Just a few metres from the burned-out „Puls" building in Kočani, where on 16 March 2025 dozens of young lives were lost, a memorial cross has been consecrated. A permanent marker at the site of one of the worst tragedies in the city's recent history.

The act of consecration, carried out to mark St. Peter's Day - the feast day of Kočani - was performed by Metropolitan Ilarion of Bregalnica, together with priests from the Kočani archdeaconry. The cross, 17 metres tall and 12 metres wide, has been set up at the western entrance to the city, by the roundabout near the „Nacional" locality. The families of the victims, Mayor Vladko Grozdanov and a large number of citizens and worshippers attended the event, paying their respects with a shared prayer.

The cross was built with support from the Bregalnica eparchy, socially responsible companies and the Municipality of Kočani, which provided the project documentation and the permit for erecting the memorial. After the consecration, Metropolitan Ilarion held a memorial service for the souls of the victims and offered prayers for the recovery of the injured and for strength for their families.

The memorial will remain a place for prayer and remembrance. But the reminder of the pain is only one side. The other - the one for which stone and a cross are not enough - is accountability. Behind every tragedy like this stands the question the families carry every day: how was it even possible, who gave the permission, who signed off, and will anyone truly answer for it. The memorial cross bears witness to the loss. Justice for the victims is something still being waited for, and that wait must not end with a single consecration.