Father Jovan (Culibrk), a monk from Cetinje Monastery. He is a "special" monk. In former Yugoslavia he was as philosopher/writer/artist involved in projects of music and art groups all over the country. His heart has always been searching for the roots of humanity in his part of the world and this mostly expressed through a music and art group Anastasia. Anastasia was the one to create the music for the movie "Before the rain ", directed by M. Mancevski, the winner of the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival.

Jovan is a monk for the last nine years, from the beginning of the war in ex-Yugoslavia. It was a time of the decision on which side you are on… As he expressed, he always wants to be on the side of solution and not the problem. For him and many others, going to a monastery and staying out of fighting, yet still not escaping from the country, ment being on the side where you can focus and develop human virtues and actually help from a safe side.

There is a strong revival between young seeking monastic or even hermit life hood in general. In the past nine years eight times more monks are living in monasteries all over Montenegro. Most of monasteries are small and very old places (from the 14th & 15th century) that need to be restored, which for young and vital brothers is just the right thing to do. It is not just the war that made the decision easier for many but as Jovan describes, it is also a strong spiritual influence of the metropolitan Amfilohij, becoming head of the Orthodox Church in Montenegro nine years back. Looking wider, the generation of the 70es and 80es, before involved in the cultural movements in Serbia, is now altogether very much a community of the Orthodox Church! Says Jovan: "The Orthodox Church is regarded a more spiritual one, evoking a deeper human relation with God as is the case in other Christian Churches. Orthodoxy is expending globally".

Jovan would actually end up a priest and monk anyway since he had got interest in the Orthodox Church already during his studies in literature. He finished them in Zagreb, now the capital of Croatia and went on studying theology in Belgrade. Presently, he is doing his post graduate studies in theology, which are, besides having duties as a monk, performing rituals and services in Cetinje Monastery, but a small part in his mixture of contemplative and active life. As a priest. he is also offering services in the neighboring churches. As a teacher of literature, he is regularly teaching in the high school of theology. As an radio editor, his day ends up in the radio station "Sveti Gora" (shining mountain). It is only one and half years back that he and others from the Cetinje Monastery started it. It stays out of politics but during Kosovo problems their news program was reliable since they reported only facts that were proved. The radio transmits a wide range of topics, from modern music to serious art film reviews and brings out different views than other church organized radio stations in the world.

After the bombardment in the summer 1999 he went for the first time to Kosovo. "To help, of course. I would give the whole life for these three months in Kosovo! There, I really had to face the reality in many aspects and had the opportunity to help people in great need." He is now regularly organizing humanitarian convoys with mostly building materials for Serbian villages in Kosovo.

"My mission is to connect and mediate between different worlds, because I understand the language of both - the language of culture as well as the language of the church; the meeting point, to find the balance between different languages where the arts and cultural movements are a part of the church and naturally the church is a part in them, a place where one or the other find themselves, influence the church and vice versa."

Along his way of contemplative life, Jovan started to renovate a monastery in a very remote area by the Skadar Lake where he hopes to spend in a part of his time in the future, a well balanced life with a very active life, for what he says: "The deeper I go in my heart in prayer and contemplation, the stronger I get in giving and sharing in what I believe."

(There exists also an 11 pages long interview with Jovan - in which he explains his life story, his ideas, views on his generation, the war in the Balkans and the Orthodox Christian hood... )