Skopje, 4 May 2025 (MIA) - A memorial service conducted by the Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, HH Stefan and clergy from the Skopje Diocese at the St. Spas church in Skopje marked the 122nd anniversary of the death of Macedonian revolutionary Goce Delchev on Sunday.

President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, a government delegation led by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, a delegation from Parliament, representatives of the diplomatic corps, political parties, associations and others laid flowers at Delchev’s tomb in St. Spas. 

“Goce’s worldview is the worldview of a person who build bridges and not walls, a worldview that promotes peace between nations and not wars. From an early age he watched his people live in squalor, despite their diligence, suffer, despite their kindness, endure violence, despite their peace-loving nature, yet he only permitted violence against violence. Delchev gave his youth and life for freedom, for his death to serve as the seed that would give birth to new heroes for the Macedonian freedom,” H.H. Stefan said at the service. 

Prime Minister Mickoski stressed that Delchev’s actions are timeless. 

“Today reminds us of what a great titan the Macedonian people had, who had not only a local, but also a regional and broader impact. His struggle for Macedonia, his humaneness, his actions are timeless and this will continue to be the case for generations to come. This generation of politicians in the Macedonian Government has the honor to convey the memory of his work to the future generations, while also guarding and nurturing it. By that I mean conveying the truth, the truth that really happened, and not the truth that some are unfortunately trying to skew in the collective memory of the Macedonian people. In the past, there was an attempt to engineer a different truth. Fortunately, this is now in the past, and our duty is to convey the real truth about the great Macedonian titan Goce Delchev to the future generations,” Mickoski told journalists after the event. 

The leader of opposition party SDSM, Venko Filipche, said Goce Delchev’s messages are more relevant than ever. 

“Some of this Macedonian revolutionary’s ideas sound more relevant today than during his lifetime. This is a clear sign that as a society we still have a lot of work ahead of us, we need to implement all the messages from his vision for a free and independent Macedonia,” Filipche said. 

A visionary inspired by revolutionary ideals, Goce Delchev was born in Kukush on February 4, 1872, and was active in revolutionary movements.

He attended the Thessaloniki high school and the Sofia Military Academy. As the member of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, Delchev worked on the establishment of a network of committees and fighting units of the organization.

Goce Delchev, who understood the world as a field for cultural contest among nations, was killed by an Ottoman unit on May 4, 1903, in the village of Banica, near Serres.

Photo/Video: MIA