the choir Oranta from the city of Lutsk, the administrative centre of the Volyn region in western Ukraine, under the artistic direction of Professor Khrystyna Deineka.
To His Eminence Metropolitan Fotije, we wish many blessed years in which he may continue to draw people to Christ and His love through his poetry, and that we may be granted spiritual vision and purity of heart to receive these prayerful verses into our being and to live according to them. For, as it is written in one of Bishop Fotije’s poems:
True faith, Christ among us,
True faith, the adornment of Christians,
Let us glorify God in Orthodoxy,
And in true faith live in God.